Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: I'll give you a hint for Ryoko's digimon. His partner has ice attacks! I'll be updating My Best Friend's Girlfriend next so this story won't have another update till next week. Just to let you know. Also, thanks to all of the reviewers who may not be fond of the couples I chose, but are still enjoying my story. Now that's what I call a real Digimon fan!
Following the Footsteps of Destiny
Chapter 30: Like Fire And Ice
Takara 'Kara' Kamiya
Odaiba, Japan, Earth
"Taysuke, is there a reason why you're sticking to me like glue?" Takara asked, giving her younger brother a look.
School had ended about five minutes ago, and Taysuke had not left her side since catching up with her in the hallway.
Now that she thought about it, Taysuke and his friends had been keeping a rather close eye on herself and the others in the lunchroom earlier, as well.
I wonder what they're up to. I know they occasionally sit with us at lunch, but today they stayed for the whole lunch hour, and they were watching us like hawks.
"No," Taysuke replied, watching her closely. "I just thought that we could walk home together. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," she replied, glancing around the hallway in search of Dai or one of the others. "Only I'm not going home.I'm going to go play soccer with Dai and the rest of my friends."
"Can I come, too?" Taysuke promptly asked.
She came to a stop in the hallway and tried not to let out a loud groan. Normally she did not have a problem with Taysuke wanting to hang out with her, but they were planning on going to the Digital World that afternoon so Taysuke's presence was out of the question.
"Listen, Tay. I'd love for you to come along, but we kind of made plans for just the six of us. How about next time?"
Taysuke stared at her and finally nodded. "Okay. Promise you won't forget?"
"I promise."
She turned to leave and spotted Dai coming towards her with Ema right on his heels.
"Will you leave me alone?" Dai shouted, glaring at his younger cousin and looking very annoyed.
"What's going on?" Takara asked, glancing at Ema and giving Dai a curious look.
"Hi, Takara!" Ema said cheerfully, her dark eyes sparkling with determination. "Dai hasn't been acting like a very good cousin lately. He never wants to spend any time with me."
"I told you! I'm busy today!" Dai said, sounding exasperated.
"You could let me come play soccer with you," Ema said innocently.
Takara frowned and glanced at her brother who was rolling his eyes at Ema.
Ema and Tay are definitely up to something. I wonder what they want from us.
"No way! I've got better things to do with my time than listen to you whine and complain. You don't even like soccer all that much! Why would you want to spend a whole afternoon playing a sport you're not particularly fond of?" Dai demanded.
"Is it a crime to want to spend some time with my cousin?" Ema asked.
"That's it! I'm out of here! Come on, Kara. Lets go!" Dai said, grabbing her hand and racing for the nearest set of stairs.
"I'm really sorry, Tay! I'll see you later!" she called out.
"You can't get away from us that easily!" Ema shouted.
Takara let out a sigh as Ema and Taysuke started to chase after them.
"Now what, Dai? They're never going to leave us alone!" she said, hurrying to keep up with him.
Dai glanced over her shoulder and groaned. "We're going to have to outrun them. If your brother and the others find out about the Digital World, then we're going to be in big trouble. Come on. We have longer legs than they do. We should have no problem getting away from them!"
"Wait up!" Taysuke called out, almost tripping over Ema on the stairs.
"This way," Dai muttered, turning quickly to the right and racing down the hallway into another smaller corridor.
He pulled her into the nearest classroom on the left hand side of the hall and slammed the door shut with a sigh of relief.
A moment later they heard Ema and Taysuke run past.
"That was definitely too close for comfort!" Takara gasped, leaning against the door and trying to catch her breath.
"Do you get the feeling that Ema and her friends are following us?" Dai asked, leaning against the door next to her. "They've been hanging around us all day."
"Yeah, I noticed that, too. They're definitely suspicious of us."
"Why? They can't possibly know about the Digital World yet, can they?" Dai asked, looking a little worried.
