Author's Note: Here I go with another quick update before the homework pours in and a big thank you to Digi Yo and Azure-Wulfe for reviewing!

Drowned Out

Chapter Four

The morning sunshine gently crept through the window of Matt's bedroom illuminated the floor with a soft, golden glow.

A pounding throb in his temples awakened Matt, and seeing the bright sunlight only seemed to add more agitation to the headache, making his eyes squint in retaliation.

As he started to get up, Matt found that his limbs were still stiff from yesterday and they contracted with pain, slowing down his movements.

I must have slept funny or something, he thought to himself, but that doesn't explain this killer headache.

Ignoring both pains, the blonde changed out of his pajamas and clad in his green school uniform and quickly combed his hair before leaving the room.

Arriving in the kitchen, he saw his father reading the newspaper at the table while drinking a mug of coffee.

Hiroaki looked up from the headlines, "Good morning, Matt."

Matt almost opened his mouth to greet his father but remembered his condition. Instead, he smiled weakly and waved.

His father handed out a notepad and a pencil.

"Here," he said, offering it to Matt, "This ought to help."

Matt took both items and wrote, 'What do you want for breakfast, Dad?' and handed the notepad back to the older man.

"Hmmm…how about fried bacon and eggs?" Hiroaki suggested.

Matt nodded in agreement and got started.

While he was cooking the food, their combined scent assaulted his nostrils. He could practically smell the grease coming off of the bacon. This only intensified his headache even more and now; a new sensation was beginning to unravel.

Matt fought back a growing wave of nausea, but the smell of breakfast cooking was tempting his stomach to spill its contents. Even looking at it provoked the need to. But then suddenly, it passed, allowing Matt to continue without getting queasy.

While Hiroaki enjoyed his cooked breakfast, Matt only picked at his food.

He wasn't even looking at it.

Matt helped himself to a glass of water and an aspirin instead to combat the headache.

"Aren't you going to eat, Son?" Hiroaki asked, noticing that Matt hasn't eaten a bite. "Are you not hungry?"

The Bearer of Friendship nodded.

Hiroaki took a glance at his watch, "Well, we better get going, Matt or else we'll both be late."

Now back at school, Matt tried to act as normal as possible despite his aphonic condition. Unfortunately, the rumors about him were spreading throughout the school and he could hear the faint gossips that were whispered as he walked past other students.

"Who does Matt think he is?"

"Ever since his kidnapping, he now suddenly feels like he's better than us?!"

"He's so rude, giving people the cold shoulder!"

Ignoring it as more thoughts mixed inside of him, Matt wasn't watching where he was going until he bumped into someone.

And that someone was Sora.

"Matt!" she exclaimed, a little surprised.

Matt felt his face grow hot as he blushed with embarrassment. He quickly turned away, not wanting to look at the auburn-haired girl after his clumsy run-in with her.

"Hey, Tai!" she called out, "I found him!"

In a quick flash over a sea of students, Tai appeared before the two.

"More so, he ran into me." Sora stated.

The bushy-haired teen chuckled at his childhood friend's statement.

"And I thought Joe was a klutz."

Tai then cleared his throat.

"Anyway, but that's not why we were looking for you, Matt." Tai said more seriously, "T.K. told us about what happened to you. And we're really sorry but that doesn't mean that we can't help!"

"We promise to be there for you, Matt," added Sora, "All of us."

The bell soon rang, and the three of them quickly hurried off to class.

When school was finally over, Matt realized that he hadn't seen his bandmates since the kidnapping.

I need to find them, he thought, we've got to somehow sort things out about the concert!

Gathering his belongings and heading out the classroom, Matt saw the other three members head out towards the music hall and silently followed them.

As he neared the shut door, Matt caught a glimpse of his bandmates from the door window and leaned his ear against the door and began to listen in on them.

Akira gritted his teeth in frustration. "The concert's coming up soon, and now Matt's voiceless!"

"I'm sure that once his voice recovers," Takashi assured, "then we would-"

"But what if he never gets his voice back, Takashi," questioned Yutaka, "and then what do we do?"

"I'll tell you what," Akira said bitterly, "the Teenage Wolves are done for, that's what!"

Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing as the argument escalated in volume.

The blonde was just about to barge into the music hall, when he heard a loud smack coming from inside. Peering from the window, Matt saw Akira sitting on the floor, nursing his cheek with Takashi standing over him with a clenched fist.

"Akira, you have no idea what Matt has gone through the past few weeks." Takashi said sternly.

"The kidnapping was too much for him," Yutaka added, "This is one way of how the mind deals with things like that."

The realization set in as Akira slowly got up.

"You guys are right," he admitted, "I haven't been-Matt!"

The other two band members turned to see their lead singer coming into the room.

"You heard every word, didn't you?" asked Yutaka.

