Digimon: After the Fight Series

Part Five: The Beginning, Part 1

"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."

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"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters."

-Alan Simpson

Honk, honk

"Tai!"

Honk, honk

"Tai? Tai! TAI KAMIYA!"

"Whaaaaa!"

"Get up, Mr. Jon's here, or would you rather me go to the museum for you?"

"Forget it Kari. Doesn't this seem familiar to you?"

Tai opened his eyes but all he saw was the dirty floor of his own room. He had fallen out of his bed once again, and he could hear Kari walking over to him. She used most of her strength to help him stand up.

"You mean, this is exactly what happened yesterday?" Kari said, straining under Tai's weight. "Except, I don't have Gatomon here to sneak around with."

"It's okay," Tai said, standing up now. "I'm awake. I was too excited to sleep. The moment Izzy can get us through the Digital World and back, I'm going to see Agumon."

Kari panted and sat on Tai's bed.

"While you're at it, don't eat so many rice balls in China, okay?"

"You got your things together?" Tai asked as he grabbed a large green bag and slung it over his shoulder. Kari nodded and she too had her own pink book bag resting on her back.

"Let's go, they're waiting."

Kari and Tai raced to the car and opened the side door. Kari peered inside the car. Jon and Izzy were occupying the front seat again, Izzy had dark shadows under his eyes, but he looked cheerful, T.K, Davis, and Ken occupied the far back seats, and Yolei and some strange boy occupied the middle row. Tai climbed into the back between Ken and T.K, and Kari scooted next to Yolei. The boy turned to Kari and smiled at her.

"Hello," he said extending a hand to Kari. "My name's Adrian Wyatt."

"Ah-dree-en?" Kari asked, taking his hand (author's note: remember to roll the 'r's '-). The boy grinned at her.

"It's pronounced that way," he said. He pushed back strand of his black hair from out of his face. His eyes were grey and gorgeous. Kari breathed in his spicy cologne. She felt heat rising in her cheeks.

"Turn down the heater, dad, I think she's going to faint."

The car erupted in laughs as it drove away. Kari finally relaxed.

"Did you just call Mr. Jon, dad?" Kari asked. Adrian nodded.

"Yes, I did," Adrian said. "Katrina's my half-sister. It's a really long story we don't have time for."

Kari nodded. "Okay then." Kari scanned him with her eyes and stopped at his belt loop. She grinned. "I suppose you're a digidestined too, right?"

Adrian returned the smile, and then took the tan D-3 from his pocket. "Yeah, this baby's got me into a lot of trouble." Adrian looked at Kari.

"You've got one too."

Kari nodded. He had such a nice accent, Kari couldn't figure out what it was though.

"Kari, do me a favor, bitte?" Jon said looking out of the rear-view mirror. Kari looked at him through the mirror.

"Sure," she said as she clicked her seat-belt in place. Jon grabbed something from the glove compartment and handed it to Kari. It was a cloth bag. Kari peered inside.

Clothes.

"They're for Katrina and Sora," Jon explained, his eyes flickering back to the road. "I didn't have the heart to tell Sora's mutter about her being stuck in the Digital Welt overnight, but thanks goodness Katrina has some clothes that are a little too long for her."

Kari raised an eyebrow. "I see." Then she remembered. These were winter clothes in the bag, Katrina and Sora had on a tennis uniform, which was too less even in summer, and Katrina was running around in caprice and tank top. T.K held up his bag.

"I've got clothes for Matt." Jon nodded and smiled from the rear-view mirror. The car slowed down a few minutes later at the school, and T.K, Yolei, Kari, and Izzy hopped out.

"I've got a private plane set for all of us to return home exactly 72 hours from now," Jon said as he rolled down the window and stuck his head out.

Izzy nodded. "That gives us exactly three days."

Jon grinned. "You are a smart junge. Well, good luck. When you're done, email us and I'll send Adrian or someone to pick you up and bring to the richtiche gate. Okay? So, viel glück und tschuss."

The car rolled away from them and Kari, T.K, Yolei, and Izzy all waved as the car vanished down the street. Izzy shouldered his backpack, tightened his scarf, and turned to the younger kids.

