To say that I own Digimon would either be the owners fulfilling a pipe-dream, or a lie on the level of Mark McGwire in front of Congress about steroids. Disclaimer in the first chapters as well as on my profile stands. Just to be safe, the large italicized sections are flashbacks.

Two days later, a young man with a signature bucket-hat stood outside of a gym. His usual green-and-yellow sweatshirt had been abandoned in favor of a simple white muscle-shirt, while his usual green shorts remained. T.K. stared at the gym's name for quite some time: 'Happy Muscle Gymnasium'.

Who comes up with these names? He thought to himself. He had to fight the urge to bring his palm to his face over the idiocy of his current situation. Whatever happened to peaceful negotiations? Didn't the United Nations do that kind of thing with countries that hated each other all the time? Then again, not even the UN could do anything to settle the 'feud' between Kari and Yolei. He sighed in frustration before looking at the watch on his wrist.

9:30 AM...Why the hell am I here again? He didn't have time to think of an answer before a voice called out to him.

"Hey T.K.!" Ken jogged up to him. Like T.K., gone were his gray school jacket and pants. In their place were a gray muscle-shirt of his own with matching shorts. ("Gee, nice color combo. Good to see you've got some originality." Yolei had sneered when she saw his outfit.) "Sorry I'm late. I had a little trouble finding this place."

"No worries," said T.K. "I kinda wish I'd never found it."

"'Kinda'?"

T.K. rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I wish this place never existed. I wish I knew how to operate a crane so I could destroy it with a wrecking ball just so we didn't have to go through this crap."

Ken held his hands up. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'd rather not be here, either. This isn't really my kind of thing."

"It's not mine, either. I mean, who names a place 'Happy Muscle' anyway?"

"Someone who either watches too much anime or reads too much fanfiction."

Both teens turned to look at the readers.

"So then," Ken asked, suddenly remembering about the fourth wall. "How did we get roped into this again?"

"Well," T.K. crossed his arms. "I don't know about you, but I learned about this when..."


The day after Kari exchanged insulting emails with Yolei, Kari called T.K. and invited him over to her home. Tai and their mother were out for the day, which would leave the two alone for the day. T.K. eagerly rushed over to the Kamiya residence, hoping to have a peaceful day with his girlfriend. Once at their front door, he knocked twice.

No answer.

T.K. hiked an eyebrow up. She said she'd be here, didn't she? He knocked again.

Still no answer. He smirked. So that's how she's going to be, huh? He cleared his throat before knocking again. This time, however, he pounded his fist against the door.

"Tokyo Police!" He called out, doing his best to force his voice as deep as possible. "Kari Kamiya, come out with your hands up! We've got a warrant for your arrest!"

The door flew open. Kari stepped out, wrists together in front of her and a wide smile on her face.

"I surrender!" She said dramatically. "Please, officer, take me!"

T.K. chuckled. "You're supposed to say, 'take me away.'"

"Or am I?" Kari asked, wiggling her eyebrows T.K. laughed again before pulling her in for a brief kiss.

"So, what are we doing today?"

"Well," Kari answered as she slipped on her shoes. "I figured we could go to the mall for a while. I could use some new outfits, and your wallet could stand to lose a little weight."

"My wallet has your credit card in it, you know."

"Yep. And if my bill is any bigger than it should be, I'm harvesting your organs to pay for it."

"Sure you are. You ready to go?"

"Hang on." Kari stepped back into the apartment for a moment. "T.K. and I are going out for a while." She called out.

"Okay!" Gatomon answered from another room. "Have fun!"

"We will!" Kari exited her apartment again, locking the door behind her. "Okay. Let's go."

The two spent their day at the local mall, shopping for various sets of clothes for the both of them. Kari led the two throughout the trip, with T.K. close behind. An almost comical set of bags hung off T.K.'s arms as the two entered a hat shop.

"Hey, this one's cute." Kari said, holding up a bucket-hat. T.K. rolled his eyes.

"That looks like every other hat I've got."

"Yeah," Kari mused. "But it could replace your Tuesday hat. God knows you need a new one, what with all the stains in it that I'm pretty sure aren't ones you could get outside your room."

T.K. turned beet red. "Shut up, Kari!"

Kari giggled. "Relax. I'm just kidding. Seriously, though, you need this one."

"Fine. But you're paying for it."

"Why?" Kari asked incredulously.

"Because I've paid for everything that's for you. Which, by the way, is everything so far."

"Jerk." She huffed.

"Crybaby." He puffed.

Kari stepped in and planted a quick kiss on T.K.'s lips, blowing the "tension" down. "I'm hungry. Let's pay for this and go get something to eat." She said before going up to the cashier.

Once the shopping was done, they made their way to a food court. T.K. got his lunch from a pizza shop while Kari got what she called a "more sensible meal."

T.K. rolled his eyes. "Right, because Chinese is much better for you than pizza."

"It is!" Kari responded, holding a pair of chopsticks. "It's much more fulfilling than pizza."

"In more ways than one."

"Oh don't you dare try to say that I'm fat."

"I'm not. But Chinese food will sure help you get there."

"Shut up."

