Chapter Ten of "Tai's Downfall" by Melinda-chan
T.K. entered the apartment room. He put his bookbag down on the floor and took off his shoes.
"Mom?" T.K. said. He heard no reply. T.K. then sighed.
He remembered the time he and Kari came out of Izzy's apartment. He saw that Kari was being quiet.
"Is something wrong, Kari?" T.K. asked her.
"T.K., you know that you said that you want us to go one step further in our relationship?" Kari said.
"Yeah so?" T.K. didn't like the sound of her voice.
"Well, I decided that I don't want to see you anymore," Kari uttered those immortal words.
T.K. felt his heart stop.
"Why not?" T.K. said, feeling a bit shocked.
"I just don't think we should go on like this," Kari said.
"What do you mean, Kari?" T.K. questioned.
"I just don't want to see you like this anymore," Kari said. "Goodbye, T.K. Let's be friends from now on." She then walked away.
"No Kari!" T.K. said. "NOOOO!"
T.K. suddenly found himself back in his home again. He looked at his mother's cupboards. He opened it and found a bottle of sake. He looked at it for a few minutes.
He opened it and started drinking it.
The phone then rang.
"Hello?" T.K. said, the bottle still in his hands.
"Moshi-moshi, this is Ken Ichijouji speaking," Ken said. "May I speak to T.K. Takaishi please?"
"I'm T.K. Takaishi," T.K. said, trying to drink at the same time.
"Oh I see," Ken said. "Have you seen Kari lately?"
T.K. took a big gulp.
"No," T.K. said. He took another gulp.
"You mean you hasn't seen Kari since you've been to Izzy's place?" Ken questioned.
"Yeah," T.K. said.
"Are you okay, T.K.? Your voice sounds slurred," Ken asked him.
"I am fine," T.K. said, taking another gulp.
"So you don't know if Kari said anything about Tai?" Ken asked him.
"Why?" T.K. questioned.
"Well, I thought that since you're with Kari, that you may know-" Ken started to say when T.K. interrupted him.
"I'm not going out with her anymore," T.K. said.
"Oh," Ken said. "Well, that's why I called you for. If you haven't seen Kari or Tai since then-"
"Sure. Bye for now" T.K. said. And before Ken could respond, T.K. hanged up the phone. He now could turn his attention to getting another bottle of sake from the cupboards.
"Um good-bye," Ken said to the ring tone. He then hanged up the phone. "Was I that bad?"
"T.K. couldn't help you?" Wormmon asked him.
"That had to be one of the strangest calls I ever made," Ken said. "I hope T.K. is okay." The phone then rang. "Wait a minute!" He then picked up the phone. "Moshi-moshi, Ichijouji residence- oh Sora! Sora, could you please slow down? I think you're sobbing! Tai was in your home! And he WHAT?"
"Ken?" Wormmon said. Ken turned to him.
"Wormmon, hold on!" Ken said. He then returned to the phone. "Sorry about that, Sora. May you repeat that?" He then grabbed his pen. "Sora, calm down! Did he do anything else beside that? Okay, that is not a major thing! I know it was unexpected, but it wouldn't be classified as a threat. I did call T.K. but he said that he and Kari had broken up, so I know that I can't rely on him to- I don't know why they broke up! I wasn't going to ask him that! Well, Sora, if you want to talk about it, you can go to my place and we can talk. I must say that I'm a bit shocked that he actually did that in front of everyone! Just keep on guard around Tai from now on? Alright, I'll see you later." He then hanged up the phone.
"Ken-chan, what's with Sora?" Wormmon asked.
"Sora said that Tai kissed her," Ken said. "And I do mean kiss!"
"I had no idea that he would be so forward!" Wormmon said.
"Or that he would do it in front of witnesses," Ken said. "I'm getting a bit uncomfortable with this whole thing. First, we saw Tai trying to push Matt down the stairs. Second, Matt got in a very suspicious car accident, and now Tai actually kissed Sora. I know my dark side was evil, but it wasn't creepy."
"Do you suppose that he's developing some sort of psychosis?" Wormmon asked.
"Psychosis is a mental disorder in which a person loses touch with reality and regresses mentally and socially from others," Ken said. "Tai could be dealing with some sort of inner conflict that nobody knows about. That could be the reason for his disintegration."
"So what are we going to do?" Wormmon asked him.
"I have to ask Mikio or Michiro about this," Ken said. "I'll try not to mention Tai specifically, but I definitely would like to ask whether people like that can be helped, though I already have a feeling that I know the answer."
"But then again Tai may not have a major mental disorder," Wormmon said. "He could be having some sort of personality disorder."
"If that's the case, the sooner he is treated, the better," Ken said. He then put his hands together as if thinking. "I may have to do more research on this. I may have to consult a real psychologist."
