Chapter 2 - "Something old, something new..."
When Kari got in she found Tai and especially Sora looking towards her with great anticipation.
"I'm home." She shouted. When they saw that's she was smiling a look of intense relief washed over Tai's face. Although he had gotten used to the idea of Kari being with T.K most of the time, he still wasn't used to the idea of his little sister going on dates and was worried that something might have happened to her. Sora tried telling him that she was going T.K and that he was the last person to let any harm come to Kari, and even though Tai trusted T.K to the end of the earth, he still couldn't help but feel quite anxious. After she had taken off her shoes, she walked into the lounge and sat on the armchair near the sofa as Tai and Sora occupied the sofa. All the time she was very aware that Tai and Sora's eyes were following her every movement. She was still smiling but hadn't said anything else.
"Evening." Tai broke the silence, "you're home early." He said.
"Well it was getting chilly." Kari replied. More silence then followed, at this Sora nearly exploded.
"Well." She shouted a little louder than she was expecting. "What happened?" She asked. Kari's smile seemed to be infectious as Sora was now wearing one almost as big. Kari could tell Tai was just as interested to know, but wasn't showing it. Kari's smile, if possible, got even bigger and then she broke into an extremely detailed account of what had happened during the evening, including a nearly perfect run through of the movie.
"Well thanks for spoiling that for me." Tai said sarcastically, but Kari was still too excited to notice and just carried on with the account of the date. When she had talked for about half an hour she finally ran out of steam and sank back into her chair. She left a small pause before saying,
"It really was the perfect evening, and T.K, the perfect gentleman. He held all the doors for me and even held my chair at the restaurant." At this Sora nearly burst into tears, she was so happy for Kari.
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Tai said starting to feel some of the excitement in the room, he was even smiling but nowhere near as broadly as Kari or Sora.
"Thank you Tai, so what did you two get up to tonight?" Kari asked.
"Not much, we just stayed here and watched the TV." Tai answered.
"Oh, sounds fun." Kari said returning Tai's sarcasm. "So Sora how are you getting home tonight? It's getting quite late." Asked Kari. Before Sora had a chance to answer Tai jumped in,
"She's staying here tonight, don't you remember"
"Oh yeah, that's why the spare bed was in my room when I came home from school earlier." Kari said remembering; in all her excitement she had forgotten completely that Sora was staying the night. "Well I'm quite tired so I am going to bed now." Kari said abruptly, surreptitiously indicating Sora to follow her. Sora noticed this and said,
"I'm feeling quite tired too so I think I will join you Kari, night Tai." She said getting up and heading towards Kari's room, after giving Tai a good night kiss.
"Night Tai." Kari also said and with that Kari and Sora disappeared into Kari's room and closed the door behind them. Tai thinking nothing of this thought that because he was now alone that he may as well go to bed to, and so left for his room.
What Kari had neglected to tell in her all too thorough account of the evening was the more intimate moments between her and T.K. She did this because she knew Tai's reaction would be less than pleased, so she called Sora into her room to finish telling her the details of the date. Since Tai and Sora had started dating Sora had spent more time with Kari and as such Kari now thought of her as an older sister, this meant that she could tell her things that she couldn't tell Tai.
"Well, what else did you want to tell me that you didn't want Tai to here?" Sora asked. They had sat across from each other cross-legged on Sora's bed.
"Well me and T.K, we sort of kissed. More than once." Kari answered very excitedly. Sora looked as if she might explode again,
"And." She said full of excitement.
"It was pretty amazing." Kari said. Her smile had grown again and now looked as if it might never disappear. Upon hearing Kari's response, Sora leaned over and hugged her very tightly.
"Your first date and your first proper kiss all in the same night. I'm so proud of you, wait until Mimi hears about this, she's going to be so happy." Mimi Tachikawa was the last member of the digi-destined. She was part of the original eight and was one of the biggest supporters of Kari and T.K getting together, before Yolei came along, as such Mimi and Yolei got along famously. Mimi had moved to America during the four years that separated the defeat of the dark masters and the uprising of the Digimon Emperor. However, she was able to get into the digital world, and helped battle the Emperor on several occasions.
"I think I'll let you have the honour of telling her." Kari said giggling. "It really is getting late now so I think I will got to bed, for real this time." Kari continued after leaving a slight pause for giggling.
"Okay then, good night." Sora said.
"Night." Kari replied.
When T.K got home he found he didn't have to face 20 questions after all. Matt had fallen asleep on the sofa with the TV playing all to itself. Instead of waking him T.K thought it best to leave him where he was, so he turned off the TV and wrote a quick note that said,
"Hi Matt.
I got home safely; saw you were asleep on the couch so thought it best not to wake you. Have gone to bed, see you in the morning.
-T.K.
P.S, I wouldn't want to have your neck in the morning"
He left the note on the table in front of the sofa and went to bed. He wrote the note for two reasons. Firstly so he didn't have to wake Matt up, have to deal with him being angry at being woken up and than have to deal with 20 question about the date, and secondly so Matt wouldn't worry when he woke up and remember that he hadn't seen T.K come in yet.
