I know, 'It's about time Gayle!'. I know. Sorry it took so long. I wanted to get all my information in the chapter and it ended up being 24 pages long. My mistake, but I'm not cutting in half this time. You guys'll just have to read it!
Well, It's 12:46 here, I'm off to bed. Enjoy!
(Kari's POV)
'You trust him, don't you?' said Karakin in my head as I paced the street.
"Why is it such a big deal?" I asked.
'You're letting yourself open to him. I can't let you do that.'
"But Why?" I asked in frustration.
'You've trusted to many people in your past. Many of them have let you down, hurt you, like your father.' Said Karakin.
"That's one person." I argued.
'And your friends on the Cheer team, the classmates who've pinned you to walls, the kids who have singled you out and humiliated you… who knows? Maybe even your digidestined friends.' Said Karakin.
I flinched each time as she listed the ones who tried to hurt me in my earlier ears. When she finished, I had stopped and my shoulders were sagging sadly.
"Okay, okay I get it." I said finally.
'Remember, Kari. Your worst enemy is the people you trust.' Said Karakin. I was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Kari! Hey, what's up?" asked Davis as he and Cody walked up to me.
I looked over at them unsmilingly.
"What's the matter?" asked Cody.
I looked at them, then I heard more voices from behind the hedge.
T.K and Sonya came around the corner.
"Nothing…." I said as I watched them.
I picked up my bag and left the others behind.
"Hey, wait up Kari!" said T.K, running to catch up with me.
"What's wrong?" He asked. I didn't answer.
"Kari?" asked Sonya, coming up behind us. I turned my head to look at her, but felt Karakin jerk it back forward.
"What's the matter Kari?" asked T.K worriedly, trying to keep up with me.
"Nothing, go away!" I said angrily and stormed away.
They stopped in their tracks and stared at me as I rounded the corner to the school.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of black and I turned my head to see what it was, but there was nothing there. I turned my head back and continued to the school.
---
(T.K's POV)
"What could be wrong with her?" asked Sonya.
"I don't know. We came and she was standing there talking to herself." Said Cody.
"Talking to herself?" I asked.
"Yeah. I didn't hear what she was saying really, but she sounded upset." Cody answered.
"I hope she's okay." Said Davis, looking to the corner where Kari turned.
"Let's get going. We don't want to be late for school." I said. The others nodded and we quickly made our way through the thickening crowd to the school.
The bell rang just as we entered the foyer.
"I wonder what's going on?" Cody thought aloud.
"I'll ask her in first period. If she doesn't answer, we'll just have to wait until she cools down." I said. Sonya nodded and we headed to our designated classes.
Sonya, Cody and I were walking to the art room when we saw Gayle and Lieko walking in unision with sketch pads in their faces.
"Dude, I so can't friggin' draw anime!" Gayle cried in frustration as she looked at Leiko's sketchpad.
"You'll get the hang of it. I can't draw real people like you can, so quit complaining." Said Leiko.
"Leiko, the main reason we're here is for the MANGA art. Not Boris Vallejo art." Gayle argued.
"Whatever." Leiko threw her hands in the air.
"What the hell are you fighting over now?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
They looked over and Leiko immediately looked away with a blush.
"Nothing special. I'm just frustrated that I can't do any Japanese art like this chick over here." Gayle pointed over her shoulder to Leiko.
"Whatever." Said Leiko dully.
"Hey, do you know what's eating Kari? She just stormed into the art room without a word." Said Gayle n confusion.
"We don't know." Said Cody. "She's been like that all morning."
"You think she's PMS-ing?" joked Leiko.
"Leiko, that's your answer to everything." Gayle sighed. Leiko hit her over the head.
"Is not!" she yelled.
"You're right, boys are the prior solution to everything." Said Gayle with a sneer.
Suddenly, things started getting heated between them. Leiko got in Gayle's face and they started arguing loudly about the subject.
We took a step back and looked at each other.
"I thought they were best friends." Said Sonya.
I shrugged.
"They must do this often. You two would be perfect as Rod and Nicky in Avenue Q." I said sarcastically.
"Yeah, wouldn't we?" Grinned Gayle, then they went back to their fighting.
"Two minutes till the bell, let's get to class." I said a little loudly so Gayle and Leiko were aware of the time as well. We hurried to the art room before the bell could ring.
Mrs. Takamori walked around the room trying to get everyone situated and settled down before the bell rang.
We saw Kari leaning back in her chair with her knees up and her sketchpad I her lap. She was sketching away angrily.
We sat beside her cautiously.
"Kari, are you alright?" I asked gently. She didn't answer. She continued sketching her energies onto the paper.
I looked over and saw the figure of a girl with long hair and a trench coat. Her eyes were burning and she carried an Axe in her hand.
As usual, it was very realistic and very impressive. Kari's emotion seemed to have been poured into the picture, since it gave the sense of anger.
"Kari, will you talk to me?" I asked.
"About what?" she grumbled.
"Why are you angry?" I questioned.
She stopped for a second, looking ahead of her, then over at me.
"Why do you want to know?" she questioned me. There was a good amount of venom behind her question.
"I'm your friend and I want to help you. I don't like seeing you like this." I said carefully.
She looked at me for barely a second with her usual gentleness, then her eyes suddenly flared.
"Well that's non of your business." She said and went back to her sketchpad.
Cody, Sonya and I looked at each other. We would let her cool off a little before asking again.
Mrs. Takamori came over, noticing Kari's mood.
"What's the matter?" She asked her.
Kari stopped, kept her head still and looked up through her eyelashes at the teacher.
She looked back down without a word and continued her drawing.
Mrs. Takamori was slightly taken aback by Kari's behavior.
"She's in a bad mood. She doesn't want to talk." Said Sonya to Mrs. Takamori. The art teacher nodded and left, making a few glances at the angry girl.
The bell rang and everyone ran to their seats before being marked tardy.
"Alright everyone. We're going to be starting our Manipulation unit today. I'll give you all a week to work on it, it's quite easy. Today you will choose an animal to manipulate and start forming your plan for your project. I have some examples up here if you would like to see them." Said Mrs. Takamori, holding up the examples. One was of a fish jumping from the water and morphing into the scenery behind it.
"You may do yours in color, charcoal, pencil, or pen. Go ahead and get started." She let us go to our assignment. Kari closed her sketchpad and went up to get her plan paper.
"I'll get ours." I said to Cody and Sonya and went up with Kari.
I stood beside Kari as we waited for our turn in line. We didn't look at each other, speak to each other, nothing.
She was very distant, not looking at or speaking to anyone. It worried me, for she would usually be joking with the other class mates, or talking with Mrs. Takamori about potential colleges.
Instead, this. I heard the beginning pelts of rain on the roof of the building. We all looked up at the sound. This was the first rain of the late summer.
We got our paper and went back to our seats Kari stared at her paper blankly and unmoving.
Sonya watched her with worry.
Cody and I tried to start our plans, but our eyes kept drifting back to the brunette.
The period droned on in silence save for the rain. I looked up and saw it was five minutes until the bell rang, so I got the others' attention to put our stuff away. Kari still didn't move. She hadn't moved once since she sat down, as if she had frozen there, thinking.
"Kari, the bell's gonna ring." I said in her ear.
She blinked.
I shrugged and put my things away, then returned to her.
To save her the trouble, I started putting her things into a neat stack in front of her and set her back pack next to it.