"You ready for an adventure?" he asked them. Kari and T.K nodded, Yolei gave a thumb up. He spun around to look at the empty, snow-covered middle school.

"Then let's get moving, already."

Loud noises filled the ears of Davis as he jerked awake. The airport was now within view, and plenty of planes were filling up the grey-colored sky. When Jon parked the car and unloaded the luggage, he locked the car tight and steered the four boys into the airport. Davis looked around the large airport, Japan didn't have many large airports compared to other countries, but this one was big enough for a million people to fit in comfortably.

"This way," Jon said after checking in. "To our gate."

"What about our luggage, dad?" Adrian asked his father.

"Flight 67 to Hong Kong, boarding. Gate 13."

"That's us!" Jon panicked. "Scheisse, we won't make it! We're at gate 25 right now!""

"Yes we will," Tai said, shouldering his duffel bag. "Davis, Ken, and I are soccer players; we'll run to the gate and wait until you get there."

"I'll go on ahead, too," Adrian said. He took the tickets from his father, and then loaded his and his father's bags on his shoulders."

"Uh, are you going to be able to keep up?" Davis asked. Adrian grinned at him.

"You guys just worry about yourselves."

"Hurry up!" Jon urged. Davis, Ken, and Tai took off running down the hall. When they were halfway down the hall, Adrian passed them at incredible speed.

"How did he do that?" Davis huffed as they neared gate 15. "I mean, he has two heavy bags on his back!"

By the time the three boys got to gate 13, Adrian was already checking in the tickets.

"How'd you do that?" Tai panted as Jon caught up with them. Adrian grinned at them.

"I'm on the track team, and I play baseball. C'mon, they're waiting on us."

Tai, Ken, Davis, and Jon slid through the terminal after Adrian, and found their seats. Jon and Adrian occupied the window seats while Davis, Tai, and Ken occupied the aisle seats.

"That guy's weird," Davis said, leaning over Ken to talk to Tai.

"Yeah," Tai said. "But, he makes on hell of an ally."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Oh, come on, Kari don't get cold feet now!"

"But she just walked in the snow, Yolei. She has to have cold feet."

"Ah, that's not what I meant, B.Gatomon!"

Kari fiddled with Katrina's crest, watching Izzy as he fiddled with the 'special' computer. T.K put an arm around Kari's shoulder. All of Kari's doubts washed away. Yolei put a hand on her shoulder.

"I swear you two are so…never mind. I bet Davis is jealous."

"Yeah," T.K said, grinning.

"Are you guys ready?" Izzy asked, stepping back from the computer. When everyone nodded, Izzy continued. "You do know we may not be able to come back out of there until we destroy Demon, but we're limited to only 3 days."

"What if we can't destroy him?" Yolei asked picking at her right glove.

"Don't think like that," T.K said. "We will destroy him and bring peace to the Digital World. But, we can't hold back."

Izzy nodded. "Right. I've already sent an email to Cody. He said he can't make it, but he'll do what he can."

"Yeah, he needs to rest," T.K said, walking to the computer. "And if things get dicey, we always have Silphymon."

"That's right," Kari said as if just realizing she was going to the Digital World. "Silphymon."

"Will we really get to see the Digital World again?" Yolei said, hopefully. Kari put her arm through Yolei's, smiling.

"Of course. Now, let's get going. Izzy?"

He nodded. B.Gatomon walked over to him and handed him the crest.

"You'll need this."

Izzy shook his head and pointed to Yolei. "She'll need it. She's the only one among us who doesn't sport a crest."

"Izzy, you're so smart it scares me," Kari said as she watched the crest being handed to Yolei.

"Are we ready, for real, this time?" T.K asked, pulling out his green D-3. Kari and Yolei nodded, pulling out their own D-3's. T.K looked at Izzy. Izzy turned around to summoned the gate, then took Katrina's D-3 and held it to the computer.

"Digi-port! Open!"

This is just like yesterday, Kari thought as a bright light blinded her.

Except this time, we're really going to the Digital World.

"It's just strange seeing another Digidestined around here," Tai said, rocking in his seat. "I mean, two new digidestined instead of one! Your Katrina's brother too!"