Matt nodded and turned to Akira.

"I'm so sorry, Matt," Akira said, hanging his head, "I've turned into such a selfish jerk. I…I guess I let the band's success get to me and I completely forgot that our band was successful because of our friendship."

Matt placed a hand on Akira's shoulder and smiled.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked nervously.

The blonde nodded.

"So, what's the plan for the concert then if your voice hasn't recovered?" questioned Yutaka, "because I'm sure that the four of us could think of something but it's entirely up to you, Matt."

Pulling out the notepad, Matt wrote down his plan and presented it to the trio.

Akira was skeptical. "Are you sure about this, man?"

Yutaka and Takashi were nodding in agreement with Akira as their eyes doubled-checked every word that was written.

Matt gave a firm nod and with a wave headed out the door.

Takashi sighed, "I guess that we're going to have to trust him on this one."

Leaving the music hall and continuing down the empty hallway, Matt's headache returned with a vengeance. The throbbing increased tenfold, becoming more painful with every sound he heard, no matter how faint it was.

Once I make it home, I'm going to bed…I can do this.

Just as he was about to exit the school, his cell phone started to vibrate uncontrollably. Annoyed, Matt reluctantly opened the phone, reading the sent text message.

It's from T.K. and he wants me to go with him to the Digital World with Davis, Ken and the others to pay a visit to Gabumon.

Matt smiled at the idea but then hesitated at the thought of telling Gabumon the news.

No, he needs to know too!

The Bearer of Friendship quickly texted a reply back to T.K. and managed to make it in perfect time to meet up with the younger group.

"Glad you could make it, Bro!" greeted T.K.

Matt winced against the pounding in his temple at his brother's tone but managed to cover it up.

"You ready to go, Matt?" Davis asked.

With a confirmed nod, the group held out their digivices and vanished into the computer screen in a flash of light which was pure torture for Matt.

Entering the Digital World left Matt feeling very light-headed. As the aching in his temple pulsated even more, it felt like his head was going to split open from the pain. He suddenly clutched his stomach, fighting back the urge to vomit until it subsided.

Sighing in relief, he noticed Kari walk up towards him with a worried expression.

"Are you alright, Matt?" she asked, looking up at the older blonde, "You seem a little pale."

T.K. joined her and saw that Kari was right, his brother had gone at least two shades lighter in skin color.

"Maybe, we should go home, Matt," T.K. suggested, "we could see Gabumon anytime and you look like you might be coming down with something."

But Matt shook his head defiantly.

"See, T.S., he's fine," stated Davis, "besides, there has been a bug going around school and Jun just happened to catch it!"

"Humans catch bugs?" asked Veemon, with wide eyes.

"That's just an expression." Cody answered back.

T.K. almost snapped at the goggle head but was stopped by his older brother, saying in writing that he would be fine.

"Alright then," T.K. sighed, "Lead the way, Davis."

As they traveled on foot, Matt's strength was beginning to waver, but he stubbornly ignored the growing exhaustion that had been slowly consuming him. He began to shiver, wrapping his school jacket tighter around him despite the Digital World's mild climate.

I've got to keep going, he thought, gritting his teeth against the pain that numbed his entire body, I just got to!

His nose suddenly started to itch and despite his best efforts to try and hold it in, Matt sneezed violently twice, immediately getting the attention of the younger Digidestined to his dismay.

"Bless you." They said in union.

Davis scratched the back of his head, "I always thought that mute people couldn't make any noise at all!"

"Actually, they can," Ken stated to the spikey-haired boy, "Sneezing doesn't require vocal cords to make a sound. It's merely a sudden burst of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth."

"Well, you can't hide it anymore, Matt." T.K. confirmed, "You're sick."

When Matt only sniffled in response, T.K. dug into his pocket offering a handkerchief to his brother, who took it.

"It looks like he has a bad cold." observed a concerned Yolei. "A very bad cold."

Before anyone else could have a word, both T.K. and Kari took Matt by the wrists.

"We're going home," T.K. told Matt firmly, "I don't want you getting worse out here."

Kari nodded in complete agreement, knowing all too well when she fell ill in the Digital World, with only a cool washcloth on her forehead to combat the fever that scorched her body though she was able to fight it off. But when the Bearer of Light looked up at the older blonde a second time, she could plainly see his illness taking its effects on his body.

"Let's fly back to the T.V. portal," the short-haired brunette suggested, "We could get there much faster than on foot."

T.K. pulled out his D-3. "That's a good idea, Kari."

Shouting the given command, Patamon and Gatomon armor-digivolved into Pegasusmon and Nefertimon. They took to the air, with Matt riding with T.K. and were joined in the sky with ExVeemon, Stingmon, and Aquilamon with their human partners. Retracing their steps, the Digidestined quickly found their way of entry and vanished back into the computer room.

-To be continued…