"Why do you want to help me?" she asked quietly. "Really?"
I looked at her.
"Why would you ask that? You're my best friend and you know full well I can't stand when you're upset." I answered. She looked up at me with her burning eyes.
"Really?" she asked. She almost looked pleading, desperate in the way she looked at me.
"Kari, what happened? What's making you act like this?" I asked her.
She looked away.
"I'm sorry." She said. She looked like she was close to crying.
I panicked a little and knelt beside her to see her face.
"Hey, Kari, don't be like that. There's nothing to be sorry about." I assured her.
"I can't tell you. I want to, but I can't." she said.
"Tell me what?" I asked gently.
"A lot. But I can't. She won't let me." Said Kari leaning further down so the others couldn't see her face through her hair.
"Who won't let you?" I asked, alarmed.
Kari bit her lip and shook her head.
I held her arms tightly.
"Kari, who won't let you? Is it that girl you were telling me about?" I questioned further.
The bell rang and she picked up her books and left the room.
Sonya and I followed Kari out of the room.
She sped up when she noticed us following her.
"Oy, we're gonna have to trap her." I said.
"You can go after her. I'll meet up with Davis in the Cafeteria until you come back. Suggested Sonya with a small blush.
I raised both eyebrows at this for a moment, staring at her.
Then I gave her my backpack.
"Alright, but if he pulls anything he's dead, got it?" I said. She nodded her head with a smile and took my backpack. She headed to the cafeteria as I ran to catch up with Kari.
"She likes him, too, eh?" Said Kari when I caught up with her.
I was taken aback by the statement.
"Meaning?" I asked.
"Can't you tell? They're totally head over heels for each other." Said Kari as she stuffed her books in her locker.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked away with a pout.
"Yeah, whatever." I grunted.
Kari stood and was about to walk pass me, but I took her hand and pulled her to my chest.
She tensed in my hold, but I didn't let her go. I didn't want to let her go. It felt like forever until we realized that the bell had rung again. I let go of her and smiled at her.
"Smile, please?" I asked gently, lifting her chin up.
She smiled a little and shook her head.
"You tweaker." She joked.
We laughed and walked to G's Class side by side.
---
"Can anyone guess the three people who changed Modern day thinking?" asked G as we wrote down the Daily Questions for the day.
Kari raised her hand.
"Yes, Kari?" G looked over at her.
"Darwin, Freud, and Einstein." She said.
"Yeah, man. Very good!" said G, impressed. "Yes, Darwin, Freud and Einstein. Can anyone tell me why?"
"Darwin came up with the theory of Evolution, despite him being a hardcore Catholic. Einstein came up with the Theory of Relativity, and Freud came up with the theory of the subconscious mind." I said randomly.
G shook his head and laughed.
"You two are on the ball today. Yes, Darwin was in fact a Heavy Catholic, but he perceived that humans could have come from the same animals as Apes."
"We did? That's so cool!" said Gayle with a big grin from the pencil sharpener.
"Yeah, only to you." G said.
"Hey, is that why Humans and Monkey's can breed together?" she asked. The whole class looked at her and started talking loudly about how disgusting the mere thought was.
Kari and I just watched with humor.
"Leave it to Gayle to come up with that." Said G, shaking his head with a laugh.
"It's True! I saw it on Animal Planet!" protested Gayle.
We rolled our eyes.
"Yeah, no more Animal planet for us. Okay, MOVING ON!" everyone finally settled down.
"Einstein said that everything is relative." He slammed his hand on a front desk, making the kid jump. "I'm touching the desk, there's solid proof of that, it can't be argued. But Einstein said that everything worked conditionally. Say I had an Arctic conditioner up behind me here and every time I snapped my fingers it would turn on and give you goose bumps. After a month or so, if I took out the conditioner and fixed up the wall, when you came in and sat down all I would have to do is snap my fingers and you get goose bumps, even though there isn't any cold air." Explained G, snapping his fingers.
"That's what they do in army, Isn't it?" asked another kid.
"In a way, yes. They would break down your mentality and then build you up in similar ways to that." Answered G.
"Now, Freud said that the human mind has a subconscious mind, a darker side to the spirit in a way. That's why people's dreams are really weird, that's the darker subconscious visualizing passed events, people, things like that in a strange way." Said G.
I felt my ears twitch as I listened. This was similar to what Kari and I had gone through. I saw Kari look up interestedly.
"What do you mean by 'darker subconscious'? Like, the unused part of the brain?" she asked.
"Yes, actually. Guys, you know that we only use like, 10 percent of our brains. Some REALLY smart people, like Einstein and Da Vinci, probably used about 15 or 20." Said G. "You see, the theory of the subconscious mind also expands into telepathy. You guys, there have been scientific reports that people who can access almost a hundred percent of their brains can bend spoons with their mind. If that's possible, what else could we do with that mind power? I think, above all, the theory of the subconscious mind is the greatest theory of them all." G concluded.
I sat back, thinking about what G had just said. The topic was on my mind until the bell rang once more.
Kari and I walked down the hallway to Mrs. Maxwell's classroom and saw Sonya walking in the crowd ahead of us.
Kari and I grinned at each other and we walked quickly to Sonya's side. We hooked with her arms and spun her around, making her scream in surprise. When she saw it was us, she stared for a moment, then sighed. Kari and I continued laughing.
"I'm sorry, we couldn't resist!" I said pulling Sonya into a playful hug.
"Can you do so without scaring me?" asked Sonya with a smile.
"But that's not as fun." Answered Kari and we all laughed. Ashley walked by, purposely bumping Kari's shoulder roughly. Kari held her shoulder and refrained from yelling at the girl. Ashley smirked and joined up with her friend in Ms. Crlymoto's class.
"That's girl's asking for it." Said Kari.
"Calm down." I said. "Come on, let's get to class.
We continued to our third period classes, only to find Mrs. Maxwell passing out text books the size of my forearm. Kari and I heaved a great sigh and sat in our seats, waiting for the inevitable torture of extensive reading.
---
(Kari's POV)
I lay on my desk with my face buried in the giant book. I was dozing, barely awake enough to hear what Mrs. Maxwell was saying. I was more thinking, however. I was thinking about what Karakin had said to me. She said the others would turn on me, too. I knew it couldn't be true, we've been together for so long, but the thought unnerved me. I felt bad for my treatment to them earlier in the day and I slipped into a mild depression. Even the eccentric teacher's energy wasn't enough to make me smile.
T.K looked over at me several times during the period with worry. I was in awe at his patience with me. It seemed childish to be acting the way I was, but I was upset.
'Don't be upset. Just accept the truth. It will help you in the end.' Karakin had said to me.
I made no movement of acknowledgement to the voice, but I considered her advice. I couldn't accept the 'truth' as easily as she says. And what truth? I felt as though she were trying to tie me to a string like a puppet.
The bell rang and I moved slowly to gather my things.
T.K held me around the shoulders to speed me through the hallway to the Gym.
"If we aren't doing anything in class, I want to talk. 'Kay?" he said gently. I nodded and entered the girls' locker room.
"Hey Kari, what's the matter?" asked Kat when I opened my gym locker.
"Nothing, Kitty." I said gloomily.
"Yeah right." Said Kat, swishing her hair over her shoulder.
"Anyway, have you seen the two new kids yet?" she asked.
