Notes: Nothing to say this time except maybe that I don't own Digimon. I don't have much to say about TK right now except that he's very confused and somewhat crazy. I tried a bit of foreshadowing, but I'm not very good at being subtle. As an extra note, I published this on the start of Chinese New Year.
~TAICHI~
I tried to ignore my sister as I slept. It was not going well since Agumon and Gatomon were shouting out ideas at Tokomon. I grabbed my pillow over my head and tried to block out the sound.
Finally, there was silence. I relaxed and tried to find sleep, but then Hikari began to bang on the door. "Taichi! Taichi, wake up!"
I groaned as I got out of bed. I bumped into the door and opened it. "I'm trying to sleep!" My eyes were slightly closed so I opened them. "Patamon?"
The orange digimon was flying around the living room in excitement. "I digivolved! Now I can take on DemiDevimon!"
Hikari smirked at me. Agumon was trying to catch the other Rookie while Gatomon watched them. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. "It's Saturday. Why can't I sleep?"
Hikari hit my head. "We're going to the Digital World, remember? We're going to see where TK might be."
I sighed. "Fine. What time is it?" I went back into my room and grabbed a set of fresh clothes.
"Almost ten. We're supposed to be there at twelve. But I'm going early with Koushiro and Yamato."
I walked towards the bathroom. "Okay then. I'll go with you. It's a good thing soccer practice is cancelled."
I quickly took a shower and changed. I dried my hair with a towel and stared at my reflection. I smirked and began to brush my teeth.
I exited the bathroom and sat next to Agumon on the couch. Hikari walked into the bathroom with her own items and shut the door. The reptile digimon looked at me. "Taichi? Are you worried about TK?"
I nodded. "He's one of the strongest out of all of us. You know that."
"But you don't show it."
I smiled. "Because if I show the others that I worry, they'll worry even more. Besides, I can't worry more than Yamato, can I? TK is his brother, not mine. We'll take down the enemy together, Agumon."
Gatomon came out of the kitchen with snacks. Patamon flew around carrying soda. The catlike digimon set the stuff on the table and turned to me. "We don't really know what's wrong though. We just can't go headfirst into the problem."
I nodded. "I'm not that impulsive, Gatomon."
Patamon laughed. "You didn't change much, Taichi."
"Hey!" I stood up. "I did change!"
Hikari came out of the bathroom. She was ready to go. "Okay! Taichi, what's going on?" She stared at me trying to chase down Patamon.
I nervously laughed. "We were just talking."
Agumon chuckled at me as he drank some soda. "Let's get going!"
I grabbed my tag from my room and put it on. It glowed at once and I ran out of the apartment. I locked the door and followed my sister down the stairs.
We walked to the elementary school and saw Yamato already there with Koushiro. My best friend stared at the computer while trying to get Koushiro to hurry up.
Koushiro looked at us. "It's a good thing you two are here. Someone get this guy out of here!" He pointed at Yamato who was still egging him to hurry.
I pulled Yamato away from the computer. "Dude, calm down. It's okay. Izzy will get us through this."
The blonde stopped struggling. "Sorry, Tai. It's just that TK is there and I want to know that he's alright!"
Hikari sat next to Koushiro. "We know he's okay. We've seen him at school every day."
Yamato frowned. "But I want to know what he does after that."
Koushiro leaned into the computer. "What is that?"
Tentomon looked over his shoulder. "Someone is fighting or something. But it's red so I don't know what that symbolizes."
"I'm sending you three into the Digital World. Everyone should be coming soon, but this can't wait." Koushiro typed in a few things and got the program opened. "I'll be there with the rest of the team soon."
I felt the portal take me in and I fell into the forest. I hated when that happened. My fall was broken by a pile of leaves and I was glad. I stood up and brushed them off.
Agumon leapt up and the two of us surveyed the land. "We've never been here before, Taichi."
I took out my digivice and struggled to find a signal. I walked a bit out of the dead forest and found one. "Koushiro? You there?"
"Taichi? That's a relief. I thought I lost you. You were in the uncharted territory. Yamato and Hikari are in the fields of grass east of you. It's just going to be the three of you. Everyone is almost here, but it's better if we have them as backup."
"Okay, fine. Just tell us where to go."
I met up with Yamato as he was examining some burnt grass. "Why is there always fire damage?"
Gabumon shrugged. "It gets out of hand quickly. That's best for mass destruction."
Gatomon and Patamon turned towards the forest. Patamon walked closer towards it. I turned to see what he was going to do. "Any ideas, Patamon?"
"Maybe we should risk going in there to look for TK," he whispered.
I looked down at Agumon. He scratched his head. "I don't really think that it's a good idea. We don't have any way to reach Koushiro."
Koushiro voice came from my digivice. "That problem is easily taken care of. I just found something strange south of you guys. I'm sending in Daisuke, Ken, and Miyako. Meet them there."
Our group moved to find out the problem. We had trouble since Koushiro was busy telling Daisuke about the enemy. I sprinted forward and saw them fighting against some Bakemon.
