The phone rang in the Kamiya apartment.

Tai picked it up. "Hello? Yeah . . . uh-huh . . . okay, whatever. Bye." He set the phone down. "Huh," he said to himself thoughtfully.

He wandered into the kitchen, where he found Kari washing dishes. Gatomon sat on the counter beside her, drinking a glass of milk. "Hey, Kari."

Kari looked up and flashed a bright smile at her older brother. "Hi, Tai. How were your classes today?"

"Oh, they were okay. It was a typical college day." He leaned against the wall. "Hey. I got a call from Davis a few minutes ago, and he said to ask you if you'd changed your mind. What was he talking about?"

Gatomon snorted a giggle into her milk.

"Oh," Kari blushed slightly, and shot Gatomon a quick "be-quiet" look. "Uh . . . " The pink in her cheeks subsided, and she began washing again. "Davis wanted me to go with him to a dance," she said matter-of-factly.

"So?"

Kari blushed again, suddenly seeming to find a very dirty spot on a plate, which she scrubbed at furiously. "Well, T.K. had already asked me to go with him."

Tai smiled knowingly. "That's cool," he said quietly, and after a slight pause he said, "T.K.'s a great guy, isn't he?"

Kari, her cheeks still flushed, avoided her brother's eyes. "Mm-hmm," she murmured quietly, but Tai heard the deep conviction in her assent.

"Well," Tai announced, "When I see Sora tomorrow, the first thing I'm gonna do is go down on my knees and beg her to go to the dance with me!"

Kari smiled. "Good luck!"

"He'll need it!" Gatomon teased, and both giggled at the look of feigned injury on Tai's face.

Just then the phone rang again.

"I'll get it," Tai said, picking up the phone. "H'lo?"

"Hey, Tai."

Tai easily recognized his best friend's voice. "Hey, Matt. What's up?"

Matt seemed to hesitate for a second, then he said in a low voice, "T.K. got a threatening phone call a few minutes ago."

"What?!"

Kari gave a little gasp at Tai's exclamation, almost dropping the glass she was drying,

and looked quickly over at her brother; Gatomon's blue eyes narrowed minutely, and she studied Tai closely.

"Are you sure?" Tai asked, and Kari heard a trace of anger in his voice.

"Yes." Matt tiredly ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. "I was given the message. Whoever it was said that if T.K. went to the dance, he might get hurt!"

"What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know what to do! Both my parents are out of town-out of the country, actually-and I'm staying at Mom's with T.K. I'm just glad that I answered the phone instead of him!"

"Yeah, me, too," Tai agreed. "So what are you thinking?"

Matt was quiet for a long time, apparently thinking everything over again. "Maybe T.K. shouldn't go," he said finally, an odd note of reluctance in his voice. "Thing is, my band is part of the entertainment at the dance, so I'd have to leave him at home alone, which I'm definitely not gonna do. I think that I'll probably let him go, but keep an eye on him."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll look out for him for you while your band plays."

"Thanks, I was hoping you would." Matt's tone became mischievous. "Speaking of the dance, do you know who my brother's going with?"

Tai chuckled as he watched Kari finish the dishes, then curl up on the couch and turn on the television. "My sister! Yeah, Davis called a few minutes ago, asking her if she'd changed her mind and wanted to go with him instead! Like she'd ever pick Davis over T.K.!"

"I bet before we know it we'll be brothers-in-law!" Matt snickered.

"I wouldn't bet against you!" Both laughed for a while about the practical jokes they could play at the wedding, earning them strange looks from their siblings, which only served to make them laugh harder.

"Ahh . . ." Matt finally said when he could breathe again. "Thanks, Tai . . . for everything. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Later," Tai agreed and hung up. Slowly his smile faded as he thought less about the end of their conversation and more about the beginning.

"What is it, Tai?" Kari asked, noting his pensive mood. She sat up and turned off the TV. "Is Matt all right?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Tai met Kari's eyes seriously. His voice was low as he continued, "But T.K. got a threatening phone call."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was steady, but her eyes clearly showed her concern for her friend.

"Apparently someone called and said that if T.K. went to the dance he might get hurt." Kari looked slightly ill. "Matt answered the phone, though, so it could have been worse, I guess."

