Chapter 12: Gathering The Troops
Within an hour of returning to the dorms, an announcement came over the dorm intercom system.
"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS: Due to the disaster that occurred in the past hour, dorms on the west side of campus have been destroyed. While we are working to rehome many of the students who lost their dorms, we cannot relocate all of them properly until further notice. Some of you whose dorms were unaffected will be housing extra room mates until we can find new living quarters for them. Thank you."
Tai and Sora, who were still wide awake from the adrenaline of the battle, looked at each other nervously. Agumon and Biyomon, exhausted, were sleeping on their beds.
"Sora, we have to hide the digimon until morning! We can't have strangers seeing them, especially after what just happened!" Tai said, freaking out. Sora nodded in agreement, but was freaking out as well.
"Well where can we put them? There's no space in this room!" Sora shouted, moving items and furniture around.
"The only real place we can put them is under the covers, Sora! At least maybe they'll just look like pillows or something…" Tai said, covering the sleeping digimon with his quilt. Sora sighed and nodded.
"You're right. We only have to be here for a few more hours anyways… I guess we just wait until it's time to go or we get new roommates..." Sora said, her voice trailing off. Tai looked at her with a pained expression.
"Well, we aren't going to be able to fool around for a while…" Tai whispered, looking down. She frowned at him, angry that he would even be thinking about that right now.
"Tai, a zombie digimon just came through and destroyed half of our campus, and that's what you're worried about? You're so immature sometimes it actually disgusts me." Sora said with venom in her tone. Tai felt anger bubbling within him, but his brain told him that Sora was right. He hung his head.
"...You're right. I'm sorry." Tai said, trying to hold back tears. It seemed as if all of the sudden his amazing college experience had turned from heaven to hell in a matter of a few hours. Sora could see his tears welling in his eyes, and sat down next to him and rubbed his back gently.
"...I'm sorry too, Tai. I shouldn't be so hard on you. We're both going through this together. Matt and Izzy aren't having an easy time with this either, I imagine…" Sora said, trying to comfort him. Suddenly, Tai's phone rang.
"Hello?" Tai answered.
"Tai! It's Kari. I'm with TK, we just saw the news and it looked like a digimon attacked your campus, are you all ok?" Tai's whole face lit up hearing his sister on the other line. He put the phone on speaker.
"Yes, we're ok Kari. I'm here with Sora right now, Matt and Izzy are in their dorms. We're all ok. We managed to push the digimon back into the digi-port, but something's not right in the digiworld…" Tai explained, trailing off. Sora picked up where Tai left off.
"Hi guys, it's Sora. According to Izzy, there seems to be a zombie apocalypse of some sorts happening in the digiworld right now We're planning on heading to the digiworld in a few hours if you care to join." Sora explained. There was silence over the phone for a second, then a small giggle.
"Heh… We will be there. Sorry for asking a weird question at a bad time but why is Sora at an all boy's school?" TK said over the line, trying not to giggle again. Sora and Tai groaned.
"We don't have time to explain that. Gather your digivices and we're gonna try to get ahold of Joe and Mimi. I know they're a long shot to get here, but it's worth a shot." Tai explained.
"Ok sounds good! We will be there in about two hours!" Kari said. Before the phone line clicked off, another giggle was heard followed by a yelp of pain. The line then clicked off, and Tai himself chuckled at that one.
"Ok so we're getting more team members to come, this is good. But how are we gonna contact Joe or Mimi?" Sora asked, puzzled about the situation. Just then, there was a knock at the door. Tai and Sora looked at each other worriedly, but went to get the door. When they opened it, they were in shock.
"Joe? What are you doing here!?" Tai said in shock, and ran to hug him. The tall, gangly young adult Joe was taken aback by Tai's embrace.
"Well, I do go here for graduate school, you know. I didn't know this is where you guys chose to start your freshman year at, but I'm sure glad I got assigned to temporarily bunk here!" Joe explained with a smile.
"Joe, we're so glad you're here. We're preparing to go into the digiworld, something terrible's been happening there, and the more teammates we have the better!" Sora exclaimed, happily. Joe looked confused, tried to wipe his glasses clean, and squinted at Sora.
"Sora, what are you doing here? I thought they didn't let girls in here." Joe said, matter-of-factly. Sora and Tai groaned once again.
"I'm here because I didn't want to be without all my friends. End of story, Joe. Now, can we focus on the issues at hand?" Sora said, begrudgingly. Joe chuckled and nodded.
"Matt and Izzy go here too, they're just down the hall. They'll be meeting up with us in about two hours so we can go to the digital world, and Kari and TK are coming too." Tai explained. Joe sighed.
"Ugh, this digimon attack is so inconvenient. I have six tests next week, and I know I'm going to miss them to help you guys out. I couldn't even come help when the attack happened because that weird looking Leomon tore down the stairs for my building. I was stuck in there!" Joe complained, and the others laughed.
"Joe, your tests are definitely going to be postponed. Don't worry about it." Sora said with a laugh. Joe glared at her.
"Yeah sure, like you know…" Joe said, trailing off. Just then, Tai's phone went off again and he picked it up.
"Yo, it's Matt. You guys getting ready to go? TK called me a little while ago and said him and Kari are coming too." Matt explained over the phone.
"Yeah, we're going to gather some food and other stuff to bring with us. And you won't believe who our temporary roommate is!" Tai said happily.
"Oh really? Who is it?" Matt said, now interested. Tai handed the phone to Joe, who was not expecting to talk.
"U-Uh, hi Matt, it's Joe." Joe said, stammering.
"Holy crap! Joe! It's so good to know you're here, I'm glad you're ok!" Matt said happily. Joe, too nervous to speak on the phone, handed it back to Tai.
"Heh, he's too shy to speak more than a hello. But have you guys been able to contact Mimi? Sora tried calling her home phone earlier but it went straight to voicemail." Tai explained to Matt. Matt laughed.
"Well, you're not gonna believe who's in our dorm right-" Matt was cut off by a shrill shriek.
"HI GUYS! IT'S MIMI! DID YOU MISS MEEEE?" Mimi screamed over the phone, causing Tai to throw the phone across the room. Sora quickly ran to pick it up.
"Meems! Oh my god I missed you soooo much! What are you doing here?" Sora said, gushing over the phone. Mimi giggled.
"Well, I was already planning to visit Izzy sometime this week, so I guess it's a good thing I decided to come back yesterday! I got here about an hour ago from the airport, and Izzy explained everything to me so I'm deff totally down to help out!" Mimi said cheerfully.
"Aww how cute, Mimi! I didn't know you and Izzy were so close! But we're gonna be meeting up with Kari and TK in about an hour, so make sure that you're ready!" Sora exclaimed.
"Alrighty! Me and my six bags of luggage are ready to go!" Mimi said cheerfully. Sora laughed and groaned.
"Ok Mimi, see you soon!"