Arriving into the digital world was strange and slightly comforting. After finding the digimon the comfort dissipated. The digimon had no idea who they were and Tai was frustrated. They had to start all over and it was weighing on the leaders mind. He watched the group as they slept and Tai pondered what the best course of action would be. He looked at agumon and though he was there physically, but he still felt his partner was miles away. Tai once again glanced over the group. Sora was missing and Tai stood curious as to where she had gone. He locked eyes with Matt who was standing and the two made their way silently through the woods. Matt stopped and Tai frowned when he nearly walked into him. He then looked over Matts shoulder and saw Sora sitting on a log by the stream. The two sat on either side of her and Tai frowned seeing Sora was clearly upset about something.
"What's wrong?" Tai asked breaking the ice. Matt shot him a dirty look and Tai gave it right back. Sora remained silent and Tai felt uncomfortable in the silence.
"Sora?" He tried again and saw Matts eyes flicker in his direction. Tai looked to the running water frustrated.
What does Matt know? at least I'm trying.
He thought bitterly to himself. Tai watched a log move along the river. He then stood up
"agumon?!" Tai saw agumon sleeping on the moving log. He quickly ran into the water and scooped his sleeping partner off the log.
"Agumon! Wake up." Tai exclaimed and Agumon stirred in Tai's arms and sleepily mumbled
"am I catching fish?" Tai chuckled at his partner,
"how are you still hungry?" He mused. He felt closer to Agumon in this moment and smiled at his friend. He heard someone stand and turned to see Sora walking away from himself agumon and Matt. Matt stood up and followed Sora and Tai quickly turned to his partner.
"Head on back to the others without me buddy." He placed Agumon on the ground and was quick to catch up to Matt. Tai was quiet walking next to Matt. He and Matt didn't always see eye to eye but since the digimon had returned they had been butting heads even more than usual. Tai focused his attention away from Matt and onto Sora. He furrowed his brow confused why she was so distant. She stopped walking and Tai couldn't stand not knowing what was going on.
"Sora talk to us what's wrong" Tai asked hoping to actually get an answer this time. He saw Matt glare at him but ignored it.
"Just stop following me." Sora said quietly. She looked down at her shoes. Tai raised an eyebrow,
"well were trying to figure out what's wrong." Sora shook her head,
"I don't really know." She said unsure. Tai didn't understand,
"so, cheer up then." He tried and Matt rounded on him,
"hey! Stop being insensitive!" Tai threw his hands up,
"well jeez Matt I'm trying!" Tai said frustrated. Matt shook his head,
"maybe I should ask TK." He said and Tai growled. Sora suddenly huffed,
"no one cares." She mumbled and that got Tai's attention.
"Uhmm, Sora you're always looking after everyone else." He tried and Sora shook her head.
"No one ever asks me how I am. It's like, I don't know." She went quiet and Tai frowned,
"You need to take care of yourself Sora. We don't, I guess think about checking on you. You do such a good job of looking after everyone else. You should make sure you're happy." Tai shrugged trying to make Sora feel better. Sora suddenly started to shake and Tai could see tears falling down her cheeks. He cringed,
"You sound like Biyomhon." She kept her head down as she spoke and then looked up.
"leave me alone guys." She then took off away from them. Tai went wide eyed and felt Matt at his side as he took off after Sora. The boys ran and Tai cursed Sora for being so athletic. Suddenly she stopped and Tai quickly felt why. The ground under their feet started to shake and Tai quickly looked around for the source. Meicoomon suddenly darted past and Tai went wide eyed,
"Meicoomon?!" Matt shouted and Tai turned to his friend
"Matt?" Tai asked and Matt quickly pointed,
"over there." Tai followed Matts finger and saw he was pointing at something growing behind the bushes. Tai quickly clenched his fists prepared to fight. He saw Machinedromon rise out of the ground. Machinedromon started to light up and Tai realized he was ready to attack. The light got brighter and Tai noticed the light was aimed directly at Sora.