Kari looked up at Tai, trust reflecting in her brown eyes. Her brother would have an answer to this-he always knew what to do in these sorts of situations. "What should we do?"

"What can we do? We'll just have to be extra careful, T.K. especially."

"Maybe we shouldn't go," Kari murmured. "I don't want T.K. to get hurt!"

"We can't let ourselves be intimidated that easily!" Tai sounded determined. "Matt and I will just keep an eye on T.K. at the dance, and you'll be right there with him, too. He'll be fine." I hope.

Kari nodded as she rose from the couch. "Okay." Tai's reasoning seemed to have reassured her. She paused in the doorway to her room and looked back at her brother. " 'Night, Tai."

" 'Night, Kari."

Kari sat down on her bed and gazed out the window up at the night sky. I hope Tai's right, she thought, closing her eyes and hugging her legs tightly to her chest. She felt the bed shake slightly and opened her eyes to see Gatomon sitting beside her.

"What's wrong, Kari?" the Digimon asked curiously.

Kari looked back out at the sky. "I—I guess I'm just a little worried about T.K.."

"Oh?" Gatomon blinked her wide, blue eyes.

"I don't want him to get hurt, but I know he'll go to that dance anyway because he wants me to have fun."

"I wouldn't worry about T.K. too much-he can take care of himself. He's proven that lots of times." Gatomon shrugged. "Besides, he has Patamon to protect him. We'll both be watching out for you."

With a grateful smile, Kari pulled Gatomon into her arms, cuddling her warm, furry body gently. "Thanks, Gatomon."

Gatomon and Tai are probably right, she thought as she snuggled down under her covers. And T.K. can take care of himself.

Back at the Takashi apartment, the phone rang again.

"Hey Matt, will you get that?"

There was no reply, and the phone continued to ring.

"Oh, man! Only when I'm in the shower!"

T.K., still dripping, scrambled to answer the phone. It could be Kari... The phone stopped ringing the instant his wet hand touched it. "Great," he muttered, piqued. Eyes narrowed in annoyance, he slowly turned to look down the hall towards the kitchen and living room. "Now, where's Matt?"

In the living room, Matt was sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep and snoring loudly.

"What's that?" T.K. sniffed at the air. "It smells like something's burning!" Still clad in only a towel, he rushed to the kitchen to find a dark cloud of smoke seeping into the air from around the edge of the oven door. "Yikes!" He jerked open the door and was hit squarely in the face by the thick cloud of smog that the oven belched forth; the smoke got into his eyes, making them water. Coughing and choking, he stumbled blindly backwards into the sink. His elbow banged into one of the handles-the one they'd been meaning to have fixed for several weeks-and the knob popped off, spraying water over the whole kitchen. "Auuggghhhh!" T.K., still half-blinded by the smoke, got a face full of water and sprawled backwards on the slippery floor.

"MATT!"

Back on the couch, Matt sneezed in his sleep, moaned, then rolled over and began to snore again.

The fine, almost misty spray of water was helping the smoke to clear. T.K. rubbed at his burning eyes, then looked around wildly. "Oh, no! The kitchen'll flood!" He scrambled to his feet, struggling to walk without falling on the slick floor. He finally reached the sink again, and, closing his eyes, he felt for the handle he'd dislodged, which was somewhere inside the blinding spray; he felt a wave of relief as his fingers closed around it. Coughing and sputtering, he fought to screw the handle back into its place, and eventually succeeded, though not before getting himself completely soaked (again).

The sopping wet towel still wrapped around his waist, T.K. sunk to his knees in front of the sink, one hand still on the handle, his chin resting on the other, grasping the counter's edge. He let out a long sigh of relief and closed his aching, itching eyes.

A slight noise alerted T.K. to the fact that someone was coming. He opened his eyes to see Matt standing in the doorway. His older brother yawned and stretched, then blinked in surprise as he took in the state of the kitchen:

The oven was open and steaming;

The walls and counter were drenched;

The floor was fairly swimming;

And T.K. was slumped against the sink in a towel.

"What happened here?" Matt asked as he turned off the oven. "It looks like a battle field!" He shook his head disapprovingly. "T.K., you've got to be able to find easier ways to have fun."

"F-f-fun . . . ?"