"Which ones?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Let me see. One is a girl from Germany, she's a foreign exchange student. Her name's Kira, I think." Said Kat. "The other one's from Tokyo, it's a guy. I think his name's Saktan Haru." She finished thoughtfully.
'…Who the Hell is this?' questioned Karakin in my head.
'Kat, we call her Kitty. She's pretty cool.' I answered.
"UGH! I don't wanna dress down!" complained one of the other girls. I got my clothes on quickly before the bell rang and met outside with the others.
I sat on the grass in line, waiting for Coach to do roll call.
T.K came up and sat beside me.
"Kari. Ever since this last summer, something's been wrong with you. You're more distant from everyone, you're always upset, and you're talking to yourself, now. There's something wrong and I know it. Why won't you tell me?" He asked.
I looked at him, looked to the ground, then sighed.
"I don't really know how to tell you T.K." I said quietly. I felt his gaze on me and looked up.
I was locked in his stare for what seemed to be forever, there was something else behind his eyes, something that wasn't quite T.K.
It came late, but I suddenly noticed just how much he had changed. His features were strong and handsome, his eyes were piercing and the brightest blue I'd seen. His hair fell over his eyes messily. He was well built, too. We had taken Shojo-Kun with Mr. Reynolds in our freshman, sophomore, and junior year. Everything I was seeing now came like a tidal wave. I had never really paid that close of attention to his appearance.
He looked up and noticed that Coach Iwado was taking roll and he went back to his place in line. We stayed in line for a good while as Coach counted off the students, marked tardies and absences, and had little chats with his football jockeys.
They said we had a choice to do a football lap and play soccer, or don't do the football lap and help sort barrels upon barrels of cans and bottles for credit.
T.K and I went to help sort the cans and bottles, seeing that I wasn't feeling up to running or playing. T.K, Gayle, Kat, I and a few others stayed behind to sort.
"So, you don't really want to talk about it?" asked T.K, keeping his voice low so only he and I could hear.
"Well, I think I need to talk. I'm really off balance, what with all that's been going on." I said. "But I wouldn't know where to begin."
"Try the beginning. When did everything start going bad?" asked T.K gently.
I looked at the sky in thought.
"I think it all started just before, …well, …dad died. I had a dream about Karakin. She haunted me for a while, then I started seeing her in real life. You ended up in the hospital shortly after that. Karakin kept showing up, talked about you a few times, taunting and teasing me, and soon she began to scare me. She kept talking about how she needed to prove a point to me for some reason, I can't remember. It was something important, but I just can't remember it, but I was attacked some time after that, then she offered her help." I said, feeling a small weight leave my shoulders. Talking to T.K about this was good, it would help me calm down and see things clearly.
"Offered help? Did you take it?" asked T.K.
I looked down.
"Yeah. She helped me through it, too. She really did. I never felt any guilt or remorse, I was empty, but I would rather feel that way than what anyone else would have then." I said. "Karakin's been telling me things to do, giving advice, she's in my head now. But the things she's been telling me lately has been making me nervous. I can't get the thoughts out of my head. It's as if Karakin's been keeping them there to distract me." I continued.
T.K looked down in thought.
"She's the one you've told me about, isn't she?" He said.
I nodded my head.
"You think she could have a tie to Shadow?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know."
I was feeling nervous now. I knew Karakin was listening to us talk, but I didn't know if I should be afraid or not. It made me kind of nervous.
"If she does, she could be trying to trick you. Kari, don't listen to her, no matter what." Said T.K strongly.
"I can't. Every time I don't listen, something happens." I said, feeling desperate.
He sighed.
"Kari, don't be afraid. I'm there for you whenever you need me, alright? I care too much about you to let you get hurt." He said, looking me in the eye.
We locked eyes once more, feeling each other's pull.
We finished the barrels of sticky, unfinished, and some unopened, sodas and stacked the bags in the Auto shop to be picked up later.
We washed our hands, Gayle was babbling about how she had finished her barrels in ten minutes because it was a weekly chore for her back at home, and then left to the locker rooms. Once changed, I exited to find T.K waiting for me by the building doors.
"T.K, Thank you." I said, not looking at his face. T.K smiled and lifted my chin to look at me.
"You're my best friend. It's what I do." He said.
I smiled back. The bell rang for lunch and everyone hurried to the cafeteria or off campus for the thirty minutes to find food. Kari and I went to find Sonya and head toward the Frosty's.
"Hey guys, what's up?" greeted Brenda at the register.
"Not much, you?" T.K greeted back.
"Nothing at all! What would you like?" Brenda asked.
T.K turned and looked at us.
"Whatcha want?" He asked.
"Usual." I said. Sonya nodded her head and T.K ordered.
I sat in silence as we waited.
"Kari? Is something bothering you?" asked Sonya.
I glanced over at her, gazing mainly at the silver around her neck.
I turned back without a word.
'Why won't you let me speak with her?' I asked Karakin in my head.
She didn't answer.
"Is it to do with school?" asked Sonya, trying to find my problem. I didn't answer.
She pursed her lips and thought.
"Ashley?" She guessed.
I merely blinked.
She looked down and bit her lip.
"Shadow?" she asked lowly.
I felt myself shake my head.
"Hmmm. Something's bothering you." She crossed her arms.
"You never talked to anyone this much, what's with that?" I questioned. She didn't seemed fazed by the remark. She smiled at me and answered.
"I don't want you to feel the way you do. It's unnerving." She said, her smile fading.
I raised an eyebrow.
'She's empathic….' Said Karakin thoughtfully.
"Kari, there's something else going on, isn't there?" Sonya leaned in, her pendant dangling from her neck. "Something you're not telling us. Is it you who won't tell? Or someone else?" she asked curiously. She looked into my eyes for a moment then leaned back.
"I know. It's none of my business. I'll leave you for now." She said with a smile.
"So, who asked me to stop asking?" she asked me with her smile still in place.
I raised an eyebrow.
'She knows.' Growled Karakin.
I felt my arm twitch.
T.K returned with the Ice creams.
Sonya looked up and accepted hers with a smile and thank you.
"Thanks…." I muttered as he handed me mine.
"What were you two talking about?" asked T.K.
Sonya looked at him innocently.
"It looks like you fired her up pretty good." Said T.K with a laugh.
I felt my face grow hot.
"Whatever." I muttered, looking away.
Sonya lapped at her ice cream slowly with a small smile.
'Don't let her change you.' Came a voice in my head. I blinked, staring as I realized that Sonya had spoken to me through thought.
---
(T.K's POV)
Kari and Sonya hurried to their classes two minutes before the bells rang. I had this period off, so I walked around the campus, trying to find something to do. I ended up in the library and sat at a table beside one of the large windows.
Looking out to the graying sky, I thought of how quickly winter was coming. It was gradually getting colder.
With this thought came Sheba and Tojima. The second time I saw Sheba, we were in the same time and setting as before, but she looked different somehow. She seemed a little worn, tired, desperate. I don't think she would have asked for my help if she wasn't.
I then thought of Tojima. I felt I knew what he was up to, yet I couldn't quite point it out. I didn't have the intensive feeling of dread or danger, so I knew it wasn't intended to cause harm, but I was suspicious non-the-less.
Kari and Sony acame into my head. I felt my body relax at the thought of the girls.