The following morning was much like the previous day, except a lot warmer, and without the wind. It was quite early when T.K woke up, like the first day of every holiday; he was still running on the school time clock. As hard as he tried he couldn't get back to sleep, so he decided to get up and get breakfast. After he got dressed he left his bedroom and went into the kitchen to find Matt already awake and rubbing his neck.
"Sleep well?" T.K asked sarcastically.
"Very funny, you could have woken me up." Matt replied a little annoyed.
"No way, I've tried that before and it wasn't pleasant." T.K said grinning. There was then a slight pause before Matt said,
"Well, aren't you going to tell me what happened last night?" Matt was now also grinning. T.K then broke into a very detailed description of the previous nights events omitting nothing.
"Way to go little bro." Matt said when he was finished, he sounded very impressed with his brother.
"When's dad getting home?" T.K asked changing the subject.
"Later tonight, he mentioned something about not waiting up." Matt replied. "Oh and don't forget about Izzy's meeting later"
"I haven't. So what are your plans for today?" T.K asked, but before Matt had a chance to answer the phone rang. Matt picked up the phone and answered.
"Hello... It's for you." He said handing the receiver to T.K. Who could be phoning me this early, he thought.
"Hello"
"Hey T.K"
"Davis." T.K said very surprised.
"What, don't sound so surprised, it's just me"
"But you're up before ten, and during the holiday as well"
"So what, it's a nice day"
"You never fail to surprise me Davis, you know that"
"Err thanks, I think. Anyway I phoned to see if you wanted to hang in the park this morning and wait for Izzy there"
"Sure I don't have anything else planned. Is anyone else coming early too"
"Ken and Yolei might turn up with Cody. But other than them, I don't think so"
"Cool, I'll meet you there in half an hour. Do you want me to bring anything"
"No, that's okay, I'm coming prepared"
"Davis, that is a phrase I never thought I would here you say." T.K said sarcastically.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean"
"Nothing. I'll see you in half an hour"
"Okay, bye"
"Bye." And with that T.K handed the phone receiver back to Matt, who then hung it up.
"What is Davis doing up so early?" Matt asked. Davis's enjoyment of sleep, and his lateness because of it, were well known throughout the group.
"He wanted to see if I wanted to go down to the park early and wait there for Izzy. But he probably wants to know how last night went"
"Well he's excited that you two finally got together. We all are. You two have been together so much lately, it's been almost painful waiting for you to go out. You weren't fooling anyone with the 'we're just friends' routine you know."
"Was it really that obvious"
"T.K, even Izzy could tell and spends all his life in his computer"
"Whatever, anyway I'm heading down to the park in half an hour. Do you want to come with me"
"Nah, I'm going to head down with Tai and Sora later"
"Okay then, I'm going to get ready an go then." And with that T.K left for the bathroom.
When T.K reached the park he didn't have to look long to find Davis. As it was still early there were few people in the park and finding Davis was easy. When Davis said he was coming prepared he wasn't lying, he brought with him a large cooler of drinks, a small CD player and a selection of CDs, one of his many soccer balls, a bag full of towels for people to lie on and sunbathe and sunscreen. T.K was shocked to find Davis so prepared, but was more shocked to find Kari sitting on the grass next to him talking animatedly, about last night, T.K guessed. He had no idea Kari was going to be there so early as Davis didn't mention her on the phone. T.K approached them.
"Good morning." He said startling them slightly as they hadn't seen him arrive.
"Good morning T.K." Kari said running up to him. She grabbed him into a tight hug then kissed him.
"It is now." T.K replied wearing a big smile.
"Hey T.K, want a drink?" Davis asked opening the cooler, ignoring the gratuitous show of affection this early in the morning.
"No thanks, I've just cleaned my teeth, you know nothing goes well with toothpaste." T.K answered sitting down next to Kari. "You really weren't lying when you said you were coming prepared." T.K said looking at the amount of things Davis had brought with him. Davis chose to ignore this comment as it was still too early for sarcasm and he couldn't think of a witty enough retort.
"I've just been hearing about last night." He said changing the subject
"Oh, and what have you been hearing about last night?" T.K asked, casting a sly grin at Kari.
"I was just telling Davis how much fun I had last night and how it was the perfect evening." Kari said grinning back a T.K. They began kissing again.
"Will you cut that out, it's far too early, I'm still digesting my breakfast." Davis said in sarcastic mock disgust.
"Sorry." T.K and Kari said together and resigned to hugging each other. There was then a slight, almost uncomfortable, pause. All present could feel it so Kari quickly changed the subject.
"What do you think Izzy wants to see us all for later?" She asked the other two.
"Yolei thinks he might have bought a new computer and he wants to show it off." T.K answered. At that everybody laughed and the uncomfortable atmosphere lifted.
"Well we haven't seen each other as a group for ages, maybe he wants to just get us all together again, and with the start of the holiday what better time." Kari said.
"Maybe, but I think Yolei might just have the right idea." Davis said.
"Well he picked a nice day for it." T.K said
"The guy on the news, this morning, said that this could be the start of the heat wave." Davis said. T.K looked puzzled.