"SORA!" Tai yelled and he heard Matt yell the same. The two then tackled their friend to the ground and the attack missed them by a hair. Tai removed his arm from Sora and turned to look at Machinedromon. He grabbed Sora's arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Run!" He yelled at Matt and Sora and pushed Sora towards Matt. Matt ran ahead pulling Sora along and Tai took a minute to look back at Machinedromon. The digimon was on the move and Tai knew he had to get back to the others. He then turned and ran to catch up to Sora and Matt. Tai quickly ran back to the others and saw everyone else was standing with their stuff and their partners. Tai ran over to agumon and faced the group. He made a quick survey seeing no one was hurt. He then heard trees crashing and looked to see machinedromon approaching. Tai knew it might not work but he didn't care. He quickly whipped his digivice out of his pocket and pointed it to agumon.
"Come on Agumon! Digivolve!" He quickly saw Agumons eyes bug out and all of Tai's hope was drained. He heard Matt yell to gabumon and Tai quietly prayed Gabumon would digivolve. He heard Izzy shout to tentomon.
"Please!" "Please isn't gonna make it happen!" Tentomon exclaimed and Tai felt all of his power disappear. He heard Machinedromon yell
"Giga Cannon!" And Tai heard the others scream. He stared at Agumon and reached to his partner just as his partner suddenly disappeared.
Tai was standing in the woods. He checked himself over and couldn't understand how he was okay.
"Tai?" Tai turned and saw Gabumon standing behind him
"Gabumon?" He asked unsure if he was seeing things. Gabumon went shy and Tai smirked at the little digimon.
"Where's Matt?" The digimon asked and Tai smiled.
"I'm not sure." Tai then looked out into the trees. He cupped his mouth and yelled,
"Agumon?! Kari?!" He looked around hoping to hear a reply. He heard the bushes next to him rustle and Tai quickly turned worried it was a digimon looking to attack. Suddenly a white ball flew into the air and Tai put his arms out as a digimon flew into them. Tai looked at the white ball in his arms,
"Salamon?" He was confused why Salamon had jumped at him so aggressively,
"Kari! She won't wake up!" The little digimon explained. Tai suddenly panicked and looked at Salamon sternly, "where is she?" Salamon jumped to the ground and started moving. Tai quickly called to Gabumon,
"Gabumon let's go!" Tai ran after salamon and didn't even care if Gabumon was behind him.
He ran into a small clearing and saw his sister leaning against a tree. He approached her slowly as he saw her chest rise and fall slowly. He felt releaved and crouched down in front of her.
"Kari?" He spoke softly and he saw her slowly open her eyes. Tai smiled and stuck his hand out.
"Glad you're okay kiddo." He said lightly. He was about to look around for any sign of anyone else when he noticed something odd about Kari. She did not grab his hand but what was stranger was the colour in her face. She was pale and her eyes seemed tired and lifeless.
"Kari?" Tai asked red flags rising in his brain.
"Where are the others? Are they okay?" Kari's question caused Tai to re-focus on the others and push his brotherly concerns to the back of his mind. They needed to locate the others and make sure no one was hurt. The two siblings started to walk and Tai was determined to find signs of the others.
Walking was weighing on Tai's mind, they weren't finding signs of the others and the longer he and Kari walked the more he wondered just what the point was of him being there. He stared at his feet and felt defeated.
"Are we ever gonna find Matt?" Gabumon spoke and Tai slightly noticed it was the first time any of them had spoken all day.
"Tai?" Kari's voice was faint while Tai stared up at a rock wall seeing a whole bunch of TV's.
"Are we even needed?" Tai spoke to the TVs and heard his sister speak softly behind him.
"Tai, maybe we need to look at this from a different light. Maybe the reboot is good. Salamon seems happier and..." she stopped and Tai didn't look back at her.
"Maybe we need to accept them as they are now. In order to move forward." Tai turned to look at Kari. He studied her a moment. His sister was always more level headed then he was but there was something about her words that reminded him of his red flags. She seemed to be hinting at more than the digimon. Tai spoke carefully to his sister,
"Kari?" Suddenly the sky above crackled. Tai looked up and saw Sora running.
"Sora!" He yelled and the distortion swallowed him.