Sonya was so sweet, kind, beautiful, and loyal. I felt a swelling sense of pride to have her as my sister. I remembered what Kari had said before about the puppets and I feared for Sonya. What if it was her in the vision? Was something terrible going to happen? And what of Kari? What was to happen to her? I dreaded the very thought of what could happen to her.
I ran my hand through my hair with worry. Kari, the kind and gentle girl I had known and fallen in love with… God forbid….
I heard a chair pull up beside me and I saw Ken and Yolie sit beside me.
"…Uh, Helllllllllllo." I said, obviously not expecting their presence. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"We have the period off." Said Ken with a smile.
"Cool." I said, and looked back out the window.
"T.K, what's the matter?" Yolie asked.
I sighed.
"A lot." I admitted.
"Such as…." Ken persisted.
"Just the stuff that's going on right now. Kari and I were talking the other day. She said that she had seen something, like a figment or something. She thinks it has some sort of meaning and I'm worried about it, too." I said, rubbing my eyes, feeling tired.
"What was it?" asked Ken.
"Puppets, one with one string and one with many strings. The one puppet, we think, my represent Sonya. I'm really freaking out over it." I said, feeling my heart contract with worry.
"When did Kari see this? How" asked Yolie.
"I don't know. She told me this last weekend." I answered, looking back out the window, noticing a dog turn a corner across the street and sit on the curb.
"Well, maybe it was just a dream. Yeah, that's it. It was a dream and you guys are just getting worked up over it. We're all still stressed from our last visit to the Digital World. You know, if it were me I'd…….." I was no longer aware of Yolie's voice.
Everything had been blocked out as I watched the dog. It actually wasn't just a dog, it was Sheba. I stared in shock as she sat staring back at me through the distance and dark glass. We locked eyes for a moment.
"T.K, are you even listening to me?" questioned Yolie impatiently. I shook my head of my current thoughts and looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." I said. "What?"
She sighed.
"Nothing. Geez, T.K! It's getting harder and harder to talk to you , you know that?" she said.
Ken chuckled and squeezed her hand.
"T.K, you look kinda tired. Have you been getting much sleep?" he asked me.
I rubbed at my eyes again, realizing that he was right. I was exhausted. I had been worrying so much over the recent events, I wasn't paying much attention to my health.
"I guess not." Ken said worriedly as I yawned. "Maybe you should just go home and…uh…." I was still yawning, but I guess my jaw had reached an incredible length or something for Ken and Yolie wouldn't stop staring at me.
"What?" I asked when I noticed.
They shook their heads.
"You should go home and rest T.K. You're exhausted." Yolie commented. Ken nodded.
I shook my head.
"No, I'm coming with you guys to the Digiworld after school today." I said.
"Alright." Said Yolie unsurely.
I looked back out the window to Sheba to find she was gone.
What was she doing here? Was it an illusion?
Was something coming?
---
(Kari's POV)
'Oh. My. Fucking. God.' Groaned Karakin in my head. 'You can actually SIT through this?'
'Of course, I chose this class for a reason, Karakin.' I answered as I took notes.
'This chick doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about! She's gone off topic, what… SIX times already!' argued Karakin.
'I know, but she's alright.' I said.
'Whatever. This chick shouldn't be teaching if she isn't actually TEACHING.' I felt my self begin to frown, knowing that it was Karakin fuming.
'Ah, do you have a thing about teaching?' I played.
There was an angry silence.
'Kari, take you're notes.' She said and didn't talk again. I chuckled and continued writing. I was no longer afraid of Karakin's anger. Instead it felt it as my own emotion, now. I zoned out momentarily, but was quickly brought back when I heard my name called. I looked up at Ms. Crlymoto.
"Kari, thanks for joining us." She grinned. "Would you like to answer number 78 for us?" she asked, her glasses slipping down her nose a little. Several kids snickered.
I looked up at the board.
- 2·cos(x) 1- 2)·(- 10·cos(x) 5 - 2)-(- 2· cos(x) 1 6)·(- 10· cos(x) 5 3) 0
( 6·cos(x) ) ( 6 ·cos(x) ) ( 6·cos(x) ) ( 6·cos(x) )
I suddenly began making a rapid calculation in my head, which was strange, because I didn't even know how to do the problem; I'd never seen it before.
"The answer is xE∅" I said.
Ms. Crlymoto stared at me for a moment, and then looked at the board to make her own calculation.
After a moment she said "Why, yes it is! Good job, Kari!"
I felt myself relax as she drifted her attention to another kid across the room who had been whistling non stop. I awaited the bell to take us from class for a blessed five minutes before being in another small, stuffy prison room.
The bell rang after ten minutes of lecture and we hurried out of the room.
I was thinking of how the hell I had managed to calculate the problem without really understanding it.
'You'd be better off learning from me. You obviously get it when it comes from me.' Said Karakin.
'That was you?' I questioned.
'Yes, believe it or not I'm quite intelligent.' She stated, as though the fact had been ignored for a while. I laughed sheepishly.
'I'll show you.' She said. 'You'll understand it all.'
I was lost for thought after she said this.
"Kari! Hey, what's up?" asked Davis from behind me.
"Nothing." I said and went to sixth period.
---
"All right! Ladies and Yents! Today I started the Chemistry students on a lab, so they get to play with hydrochloric acid! ………You don't. Until now." Said Hughes and he walked to one of the lab tables.
"My Chem Kids are having a hard time understanding how to mix chemicals and proceed through the lab safely. So what I would LIKE to do, is find some victims in this class to play mentor for the tables. I need six." Hughes offered. T.K and I raised our hands in unison before he even finished speaking.
He looked at us and laughed.
"I'm not sure I could trust you two in the same class together with chemicals." He said.
"So? We can do the labs just fine!" said T.K, obviously wanting to play with the chemicals again, as did I.
"Fine. Anyone else?" He asked.
T.K looked over at Sonya.
"Raise your hand, you'll get a kick out this!" he said. She raised her hand unsurely.
"Ms. Ross, alright. Anyone else?" Gayle's hand shot up as well as Trent's and another blonde's.
"Cool. I'll give notes to your fourth period teachers so you can be excused to come here instead." Said Hughes happily and he went back to the board.
T.K and I looked over at the other three who'd raised their hands. Trent grinned at us and gave us the thumbs up. He was our neighbor, Sam and Victoria's kid. He was really nice, great Bass Clarinet player. He had a great sense of humor. T.K and I came to the conclusion that he was born laughing. Gayle was leaning back in her chair with her iPod and sketchpad, drawing some sort of mutated undead ram. The other blond was unfamiliar to me. She didn't look local; she must've been an exchange student. She had long blond hair that reached her waist and mountain blue eyes. She was very pale, like a vampire, and her clothes were dark. She had a weird feel about her, almost insecure.
"In the meantime! Can you answer this problem?" He wrote a problem up on the board.
A point charge Q is imbedded at the center of a uniformly charged spherical distribution of charge Q' -Q with radius 'a'. Write down the volume charge density for this negatively charged sphere. Calculate the electric field and the potential inside, and outside, the atom.
We stared at the question. It flew over many heads, but looking at T.K and Sonya, I knew we were probably the only ones who really understood it. We let the others makes guesses, though.
"I got it!" said Trent.
"Then get up here and write it down." Said Hughes, handing Trent the marker.
Trent ran up and started writing the answer. I watched curiously, Trent wasn't the physics type. He never really understood science.