She shook her head. "No, but they definitely think we're up to something. Taysuke was acting really suspicious of me and Ryoko when we showed up late for his soccer game a couple of days ago. I could tell he didn't believe our excuse about your practice."
"Great. As if we didn't have enough to worry about with our parents being suspicious of us. Now we have to worry about Ema and the others, too?"
"It looks that way, doesn't it?"
"I guess we shouldn't really be surprised. It was bound to happen. Come on, lets get to the computer room before Ishida flips out on me!" Dai said with a laugh.
Takara realized that she was still holding his hand and blushed. "Okay. We had better watch out for Taysuke and Ema, though. They might still be hanging around waiting for us," she replied, feeling suddenly shy.
They started for the computer room in silence, and she gazed at Dai in shock. He still had not let go of her hand. It was only when they reached the computer room door that he finally let go.
Luckily Tay and Ema were nowhere to be seen.
"Where were you two?" Ryoko demanded, the second they entered the room.
Takara felt her face turn pink and quickly looked away from her blond friend.
"Dai, you're here!" DemiEmbermon cheered, leaping into his partner's arms.
"Well?" Ryoko asked impatiently.
The blond was sitting next to Sam on a desk, and he did not look too happy at the moment.
"Sorry. We would have been here sooner if it hadn't been for Ema and Taysuke," Dai replied, stroking DemiEmbermon's head.
Matty looked up from his seat at the computer and frowned. "Were they trying to follow you guys here?"
Takara stared at her cousin in surprise and exchanged a look with Dai. "How did you know?"
"Kenzo and Taniko tried to follow the rest of us here," the older twin replied, before Matty had a chance to answer.
Mickey was sitting on the floor feeding Goldmon and Palelymon. His eyes were filled with concern, and he looked worried.
"They're suspicious because of our absence from Taysuke's soccer game," Ryoko said, turning to look at her.
She nodded in agreement. "That's what I figured. We're going to have to be more careful around them from now on. I have a feeling that they're going to be watching our every move."
"We'd all better make sure that they don't see us coming into this computer room," Sam said quietly. "If they catch sight of our digimon, we're toast."
"No kidding. Ema would go straight to my parents!" Dai grumbled.
"We'll worry about that later. Lets get going. We've wasted enough time already," Ryoko said, glaring at Dai as if it was his fault.
"Where exactly are we going?" Matty asked. He got up from his seat at the computer and leaned down to stroke Goldmon's ears.
They all turned to look at Dai, and the goggle headed leader jumped in surprise. "Oh...um...well, I was thinking that we should probably go to Server first. That little digimon is all by himself, and I would hate for the bad guys to get to him before we do. At least the other two digimon are closer together in case there's any trouble and one of their guards needs help."
"I agree," Mickey said softly, getting to his feet.
They all gathered around the computer and stared at it for a moment.
"Okay...um...now what?" Matty asked, holding Goldmon tightly in his arms.
"Now we just have to trust that the gate will take us to where we want to go," Sam replied. "That's what Leomon said, remember?"
"Yeah, right," Dai said, holding out his D-Coder. He looked a little surprised that everyone had agreed to go along with his idea so quickly. For once, even Ryoko had not argued with him. "Okay...um...you, gate, take us to Server."
Nothing happened.
"Pathetic," Ryoko muttered, rolling his eyes and nudging Dai out of the way of the computer. "Do I always have to do everything around here?"
"I don't recall asking for your help, Ishida, now move it or-"
"Alright," Ryoko said, holding out his D-Coder and ignoring Dai. "Send us to Server! Digiport open!"
The map on the screen changed, and there was a sudden flash of bright light.
Takara glanced at Dai and sighed. I hope we can manage to keep everyone out of trouble this time!
The red light on the gate turned green, and they disappeared into the computer.
Ryoko Ishida
Server, Eastern Hemisphere, Digital World
Ryoko opened his eyes and found himself lying flat on his face next to Dai. He slowly lifted his head and stared at the landscape in amazement. They were surrounded by rocks, and the sun was shining brightly above them. He and the others had fallen on the hard rocky ground which explained why his body hurt so much.