"Veemon!" Daisuke shouted as his partner fell down in defeat. "Hey! You guys can't do that!"
The largest grinned at him. "We just did!" He turned to his crowd to look at something behind them. He shivered and told his group to attack.
"Pepper Breath!" Agumon jumped in to protect them.
Veemon got back to his feet. "Vee-Headbutt!" He knocked down one of his opponents.
I looked around to see if I could help. I walked away from the chaos and noticed Hikari and Yamato were missing. Their digimon were in the fight, but they had walked off.
I called out for them and heard yelling. I turned back to the fight against the Bakemon and noticed that they were winning. "Agumon! Digivolve!"
"Agumon digivolve to…"
"Greymon! Nova Blast!"
The others got out of the battle zone. They hurriedly had their digimon digivolve. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Veemon armor digivolve to…"
"Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage. Fire Knuckle!"
"Wormmon digivolve to…"
"Stingmon! Spiking Strike!"
"Hawkmon armor digivolve to…"
"Halsemon, the Wings of Love. Tempest Wing!" That attack seemed to do the trick as the Bakemon flew backwards.
When everything cleared, I saw Yamato and Hikari charging towards a shadow. Yamato tackled it and we ran to see who it was.
I'd like to say it was TK, but this wasn't TK. It was just some kid who looked a lot like the TK I know. Now, TK has medium blonde hair and clear light blue eyes. This guy has really dark blonde hair and the most intense eyes ever. They stared at you and you want to die. He was wearing lightweight black armor.
Yamato was still on top of the kid. He stared at the smaller boy who just shoved him off. "Weaklings! All of you!" He was talking about the group of Bakemon.
The Bakemon behind us tried to get up, but Greymon and the others scared them into staying there. The armored boy made a face of disgust. He toyed with a small necklace hanging from his neck.
"Who are you?" Ken demanded.
The boy took that time to notice us. "Really, Ken? Oh well. I didn't think you'd recognize me like this anyways. You can call me the Protector of the Digital World." He turned back at the Bakemon. "Are you all going to move or what?"
The Bakemon stared between the boy and our digimon. They immediately shot up. "Yes, sir!" They ran away and the boy laughed at the sight.
Hikari frowned as he laughed. "I don't see anything amusing about that."
He turned back towards us and gave us a look of contempt. "Why do I care what you think? I'll see you later."
I noticed Patamon fly over near him. "TK?"
The boy froze. He stared at the flying Rookie. "You? I remember you. You're DemiDevimon. You're with them? You're that egg they tried to offer me?" He was half talking to himself.
Okay, so I was wrong. This was TK. But that meant that the real DemiDevimon was close by. With the illusions taking over his mind, talking to him won't help.
Yamato was kneeling on the ground on one knee. He stared at his little brother. "TK? Are you alright?"
His head sharply turned towards Yamato. "You replaced me and Patamon with DemiDevimon?" The younger boy was seething now.
I stepped in between the brothers. "TK, you should calm down." I took another step towards the kid and he tackled into me.
Patamon tried to help to get him off me, but DemiDevimon appeared to attack us. "Demi Dart!"
Patamon flew out of the way and stared at the bat. "I beat you once! I can do it again."
DemiDevimon sneered. "Yeah, but you had the kid's help. This time, he's on my side."
Gatomon jumped at the bat. "You're going down, DemiDevimon."
I rolled TK onto his back and got out of his clutches. He stood up and immediately tried to punch me. Daisuke and Yamato held him back, but TK kicked them down. He hurriedly shielded DemiDevimon with his body before Patamon and Gatomon could attack.
"DemiDevimon! Let's go! We're going to train twice as hard and twice as long! Anything to protect the Digital World!"
DemiDevimon sneered at us again as the digimon couldn't risk hurting TK. TK looked back at us before entering the forest. He shook his head and disappeared inside the dense trees.
I heard a sigh from Koushiro. "I have more bad news, guys. This mainly concerns you, Ken. Someone hacked into my files filled with information about your Dark Spirals."
Ken froze up. "Do you have any idea who?"
"I don't know because there was no way someone could hack into my laptop. Someone had to have enough skill to get into my computer from the Digital World. It might even be a digimon."
I groaned. "So we're lost! What are we supposed to do now?"
Miyako thought about it. "We have to go back. We'll keep an eye on TK and if he does anything, we'll be there to stop him or get information out of him."
Hikari nodded. "That might be a good idea. But that means someone has to monitor the computer at all times."
Koushiro sighed. "I'm getting you guys out right now. Hold on."
I felt myself disappear and I landed on the ground of the computer lab. I smiled, but then felt someone collapse on top of me. "Hey! Watch it."
"Sorry, Taichi," Hikari said. She got up and I felt another three people fall on me. "Here let me help you up, Gatomon."
Patamon flew up while Agumon got his heavy body off of mine. I picked myself up and straightened my clothes. "Why do I always have to fall?"