-Q rhovolume of
the sphere, where rho is the volume charge density
-Q
rho4/3pia3
thus rho -Q/(4/3pia3)
"Then to find the E-field of the sphere considering the point charge, Q, and the negatively charged sphere….." he was talking to himself as he wrote.
Q(r) Q rho
4/3pir3, "Where r is some arbitrary radius, r could be
greater than or less than 'a'."
Q(r) Q [-Q/(4/3pia3)
4/3pir3
"Thus…." Q(r) Q - Q(r3/a3)
I raised an eyebrow as he did the problem.
"Then for the E-field: Integrating EdA Q(r)/eo; where eo is the constant epsilon. I get E Q/(4pieo)[1/r2 - r/a3 for r a and then when r a then E0… right???" he looked around at Hughes who was watching for errors in the problem. Immediately I'd seen one.
"No; the other way round. For points outside the sphere, the total charge enclosed by a Gaussain surface is zero." I said. Everyone looked at me.
"…What?" I asked.
"I thought I had it backwards but my brother said that it was E0 for r a." said Gayle.
"Electric field is zero when there is no charge enclosed. In this case, would it hold outside the body if the charge distribution on the non-conducting body is uniform, but the shape of the body has been changed into an ellipsoid or some other shape?" asked another kid.
"What I understand from 'uniformly charged spherical distribution' is a non-conducting sphere with charge on every piece of it. So the electric field inside cannot be zero." Answered another.
"And yet it is." I said. Hughes was laughing as we argued amongst ourselves.
"You guys. But, Kari is right. E0." I clicked my tongue in satisfaction. T.K smiled and Shook his head.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing. He said.
After a half hour of us arguing the problem, the bells rang. I sighed and pushed myself out of the desk to head to Band.
---
"SETTLE DOWN!" Yelled Mr. Takamaru.
The kids hushed and settled in their chairs.
I sat at the drum set feeling incredibly bored. T.K was equally disinterested; he leaned back in his chair with his trumpet in his lap.
"Well, I want to congratulate the kids who were accepted to go to WIBC this year." Said Mr. Takamaru. "It's a wonderful experience, it really is, I'm only sad that some of you who have never gone won't be able to after this. Maybe if you major in music." He said looking around at the kids. Sonya watched uninterestedly. She played flute in our band and she was quite good at it. She picked up music quickly and easily. Sonya was a good addition to the group, everyone loved her. T.K was always watching after her from his rows.
"Well then, I have some pieces I'd like to go through with you kids today. This piece is called Knights of Destiny. Set in the Middle East, the Knights of Destiny March across the Desserts into battle. Sounds neat, huh?" said Takamaru after reading the description.
No one answered, everyone was pretty much tuning him out.
"Alright, ready!" he shouted, getting our attention.
I sat up and went to the concert percussion and stood at snare.
He counted silently, flicking his hands back and forth so we could get the rhythm, then started.
The Obiada high school band has some of the most talented young instrumentalists in the area. Because of us, our band is the Best in the whole of Central Japan. So naturally we played the grade 2 plus piece perfectly.
Mr. Takamaru laughed with delight when we finished.
"You know guys, I've never had a class that plays as well as you! Good job!" he said excitedly. "Obviously you need a harder piece, eh? You up for a challenge?" he asked us.
"Yeah." We said.
"Alright. Go ahead and sit tight. I'll see what I have." He walked out of the room.
We looked around at each other.
"Anyone remember Glenn Miller?" Asked T.K.
Everyone muttered a yes.
"Cool, let's start on In the Mood, anyone?" there were laughs of agreement and people going 'Finally, something good to play'.
"Wanna give us a tempo Kari?" said T.K over his shoulder. I sat at the set and started a fast tempo. The band jumped in as we played the old Swing. Sonya was the only one not playing. We later learned that she had not heard of the song before.
After a moment of perfect playing, Mr. Takamaru came in with a stack of papers angrily.
"Hey! Be quiet and stop playing! How many times do I have to ask you to be quiet before you listen?" He said, looking around at us.
"Kari, get off the set!"
I got off and went back to the snare drum.
'What a dick.'Said Karakin.
'I know.'
"Alrighty then. Let's take a look at this piece." He said and started passing out the three page piece of music.
I sighed as I as called to retrieve percussion music.
"Hey." Whispered T.K as I passed. "You coming by the Computer Room later?"
I nodded and walked to the percussion to pass out the sheet music to the other players.
As Takamaru rambled on about the piece, I saw another glimpse of black in my sight. I turned to look out the window and I saw a blood harvester on the sidewalk across the street, arms crossed and staring at me. It was Jaganu, the black lion. I froze for a moment, then felt myself relax. I returned my attention to the teacher, wondering why I wasn't freaking out over the fact Jaganu was here.
'soon come.' Said Karakin's voice.
---
(T.K'sPOV)
After class, Sonya and I walked to the computer room. Kari had to stay behind to help pick up the now destroyed percussion stage after a disastrous fall from a freshman with the chimes stand and timpani.
As we walked, we passed Ashley and her friends. They grinned and rammed into our shoulders and walked swiftly away. Sonya's books were scattered on the ground.
"Oh, why does she insist on doing that?" questioned Sonya exasperated.
"What, she's done that before?" I asked quizzically.
She nodded.
I felt anger rise in my throat, but fought it back.
"Come on Sonya. Let's hurry before they leave without us." I said.
We hurried to the computer lab and entered to find the digimon snacking away on the groceries Yolie had brought.
"Hi Guys. Where's Kari at?" asked Yolie.
"Cleaning the Band room." I explained dully.
"Ah." She nodded.
"Then we wait. When is going to be done?" asked Davis.
"However long it takes for them to fix the timpani." Answered Sonya.
The door slid open and a disgruntled Kari walked through, grumbling to herself.
"Damn freshmen." I heard her say.
"Hi Kari!" greeted Gatomon, jumping into the brunette's arms.
"Hey. Are we ready to go?" Kari asked.
We nodded.
"Alright, let's go! Digiport open!" shouted Yolie and the portal opened.
We landed in a warm, tropical area.
"Well, I can't imagine any Blood Harvesters or Night Walkers in this place." Commented Cody. "It's so hot here!"
"Let's just hope so, Cody." I said.
"Where are we?" asked Ken.
"We're in the Toltec's territory. They are a survived tribe from the old wars in the other worlds." Explained Wormon.
"They are quite hospitable. The Toltec prefer to settle things through words than violence." Said Hawkmon.
"That's good." Said Davis assuredly.
"Where do we go from here?" Yolie asked.
"I think the village is North from here." Said Gatomon. "We can go there and see if they can tell us anything about Shadow."
"Then Let's get going before I melt." Said Davis humorously. We set off through the thick forest. It was hot and humid; it was very difficult to breath through the heat.
I looked around at the large plants and listened to the sounds of the forest animals around us. It was almost like being in a rainforest in the Real World.
I saw Kari turn her head toward an oasis a short distance away.
"What is it?" Sonya asked.
She didn't answer.
There was a low growl from the bushes by the water.
We stopped and the digimon jumped in front of us protectively.
A Jaguar came slowly from the bushes and faced us. It was a normal looking Jaguar, no armor or human like features at all. It prowled toward us, staring us in the eyes as it did.
The digimon relaxed a little.
"This is a Sun Bred Jaguar." Said Armadillomon.
"A what?" we looked at him.