"Of course! Digiport open! I knew I was forgetting something!" Dai groaned, rolling over onto his back and smacking himself in the forehead.
"Well, you tried!" Embermon said cheerfully, patting Dai's foot.
Ryoko smiled at Dai and reached out to pull the goggle headed leader to his feet.
"See? You're not so great after all!" Dai muttered, giving him a dirty look.
"I never said I was," he replied, letting go of his friend's arm and shaking his head in amusement.
He expected Dai to make a rude comment, but instead the goggle headed leader just laughed.
"Shut up," Dai replied, smiling slightly and elbowing him in the side.
He turned to find Takara watching them with a smile on her face and frowned.
"What's up with her?" he murmured, leaning close to Dai so that they would not be overheard.
Dai turned to look at Takara, and his face paled slightly.
"Daichi?" he asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder and feeling concerned. Why does he look so worried?
"Nothing's up," Dai replied.
The goggle headed leader's voice was rather sharp, and Ryoko stared at him in surprise. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay! What kind of a stupid question is that?" Dai snapped.
Ryoko pulled away from him, feeling hurt, but Dai caught his arm and pulled him close again.
"Um...thanks for asking, though," the goggle headed leader mumbled, blushing furiously and looking a little guilty.
Ryoko lowered his eyes to the ground and smiled. I will change your mind about me, Dai, even if it takes forever.
He had always wondered what it would feel like to have a best friend. He knew that he was sometimes hard to get along with, and he hoped someday that someone would finally be able to understand him.
I can't change who I am, and I have a bad feeling that that's going to ruin my chances of ever finding a best friend.
Takara was like a sister to him, and the rest of the Digidestined were like a part of his family. His twin cousins were amazing, and he knew that they loved him, but there was still one part of the puzzle missing. There was only one problem. Everytime he thought about having a best friend, his thoughts always came back to Dai.
Yeah right. Dai's the last person who would ever want to be best friends with me. We're way too different. He'll never accept me for who I am. I must be going crazy or something. Why would I ever want him for a best friend? He's loud, annoying, obnoxious, and he always wants to have his own way. I just can't stand people like him!
So then why did thinking about Dai always hurt so much?
"We're stuck at the bottom of a canyon!" Matty shouted, interrupting his thoughts. "Who's bright idea was it to put a gate down here?"
Ryoko laughed as Matty gave the small television a dark look.
"We must be down here for a reason," Sam said, frowning at the landscape. The raven haired Digidestined had been rather quiet since coming back from the Digital World yesterday, and Ryoko was worried about him.
I hope he's not thinking too much about what Andromon had said. I'm sure it can't be anything that bad. Andromon would have told us if it was something that would put anyone of us in danger.
"Do you think this is really the continent of Server?" Mickey asked, glancing anxiously at the rocks.
"Of course it is!" Halomon said happily, hopping across the large boulders with Celestimon and trying not to fall off. "You heard Leomon. The gates always take you exactly where you want to go!"
"That's right!" Celestimon added. The little rookie accidentally stumbled into Halomon, and the two digimon fell off of the rocks with a loud crash.
Both digimon burst into giggles, and Matty raised his eyebrows.
"Completely insane!" the younger twin muttered, shaking his head in amusement.
"Oh yeah? Well if this is Server, then where is this digimon we're suppose to be looking for?" Dai demanded.
Ryoko jumped as his Digivice gave off a sudden loud beep. He held it up in his hand, and it gave off a flash of blue light. Bright blue mist started to seep out of his D-Coder and slowly formed into a large arrow which hovered in the air.
It's my digimon partner! I'm finally going to get a chance to meet him!
Ryoko smiled softly, his heart filling with happiness, and he pointed to the entrance of a cave that he had not even noticed earlier.
"Any more questions?" he asked, giving Dai a small smile.
Dai quickly shook his head, and they started for the cave's entrance.