"Do you have someone in mind?" Wormmon asked.
"I'm not sure whether to consult a standard psychologist or a criminal psychologist," Ken said. "I'll have to ask Mikio or Michiro on that one too."
"But if Tai is turning dangerous-" Wormmon started to say.
"A criminal psychologist studies criminal behaviour, not mental illness," Ken said. "Of course one could consider some types of criminal behaviour a mental problem." He then picked up his notepad. "I'll write a note for later."
"You know, the police should get involved," Wormmon said.
"Mikio and Michiro are detectives. That should be good enough for now," Ken said. "I think I should go to the hospital to see how Matt is doing. I could get some information on the accident, if it was really an accident."
"You suspect foul play?" Wormmon said.
"It seemed so suspicious that Matt had an accident right after Tai left" Ken said. "But I doubted that the police investigation would be wrapped up so quickly. I'll let Mikio and Michiro know about this in any case."
"I'm just worried that Tai may not have a problem at all," Wormmon said. "What happens if he just wants to get rid of Matt?"
"In that case, he's leaving sloppy evidence," Ken said. "The police will find out whether Matt's car was tampered or not, I can be called as a witness for his attempt on Matt's life when we were in Izzy's apartment, and he placed a deep kiss on Sora! If he wanted to get rid of Matt, so badly, why is he leaving so much evidence behind? It's mind-boggling!" He put his hands at his head.
"So what are you going to do for the moment?" Wormmon asked.
"If Tai's dark side is taking over, then maybe it's him that is doing these things," Ken said.
"But if that's the case, how are we going to stop him?" Wormmon questioned.
"We can't stop it. Only Tai can," Ken said. "We all have our dark sides, even you, Wormmon." At that, Wormmon looked up. "It's how we control, or not control, our dark side that determines how we use our lives." He then paused. "I'm going to the hospital now. Do you want to come along?"
"You had to ask me?" Wormmon questioned.
"I'm also going to Matt's place afterwards," Ken said. "Sora sounded really scared when she called me. I should go and see if she's alright too." He then got up. "Come with me, Wormmon." At that, the green Digimon followed Ken out of his room and out of the apartment.
"Tai, are you sure that you're okay?" Agumon questioned.
Tai was now preparing a chemical solution on his bed. Agumon saw him mixing acids using a face mask and goggles. The Reptile Digimon didn't have any thing to protect him- though he felt crying on his own.
"Oh, don't worry about me, Agumon," Tai said. "Just a drop would do it." He then put a lid on the tube. "I can't allow Matt to wake up and get Sora to love him again. At least with this-" Tai then shook the tube. "I can make him sleep a little more, perhaps for all eternity."
'Tai!' Agumon thought. 'This is not Tai at all! But who is this? And why does he want Sora so bad? What is his true purpose for her? Do I even want to know?' He then saw Tai go off his bed.
"Where are you going, Tai?" Agumon inquired.
"I'm going to the hospital, of course!" Tai said. "Come, Agumon! If you don't want to come, you can wait here."
"Oh no! I'm coming!" Agumon said. 'I got to protect Tai, even from himself,' he thought. Thus, he followed Tai to his car, just as Ken was on his way to the hospital.
End of Chapter Ten
I hope you all liked this chapter. This chapter is a bit short, but I am planning for Chapter Eleven. Will Tai kill Matt this time? Or will he be find out? And what is Ken's next plan? Will some of the other DigiDestineds be involved too? Wait to find out! Digimon was created by Toei Animation. Please don't forget to review!
Readers' Responses:
Alex Warlorn: Thank you for reviewing! I admit I should have written that the people heard the ambulance and the fire truck before they arrived. Still, ambulances and fire trucks go so fast that by the time you hear them, the ambulances and the fire trucks are there anyway. Ken's "D.E." persona doesn't really exist- it's just his dark side of his conscience. He usually ignores it nowadays- but you know that you can't always ignore it. Thank you for pointing out what I call "oversight errors"- typos that spell check and my eyes failed to catch. As for Season Two, I have to agree with you on that. It seemed way too rushed and too final. Let's hope that Digimon Savers will be able to learn from its predecessors' mistakes and be a great show.
Musashibf: Where did you say that you posted your fics? It didn't show up at the review box. As for this having a Taiora ending, I haven't planned it that way, but you can wait and see. By the way, the new show is called Digimon Savers, and from the looks of things, there'll be no old characters returning.
star's dreams: Agumon would definitely need to take action. The problem is, how is he able to do, when the enemy's within Tai himself?
sara haruko takenouchi kamiya: Thank you for reviewing! Please read Musashibf's response for your question on the ending of this story.
Frodo007: Rest assured that Matt will eventually be okay. You can tell Sora that, right?
Cute Lil Me and Loke Groundrunner- Thank you for reviewing! Please review again!