"They're not usually as smart as the Blood Harvesters. Each side has different breeds of creature, this is a Sun bred, and the Nightwalkers and Blood Harvesters are Moon Breeds." Said Veemon.
"I still don't like its teeth." said Yolie, shaking a little.
"Let's keep moving. This guy's really no real threat to us." Said Hawkmon.
We turned and a number of other Jaguars jumped from the trees and surrounded us.
"Unless they're in numbers." Gatomon gulped. The big cats jumped at us and the digimon fought back. They digivolved and took on the Jaguars. Each cat put up a fight, one that a normal Jaguar shouldn't have put up.
They leapt at supernatural heights and attacked with massive force. There as certainly something different about these 'Sun Breeds'.
They backed off, hissing and clawing at the Digimon.
"Get away from here." A Jaguar hissed.
We watched, shocked.
"Go back to your own world, leave here!" another growled.
"What are you talking about? This is our world! You go back to where you came from!" Patamon retorted.
"You're asking for death." An older Jaguar said.
There was a loud clang of metal that echoed through the trees.
"You stupid Sun Breeds! You inhabit our forest and now you're threatening children!" shouted a voice. "Get going!"
The Sun Breeds growled, hissed and roared at the trees and ran back past the bushes of the oasis.
A Man stepped out from the trees carrying a curved machete in his hand. He was tall and thickly built. He had no hair and was dark skinned; he wore some sort of Aztec robes.
"Are you children alright?" He asked.
"Yes, thank you." Said Yolie.
"My Name is Mazula of the Toltec. And you are?" he greeted with a smile.
"Hi, I'm Davis. This is T.K, Sonya, Yolie, Cody, Ken, and Kari." Davis introduced.
"And these are your Native friends?" asked Mazula, referring to the digimon.
"Yeah."
"I see. What are you doing wandering in the forest like this? It's dangerous." Mazula asked, putting his machete away.
"We're trying to find the Toltec village. We need to ask the leader if he can tell us anything about Shadow." Answered Ken.
"Shadow you say." Mazula raised an eyebrow. "So, you're the ones out to slay him? The digidestined, I believe they call you? You must be careful; there are others that are sided with him here."
"We guessed that." Said Kari, placing a hand on her hip.
"Well then, I suppose I should take you back to the village. Follow me." Said Mazula and he turned to leave. We followed after him through the thick trees, ducking and dodging low branches and high roots. We walked for several moments, then we began seeing doors on the trees. They were huts carved into the tress. They lined a now winding path and led to a large city built of stone and gold. We stared in awe at the sight. It was beautiful, giant carp glided through the large pond in the center of the city, People dressed in gold and other bright colors, and the streets were clean of industrial influence.
"Welcome to our city." Said Mazula, sweeping his arm across the view.
"Come, I will introduce you to our leader." We walked down the stone steps into the golden city. People smiled and greeted us as we passed.
"This place is so beautiful!" exclaimed Yolie, clutching Ken's hand excitedly.
"I know! It's like being back in the old Aztec cities before they were destroyed." Said Ken.
"Our people once lived among the Aztecs. History says that they were all wiped out, but we had survived. We traveled to the Forest Realm to escape the Spanish when they attacked. Only we made it out." Explained Mazula. "Since then, we've rebuilt our cities and re-established our society. We had to start over again when Shadow destroyed our world once more." He finished scornfully. He turned to look at us.
"That's why I'm sure my people will be grateful to you for your assistance in demolishing Shadow's empire."
Davis Grinned.
"Not a problem!"
We stopped at a large Aztec pyramid. An older man with long black hair and stormy eyes looked down at us. He was finely built and wore Gold and White Aztec Robes. He carried a light wooden staff in hi hand.
"Mazula. Who do you bring before me?" He questioned in a deep voice.
"I bring the Digidestined, my lord. They are the ones that word has spoken of." Said Mazula, a little excitedly.
The Toltec Leader rubbed his chin in thought.
"So, You are the digidestined? Yes, Hyperion has told me about you. A little eccentric he was, so I figured it was an exaggeration. Apparently not." He stepped down toward us. We noticed by now that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching silently. The man circled us, examining us and the digimon.
He stopped in front of us, looking us in the eyes. He then broke out into great laughter. This made us jump a little.
"I thank you for joining us today. My name is Titus, Leader of the Toltec. Come join me in my chambers, you must be fatigued." Greeted the man cheerily. Everyone praised us and Titus as we walked up the great pyramid.
"This is kinda weird." I said to Kari. She nodded in agreement.
"But maybe he can tell us something about Shadow." Said Sonya. Sonya looked nervous, unsure about something. I was confused, but didn't pursue the matter since we had arrived at the top.
We entered a large room filled with golden accessories, furniture, dining, and other things. We sat on the pillows on the ground.
"So, You are the ones after Shadow, are you?" Titus looked at us with narrowed eyes.
"You're just children. How do you plan to accomplish your goal?" he questioned politely.
"We don't know yet. We still don't know very much. Can you tell us anything that might help us Titus?" asked Yolie.
Titus thought for a moment.
"Only of his paranoia. I'm sure you've heard of his sanity, correct?" he asked. We nodded.
"Then you know of Shadow's experienting on the Natives here."
We nodded grimly.
"What You may not know, then, is his capture of humans and even his own Nightwalker and Blood Harvesters." He said. I looked at him shocked.
"What?" shouted Davis in surprise.
"Yes. He is now attempting to make his warriors stronger, faster, better hunters. God only knows why he tries expand his power." Said Titus shaking his head.
"What's he so paranoid over? Can you tell us why he's doing this?" asked Cody.
"Shadow is a scientific man. He has always wanted to extend the power of the body and mind past its limit. He reached the brain's potential of one hundred percent and managed to keep it going successfully. He then wanted to tap even further into the power of the body. He looked into everything; he tested the organs, nerve functions, muscle movements, but nothing gave him what he wanted. He was intrigued, however, when he discovered that stem cells can re-grow into new organs. He found a way to bypass the scientific laws and began growing body parts. He successfully created a human arm, leg, eyes, and bones as well. He was excited over this, and so he wanted to experiment further." Said Titus.
"Jahari, leader of the Jyotsuna tribe, was partnered with him in science. He was horrified by Shadow's new behavior. Shadow had begun tearing arms and legs of rats to try and re-grow replacements and reattach them. He pulled this off as well. Jahari tried to warn Shadow of the dangers of messing with unknown science, but Shadow never listened. He had made it as far as removing every limb from an animal and then successfully re-growing and reattaching. Soon, an accident happened that neither Jahari or Shadow had seen. One of Shadow's projects had gone past just becoming an arm or leg and was slowly growing into a living being." Titus explained. We listened, open mouthed. Only Kari wasn't surprised. Sonya and I looked at each other in confusion at Kari's indifference.
"Of course, Shadow wanted to further his experimentation. He began trying to create humans, animals, basically playing God. He never succeeded, until several years ago when he created a boy from the Stem cells. He was almost perfect. He looked like a human child, but the only impairment was his speech. The poor boy was mute, but that never stopped Shadow. He tried creating a voice for him, but it never succeeded. Shadow was finally fed up with it and cut the voice box from a colleague. Jahari knew he had gone too far, but he was in shock to learn that it was successful. Shadow had implanted the voice into the boy's body and was able to speak! Can you believe it!" said Titus angrily.
"Replacing God with himself. That's enough to chain him in the darkest prison of Hell." He growled.