The teens ate their lunches in relative peace. Both were content to simply sit there with one another on a seemingly perfect day. Time seemed to pass rather slowly before the silence between the two was broken.

"You know," Kari said. "You could stand to beef up a bit."

T.K. nearly spit out the soda he was drinking from when Kari said that. He opted to keep his mouth shut, which resulted in him choking for a moment. Kari watched unfazed while her boyfriend recovered from his moment of misery.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" He asked once he was able.

"I got you a gym membership."

"Why would you do that? I don't need to visit a gym, I don't think."

"Well, you're pretty strong, but I see guys all the time that could beat you up. I'm just a little worried that someone might try to make a move on me and you won't be able to fight them off if you need to."

"Guys like who?" T.K. asked. Realization set in at that moment. "Guys like, I dunno, Ken?"

Kari feigned shock. "No! What would make you think that?"

T.K. dropped his head into his hands. He rubbed his forehead fiercely for a moment.

"I thought we were going to talk things out."

"Yolei and I kinda did."

"When?"

"Late last night. We emailed each other."

"And you came to the conclusion that me beating Ken up would solve things?"

"...maybe."

T.K.'s face found his hands again. "Dear God..."

"It's not that big of a deal, T.K." Kari said. She pulled a business card from her pocket and set it in front of T.K. "Starting tomorrow, just go to this gym for the next few weeks and everything will be just fine."

"I'm not going to a gym so I can get into a fight, Kari."

"Look, Takeru," Kari growled. T.K. gulped. It was never a good thing when she used his full name. "I've already paid for your membership. A membership that, might I mention, was very expensive and non-refundable. I'm not seeing that money again unless I see it on you, and I'll be damned if I don't see it. You're going to that gym and that's final."

T.K. brought his hand up to his face once more. "Fine. But I'm not fighting anybody. Got it?"

"Alright." Kari answered, her fingers crossed underneath their table.


"Nice," Ken said. "You were having a nice date when she dropped the bad news?"

T.K. sighed. "Yep. The rest of the day was rather awkward. I mean, how often does your girlfriend tell you that she wants you to have a fight with a friend of yours?"

"Happened twice in one day," Ken sighed himself.

"So how did Yolei get you in on this?"

"Well..."


Yolei made her way to Ken's house in Tamachi. She had heard through the Silk Thread that Ken's mother and father would be away for the next few days. This was the perfect opportunity to get some work done, in her opinion. Once she found her boyfriend's apartment, she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" A small-ish voice could barely be heard.

"It's me, Minomon. Let me in."

"But I'm Minomon." The voice answered, a slight chuckle behind it. Yolei rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Minomon! I'm here to visit Ken!"

"Okay. Let me get him." Moments later, the door slowly opened.

"Hey, Yolei." Ken said. Only his head could be seen, as he hid himself behind the door.

"Hey, Ken. Can I come in?"

"Uh...yeah." Ken answered. Yolei shoved her way into the door before Ken had a chance to tell her to wait a minute. Turning around, Yolei saw why Ken was hiding behind the door.

"Yum." Yolei said as she slowly licked her lips at the sight of a shirtless Ken. Ken fought off the urges to both blush and roll his eyes.

"I'll be right back," he said quickly as he tried to retreat to his room. Unfortunately for him, Yolei cut him off. She shoved him against a wall and crashed her lips against his. Minomon slinked into Ken's room to give the teens some privacy. Yolei ran her hands over her boyfriend's torso, her fingers lingering on his stomach.

"Nice," she said as they parted. "Could be better, though."

Ken frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you could have a bit more muscle on you. I like a guy with muscle, you know."

"Right, because my martial arts experience never impressed you before."

"It has and does, but you don't look like you could beat the crap out of people. I want people to know that my man knows how to beat people up and can do it too."

"Why would people need to know that I can fight?" Ken asked.

"So that they know not to mess with us." Moments of silence passed. Ken slowly pieced together what Yolei was saying.

"You want people to know not to mess with us...? People like, I don't know, T.K. and Kari, maybe?"

"...maybe."

"Oh for the love of God." Ken turned around and slowly thumped his head into the wall repeatedly.

"Look, it's not that bad. I even got you a gym membership!" She proclaimed, pulling a card from her pocked and stuffing it into his hand. Ken lifted his hand to read the card. "You start tomorrow."

"I'm not doing this." Ken defiantly stated.

"Yes you are." Yolei growled.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I'm not!"


"And here you are." T.K. mused. "At least I didn't have a makeout session ruined by this."

"Shut up." Both teens turned toward the gym's front doors. "Well...now what?"

T.K. crossed his arms behind his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here. There's no way I'm going in there to work out to get into a pointless fight."

Ken nodded. "Same here."

They each took a deep breath before walking toward the gym's sliding doors.

"So, T.K., " Ken said. "Why are we walking into this place?"

T.K. mulled over it for a couple moments before answering. "Because we're whipped."

Ken chuckled. "Sounds about right."


Review response: Kari fighting? I don't think it's too big of a stretch. Just look at the times when Angewomon fought Ladydevimon. Both she and Angewomon clearly hated Ladydevimon for no real reason other than she was a bitch. I betcha that if Kari had the chance, she'd have thrown down in those fights too.