Yamato scowled. He wasn't up for any jokes. "I'm going home." He turned to leave the classroom. No one followed him.
I felt bad that I could do nothing for him. Gabumon waited a few seconds before following his partner out the door. "I'll see you guys later."
Koushiro was typing in a code into the computer. "There! I created a program to help us see into the uncharted territory. It's like a small robot camera we can use." He closed the computer after copying the code into his laptop. "I'm going to spend the rest of the day to improve it."
"Do you need help, Izzy?" Jou asked. Koushiro nodded and the two of them left.
Daisuke leaned against the wall. "I guess we have nothing else to do. Anyone up for a game of soccer?"
Sora and I raised our hands immediately. We had a friendly glaring contest. "Don't look at me like that, Taichi. It's not my fault you lose most of the time."
Ken and Daisuke pushed us out of the room to get our game started. Us goggle heads vs. Ken and Sora. I looked back at Hikari and she smiled. "Mimi, Miyako, Iori, and I are going to the mall, Taichi." I nodded and raced out after Ken.
On the field, I kicked the ball up high to get it on top of my head. I passed it to Daisuke and he shot it into the goal. I finished up my stretching before tossing myself in our game. Veemon and Agumon were in the field with Daisuke while I played goalie.
Ken stood at the opposite goal as Sora maneuvered across the field. She kicked the ball at me and I caught it. I tossed it towards Daisuke and stuck my tongue out at her. The two of us silently laughed as we tried to get TK off our minds.
~TAKERU~
I looked at the scenes of the real world. It was typical of them to be playing soccer, toying with their computers, and shopping. Yamato was the only one who had gone back home. Of course, big brother always did that. Right now, he was asleep on his bed.
I scoffed as I turned away from the screens. I stared at my training clothes. They were fully black with white trimmings at the edges and sides. I stretched and took a sip of water.
Patamon looked at me. "Is there anything wrong, TK?" I shook my head. "Let's get back to training then."
I nodded and stood up. "Begin!" Our trainer stood nearby and activated the process.
The two of us ran through the obstacle course that was set up. I dodged the flying equipment and ignored the impacts some of the objects caused as they hit me. To protect things, I had to face pain. I had to be able to endure it so I can keep going.
"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shot at one of the targets.
I kept near him to see if I can protect him from incoming danger. "Patamon, left!"
He tackled into a target in that direction. I caught up with him, but my footing messed up. I tripped and braced myself for an attack. I waited for a while before standing up and noticing that the training illusion was gone.
I looked at our trainer. I hung my head. "I'm sorry. I failed."
"If that were a real scenario, you would have been dead!" Azulongmon roared. Patamon just stood near me, not answering. It wouldn't help if he did. "How do you expect to protect the Digital World by being dead?"
I flinched. "I'll try harder!"
"I'm changing the targets! They will be in the image of the other Digidestined. If you can't fight them, don't expect to return to the living quarters tonight."
I scowled. I sensed the scene change and Patamon flew up. I saw Taichi and Yamato. They were trying to get their digimon to warp digivolve. I looked at Patamon who still couldn't digivolve. It wasn't fair!
I stared at the two with anger. They were going to destroy Patamon and I couldn't do anything about it. I flew at them in blind fury. I felt my rage grow as they laughed at me.
I hated it. The two illusions wouldn't stop taunting me as I saw Agumon and Gabumon warp digivolve. I wanted to find a way to stop them so badly! I looked down at my new crest and it glowed. "Patamon digivolve to…"
"Angemon! Hand of Fate!" I felt the intensity of the blast and collapsed in exhaustion.
I turned my head to the large digimon that watched. "Very well. Do whatever you wish. You don't have to return until tomorrow evening." He left me and Angemon alone.
"Let's go to the real world, Angemon."
"Really, TK?" He stared down at me with his worried face. "What if you see the others?"
I shook my head. "Just a quick trip to the park. And maybe some food. I have money at home." I stood up. "You don't have to come. I just thought that you'd want something."
Angemon reverted back into Patamon. "Okay!"
I smiled as we entered the real world through the small television.
~YAMATO~
I sat up in bed. I stared at the clock and noticed why I was awake. I stood up and answered the door. Sora beamed at me. "Hey, sleepyhead."
I smiled back. "Hey, yourself. Did you just beat Tai in soccer?"
She nodded as I let her and Biyomon in. Gabumon turned his head from the TV. I sat down and closed my eyes.
"Did you have nightmare, Matt?" Sora said as she sat next to me.
I tried to think about it. "I can't really remember. It could have been because I only remember seeing TK and Devimon."
"Devimon?" Gabumon asked. "Why would you have a dream about him?"
I shrugged. I didn't like that memory much. It reminded me of how fragile TK used to be. When he came back to Odaiba, I couldn't help but think about his younger self. He really had grown up a lot. He started out as my helpless little brother and became one of the strongest Digidestined we depend on. I opened my eyes and sighed. If Devimon comes back, I'll take him on, not just for us, but for the small TK I knew, too.