"What else?" asked Davis, now absorbed in the story.
Titus continued.
"Shadow was so proud of his accomplishment; he never let the boy leave his side. He began teaching him, training him, acting as though he were a dog in training. He never named him, but the boy insisted on a name. He was called Darcy, after Shadow's Father. I understand that Darcy is now a minion to Shadow in the Arctic region."
"That's sad." Said Sonya softly.
"It is. Sometime later, after Jahari removed himself from his and Shadow's partnership, we caught word that he was attempting to create more minions. All were failures, although one lived through the process. The boy was not what Shadow had wanted, so he tried to eliminate him, but Darcy stepped in. Darcy called him Timmy and took him in as his little brother. Shadow had never looked to Timmy as anything, but Timmy still insists on being an apprentice. He is no threat; he's very off-minded." said Titus, scraching the back of his neck.
"They work together?" Kari asked.
"Yes, in the Arctic region." Titus nodded.
"Well, it's good to know productyion's slow." Said Yolie wqith a sigh.
"Not quite. Shadow is not a man to give up. He found a way to genetically alter the human body. He wanted to experiment once more, and so pulled a wolf and a human into the lab. He switched the genes, reformatted the DNA, and replaced them into a separate lifeform. He tried switching the human genes for the Wolf genes, but it only ended in death for both every time. He attempted re-creating a structure from stem cells and inserting the altered DNA and Genes into the life form. Eventually, a Nightwalker was born. The very first of it's kind. It had escaped, however, and was never caught. It found it's way into another world. I believe they call it a werewolf there." Said Titus thoughtfully. "Either way, he knew he could create more. He made more and more creatures this way. After his movement into another world, he found those creatures were already Native in the world and was angered that his experiments were 'futile'."
"What do you futile? As in, unimaginative?" asked Ken.
"Yes. He was sure he had created his own species, but once entering the world of Tajrynok, he learned otherwise." Finished Titus.
"Is that how Megara came to be?' asked Sonya.
"In a way. Shadow took the deceased body of a girl and implanted living organs into her body. He enhanced and altered her DNA and created what is now Megara. She was his first successful attempt."
"That's terrible." Stated Cody.
"And he continues with this treatment. I can't tell you how many deaths there were in his attempts at perfection." Said Titus with a growl. "You must find a way to stop him. Alas, I don't know where he is. Pray he doesn't advance any further."
We nodded.
"That's alright. Do you know anyone who does, though?" asked Davis.
"The Satie Tribe may be able to tell you, but the area they are in are swamped with Sun Breeds. Night will fall soon and they are a great distance from here. Rest for a while. We will ask the Avila to take you to the Satie after Dusk." Said Titus.
"Well, let's rest then. Do you have anything to eat? I'm starved!" asked Davis as his stomach growled loudly. Everyone laughed.
"Good! We will have a Banquet! You may rest here and will be called on when everything is ready." said Titus warmly and he walked out of the room quickly.
"This is so awesome! I feel like an Aztec queen!" exclaimed Yolie, hugging a large pillow.
"It still bugs me though…. How are we going to stop Shadow? We still haven't found out what he's really planning." I said.
"Do you think the Satie might know?" asked Ken.
"Maybe, until then we need to focus on keeping our energy up incase we get attacked by more sun-breeds." Said Cody.
"Gatomon, Who are the Staie?" Kari asked.
"The Satie are a peaceful tribe. They are music oriented, so I don't know how much we're going to get out of them without getting a bunch of riddles and rhymes." Answered the cat.
"Well that's great." Sighed Yolie.
"Either way, it's a good shot." I said. "Let's just try it. The worst that could happen would be we get a song stuck in our heads, right?"
They nodded in agreement.
Kari lay back on the cool stone and shivered a little. Sonya and I sat beside her.
"Kari, How did you hear the Jaguar before anyone else?" I asked. Gatomon and Patamon sat with us as well, interested.
"I just did." She answered, not looking at us.
"It was pretty far for normal hearing." Said Patamon.
"So? I have good hearing. Big Deal." she said.
"Someone's testy.…" Yolie muttered.
"Shut up." Said Kari.
The rest of the afternoon drifted quickly. We slept lightly in the cool room and were roused by Mazula.
"Wake up. The Banquet awaits!" he said and went to the door, waiting.
"Yay! Food!" chirped Veemon and hurried to the door with Davis.
We followed after and stared in awe at the sight before us.
Down below, lines of food were prepared and set out on golden platters. Every person as dressed in gold and every child carried a basket of fruit. It was more of a grand feast than a banquet.
"What do you think?" asked Mazula, as if looking for approval. We couldn't respond to the sight.
"Kick. Ass." I said.
Mazula chuckled and led us down the steps to the banquet. Everyone was waiting for us, holding golden platters of food and drink. They all beamed at us as we descended into the crowd.
"Uh, what's this all about, Mazula?" questioned Davis nervously.
"To Thank you for helping us, as well as the other tribes." He said.
The Toltec all bowed.
"Thank You, Strangers." They said in unison.
Titus sat upon a golden throne under a large stone archway by the forest's edge.
"You are welcome here. Please, eat." He gestured to the food and it was all set on stone tables.
The digimon threw themselves at the food ravenously. We stared at them.
"You're really that hungry?" Yolie asked.
"Surprisingly, yes. Try this! This is delicious!" said Hawkmon, holding up a weird purple colored fruit.
Everyone began to eat. Kari, Sonya and I got our food and snuck over to Titus.
"Sir?" said Sonya, tugging on his robe like a little kid. He looked down at her with a smile.
"What is it?"
"What's with all the food? It's not like us helping out is that big of a deal." Said Kari.
"You obviously don't understand just how much this means to us. Shadow has run us into hiding, away from old homes and families. They have been destroyed time and time again, but if you can truly stop him, then We are eternally grateful to you. Even if you can't accomplish your goal we will be beside you through it." Said Titus warmly and watched his people in the feast.
I looked back at the other digidestined. They had accepted the food offer and were stuffing their faces wildly. I noticed that I, too, was very hungry. I began eating, but with more civil manners. Kari didn't eat any of hers.
"Why aren't you eating? Are you alright?" asked Sonya.
"I'm not hungry." She said. But I could tell she was looking at the massive amount of food longingly. It hasn't been long since our last meal, but felt weak for some reason.
Why Kari would pass up the Toltec's offer, I didn't know.
Something was off about her, something that suggested danger.
I ignored the feeling and continued eating with Sonya.
I watched the silver pendant around her neck.
"That's really cool, where'd you get that?" I asked.
"From my grandmother in Ireland. She was Wicca as well." Sonya took it off and handed it to me. I turned it over in my hand. The metal was cool and heavy.
"Keep it. It'll keep you safe." She said.
I looked at her.
"Nah, it's yours."
"It's yours now. Take it." Sonya insisted.
"Whatever./ I laughed and placed it around my neck.
"Trust me. It's kept me safe all these years." She said. I smiled and ruffled her hair.
"Now I feel bad, Now I got to get you a shiny metal thing." I said humorously.
We laughed and continued eating.
---
(Kari's POV)
'Don't eat it.'Said Karakin.
'Why? I don't think it's been drugged or poisoned, seeing as the others haven't keeled over yet.' I asked.
'I refuse to accept offers from these people.' Said Karakin. I felt myself frown with her emotion.
'Why? What's wrong with 'these people'?' I asked with a raised eyebrow.