"Your Kari's brother," Adrian said, his arms folded across his chest as he looked out of the window. The plane had now been flying for two hours out of five hours. The only reason the plane took so long from Tokyo to Hong Cong was because it had to make three different stops: somewhere in the Philippines, South Korea, and India before finally getting to China. Davis and Ken had fallen asleep; due to the fact they spent all night packing because of Tai's late call. Tai occupied the aisle seat behind them while Adrian occupied the window seats behind Jon.

"It's so cool, though," Tai said, propping his feet on the seat. "I mean, a new kid shows up, who's my age, and could probably beat Speedy Gonzales at his own sport."

Adrian smiled. "It's about the only thing I can do. I'm also good at basketball, but that's about it."

"What about soccer?" Tai asked, curious. Was he really curious? Or defensive, maybe? Or maybe…did Tai really want to be friends with this guy?

Adrian laughed. "Puh-lease! A rookie could kick my butt at soccer. I'm scared to see what a pro like you can do."

"A pro…like me?" Tai asked. It was a compliment. Sort of.

"Anyway, how do you know so much about me?" Tai finally spat out. "I know nothing about you!"

"Well, believe it or not, you were a favorite among Gennai."

"You know Gennai too?" Tai blurted out, but quickly covered his mouth. He shouldn't be so loud in public. Adrian smiled at him.

"Well, if you really want to know, I help Gennai with his research, that's all really. My name's Adrian Wyatt, I'm 16 years old and as soon as we're done in Hong Cong I'll be going to your school. Next, I became a Digidestined just after Katrina came back after disappearing for two years. I carry and tan D-3 and I sport the crest of integrity. Oh, and my favorite color is red."

"I…see…" Tai mumbled. "Well, that's interesting. Wait, did you say Wyatt?"

"Yeah," Adrian asked slowly. It then clicked. "Oh God, don't tell me Katrina's been talking about my mom?"

Tai nodded. "She's not a personal favorite, is she?" Adrian sighed.

"I love my sister. Really, I do. But I just hate it when she's so rude to my mom. She was especially angry when she came back from her long trip to the Digital World and found my mom and dad dating."

"Lay off," Tai said, calmly. "Give her time. She still thinks that her mom's coming back."

Adrian stared out of the window. "Yeah…I know." Tai smiled. Silence followed afterwards and soon Adrian fell asleep looking out of the window. Soon, Tai started dozing off until words filled his ears.

"Excuse me? Hey! Flight attendant! Yes, I need a new package of peanuts! Why? Because these ones aren't properly salted!"

Tai sat up, making Adrian jerk awake.

"'S matter, Tai?" Adrian yawned.

"It's nothing," Tai said, kneeling on the seat so he can see over the tops of peoples' heads. "Go back to sleep."

"I won't," Adrian argued, getting out of his seat and standing in the aisle to look at Tai. "And what are you looking for?"

"THERE!" Tai shouted, pointing at seats five in front of Jon. Ken jumped as he woke up, while Davis screamed, "Kari, no! Don't go with P.J!" as he woke up.

"Tai!" Adrian said, worried. "We'll get kicked out! And what are you pointing at?"

Davis and Ken swiveled their heads to look in the direction of Tai's pointing finger. Their faces fell as if they had been told they couldn't eat chocolate for the rest of their lives.

"What's she doing here?" Davis exclaimed, jumping into the aisle.

"Stop guys, we're going to get kicked off!" Adrian warned but Ken and Tai were already following Davis. The girl had her eyes closed while she was listening to music. Davis' shadow covered her face.

"Well, it's about time you slow flight-oh!"

The girl's eyes opened and she blushed as she saw them. She yanked off her headphones and smiled.

"Hi guys!" she said, cheerily.

"What are you doing here?" Davis asked, bluntly. The girl tsked.

"Always rushing to conclusions, Davis," she said. Adrian pushed his way to Tai.

"Who is she?" Adrian asked. Ken turned around to look at Adrian.

"Another Digidestined," Ken explained. "Her name's Mimi Tachikawa, and we're wondering what she's doing here."