'They're an enemy.' Said Karakin. I pushed the food away from me and sat back. T.K and Sonya looked at me.
"Why aren't you eating? Are you alright?" asked Sonya.
"I'm not hungry." I said, looking at the food in front of me. It really did look good, and from the sound of it, the others thought it tasted good as well.
'Something's wrong.' Said Karakin in my head suddenly.
'What?' I asked in alarm.
'Titus said that the Avila were to take us to the Satie, right?' she asked. I nodded.
'We can't go with the Avila.'
'Why not?!'
'They'll recognize me. We can't have that.'
'Recognize you, meaning?' I asked.
'Do you really want to find out?' she shot back. I thought for a moment and shook my head.
"No, Probably not." I said aloud.
"No what?" asked T.K.
"Nothing." I felt Karakin say for me and turn away.
'We can leave tonight. Tell the others, maybe you can sway them.' Said Karakin.
'How?'
'If you can't, I will.' She said finally and disappeared.
I sat in silence for a moment, then turned to T.K.
"What if we left tonight?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, we don't know anything about Avila, and for all we know, this could be a trap to take us to Shadow." I said quietly so Titus couldn't hear.
"Kari, what are you talking about? These guys wouldn't plant a trap on us." He said with a laugh.
'He's much too trusting.' Said Karakin.
"If the Toltec don't, then the Avila might. We don't know. I don't think we should risk it." I said finally.
T.K raised an eyebrow and looked at Sonya, who watched us confusedly.
"Kari, you're tired. You should probably lay down for a little bit." He said.
I felt the anger rise in me, but I suppressed it a much as I could.
"No, I think we should go before it gets too dark. We still need to be back soon anyway." I said.
"She's right." Said Sonya. I looked at her.
"I don't know if a trap would be laid for us, but we need to return to the Real World before too long." She said.
"yeah, that's a point." Said T.K We went over to the other digidestined, who were finished with their fourth course by now.
"Come on guys, let's hurry and get going." T.K said.
"Ah, how come?" asked Davis.
"We have to get back soon. Let's cover as much ground as we can now." I said.
"They're right, Let's go. Said Ken.
The others moaned and sat up.
We walked up to Titus, who looked at us with confusion.
"We have to get going. We need to get back to our world before it gets too late there." Said Davis.
Titus looked at me, now with a raised brow and suspicious look. The anger swelled in me once more.
"Very well. Perhaps we can arrange to assist you the next time you arrive here." He said graciously. We nodded and thanked him.
"But be warned. Do not be long on your journey. Shadow is traveling soon to another world. I have reason to believe that he is targeting your home. Please, be quick."
We were shocked by his words, but didn't make a reaction for it. We couldn't understand it, but we kept the thought in our minds.
We departed the city and entered the woods. T.K glanced at me several times as we went. The sounds of the forest echoed around us, but I wasn't afraid. I felt numb to the emotion, to many things, for some reason.
I looked up to the blackening sky wearily.
'This has been a long day.' I thought to myself.
We suddenly found ourselves out of the woods and to a small canyon, which was strange since we weren't even in the area.
"Whoa! What was that?" shouted Davis.
"I think we were transported here. Somehow." Said Wormon.
"By who?" asked Ken.
"Who do you think?" came a voice. We recognized it immediately.
"Shadow!" shouted Davis.
"Nice to see you again as well!" chuckled the man as he stepped from a black vortex in the air.
"Why are you still here?" he asked, sounding annoyed.
The digimon jumped in front of us.
"Hey, hey. I'm not here to fight, I'm here to negotiate." Said Shadow.
"Negotiate what?" questioned Yolie.
"Don't come back to the digital world." He said.
"What?! As if we'd -"
"I'll not advance further into your world if you don't." he said.
We stopped. It was true.
"This is why I'd seen Jaganu in our world, isn't it?" I asked.
"Yes, I've already dispatched some of my soldiers. I will gladly withdraw if you do so as well." He said, holding out this hand for agreement. We looked at it uncertainly.
Davis clenched his hand into a fist.
"No! You're just finding an excuse to keep us from stopping your movement here. When you're done, you'll move right into our world either way! No way will I let you do that!" Davis shouted angrily.
Shadow withdrew his hand irritably.
"Stubborn, aren't you? Very well then." He shot his hand toward the canyon edge and it filled with black water. The color dulled on the rocks and the plants that lined the edge wilted and fell into the water. In Shadow's other hand, a staff materialized from black.
"Welcome to my Dark Canyon. Now disappear." He said and swung roughly at Davis.
Things went very slowly from there. Davis was just inches from being hit when he was pushed forward. T.K was hit instead and flew into the dark waters. Davis stood and we looked into the canyon for him, but there was no trace.
"T.K!" Sonya was shouting.
I felt myself grow cold.
Did he really….
"Ah well, one down." Said Shadow and walked away.
"Shante, Ven, would you like to take care of this?" he said over his shoulder.
Two figures appeared from the sky and fell gracefully to the ground.
The woman had long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She grinned evilly at us. The other was darker and had red hair. He was heavily built and looked like a body guard.
"Very much so." Said Shante, pulling a staff from the air.
We allowed the Digimon to digivolve to fight. Patamon and Sonya sat the edge, trying to find a sign or glimpse of the boy, but there was none. Patamon was welling up in tears, but Sonya was the only one keeping calm to a point.
"You Bastard!" shouted X-Veemon and attacked Shadow, but he had disappeared in a cloud of black as the blow hit.
Shante swung at him with a staff, sending him into a tree. She laughed manically.
The digimon all attacked the duo at once.
The fight went for about ten minutes with no blows to Shante or Ven, but plenty to the digimon.
I stood beside Sonya, watching the fight and the canyon.
I heard my Digivice go off and looked at the screen. I saw T.K's signal coming back up.
I looked down into the black, straining for his figure. There was a loud, clear, ungodly howl from the canyon.
"T.K!" Sonya shouted, then a shot of relief showed in her face. Patamon and I looked down and saw T.K slowly climbing up the wall of the canyon. He slipped a few times, but he got a grasp on the rocks. Sonya and I reached out to him to help him up. He took our hands and we pulled him to safety.
He panted a bit; the air was knocked out of him from the blow.
The others saw this and a look of relief swelled among them. Suddenly, the digimon began fighting harder and beating back the fighting minions. Shante and Ven stepped back and looked at us.
"It seems we must continue this later." Said Shante and she disappeared in a cloud of black, followed by Ven.
There was silence and the digimon reverted to their rookie forms. The others ran toward us.
"T.K! Are you alright!"
"How did you pull out of that?"
"Do you need a doctor?"
Questions rang through, startling T.K a little.
"Hey, can you guys back up a bit, I can't breath." He joked. His voice was raspy from the lack of air. He coughed.
"T.K, Why did you do that? You didn't have to pull me out of the way you know." Said Davis.
"I know, but Sonya wouldn't have forgiven me if I didn't." said T.K sitting up.
Sonya's face turned bright red, as did Davis's.
"Thanks." He said.
T.K stood up, holding his stomach and side.
"Damn that hurt." He muttered.
"We must get away from here, quickly." Advised Hawkmon.
We made our way along the canyon and found a T.V on it's edge. We opened the digiport and went home.
Sorry the last part of this is half-ass, but HEY! I kicked my own ass up and down Lombard just to right the rest of it!
Please review!