"Okay, first you're up before ten during the holiday, then you actually come prepared for something. Now I find you've been watching the news. Has something happened to you that we should know about?" T.K asked Davis extremely sarcastically, but still with the puzzled, concerned look on his face.
"What, it's a nice day and I thought I would get an early start and get a good place in the park, and I wasn't really watching the news it was just on"
"That's a relief." Said Kari joining T.K's joke.
As the morning went on Kari, Davis and T.K were joined by the rest of the team. As each new group arrived T.K and Kari had to give an account of their date the previous night. Joe was the last to arrive before Izzy at ten to midday. When he arrived he was panting and had obviously been running.
"Whew, made it. I thought I was going to be late." He said between breaths.
"Isn't Izzy with you?" Cody asked
"No, he said he had to go and pick someone up." Joe replied still trying to catch his breath. When they heard him say 'Someone' everyone's face broke into the same puzzled expression. Very few people knew about them being the digi-destined and about their adventures in the Digital World, and no one could think of who might want to attend a meeting.
"Did he say who?" Asked Tai who seemed the most concerned. As the leader of the team it was primarily his responsibility to keep the group secret from as many people as possible. For the next ten minuets the group theorised who Izzy might be bringing to a digi-destined meeting.
As everyone wasn't paying much attention, when Izzy arrived it came as quite a surprise to the group.
"Greetings." He said. He had his laptop with him, which came as no surprise to anyone. What did surprise people was that he didn't set it up right away.
"I'm glad to see everyone made it." He said, adding "On time." Looking vaguely in Davis's direction. Luckily Davis didn't notice this. Once everyone had stopped talking, Izzy continued.
"I called this meeting to discuss three important issues that have arisen lately. Firstly and probably most importantly, we have a new member of the team joining us." When he said this everyone's face lit up, both at the prospect at meeting a new digi-destined and at understanding whom Izzy went to collect. No one thought to suggest a new member of the team.
"She is a digi-destined from England who moved here earlier this year." Just then a tall, strikingly beautiful girl stepped out from behind the large tree that the group were sitting beneath. She had long black hair and was wearing a black t-shirt and black leather trousers.
"Hi," she said quite uncertainly with a very strong British accent.
"I'm Erin Carter. But you can call me Carter if you'd like, everyone else does." She continued in the same uncertain, nervous tone of voice. There was a unanimous hello from the group. Davis then stood up.
"Hi, I'm Davis. I'm the leader of this group of digi-destined." Tai gave him a blank stare and Davis then looked a bit sheepish.
"Well second in command after Tai there." He said indicating Tai. "Allow me to do the introductions. That's Tai, as I just said, the proper leader of the group. Next to him is Sora, Tai's girlfriend. Then we have Joe the resident trainee doctor, and next to him is Cody, the youngest of the group. Next to him are Yolei and Ken, our latest addition to the group before you. Next to them is T.K and Kari, they're recently a couple so don't be surprised is you see them hugging or something, it's quite off putting especially in the morning but you get used to it. On Tai's other side is Matt, he's T.K's brother then we have Izzy, who I guess you already know." As he said each of their names they gave a little wave in the direction of Erin, which she returned. When Davis mentioned T.K and Kari's more 'inappropriate' behaviour everyone laughed, including Kari and T.K and also Erin.
"Thank you Davis, I'm sure that could have waited, but at least it's out of the way now." Said Izzy who sounded a little annoyed. Whenever he was trying to explain something to the group, someone would interrupt him in some way. Be it Davis arriving late or Yolei asking a question at the wrong time or Matt making a wisecrack. Davis had now sat back down but Erin was still standing with Izzy.
"Now Erin here has a rather unique digivice, which is why I called a meeting to introduce her." When Izzy said this Erin retrieved her digivice from a thigh pocket on her trousers, which she then proceeded to show the group. It was a D-3 type digivice, but instead of being bi-coloured like the rest of the D-3s it was only a single colour, the blue/green of the original digivices.
"That's weird." Cody said looking at the D-3.
"It certainly is." Replied Izzy, "What's even more strange is it's origin. It didn't change from a normal digivice like the rest of the D-3s"
"No, it came from my computer like that." Erin said
"But what does this mean? I thought we were the only ones to have D-3s so we could compete with the power from the Emperor's D-3." Yolei said with one of her miss-timed questions. She stopped referring to the emperor as Ken several months ago and now just called him the emperor.
"Well that's what we aim to find out, which brings me on to my second point. Gennai has expressed a wish to meet with us soon, after he heard about the strange D-3, he was most eager to examine it. He also mentioned something about finding something of great importance to us." Gennai was a very old being who lived in the Digital World, but it was unknown if he was actually a Digimon, or rather something else. He had been a friend to the digi-destined and had helped them on many occasions. It was believed that Gennai helped select the digi-destined originally.
"Well if anyone knows what's going on, it'll be Gennai." Said Davis. He then added, looking in Erin's direction, "Hey Carter, why don't you come sit down, I think Izzy has finished with you now." She looked at Izzy and he nodded. She replaced her D-3 in her pocket and sat down between T.K and Davis.
"We have decided to meet sometime in the coming week so that all of us could attend, which brings me to my third point. Mimi is returning to live in Odaiba." When Izzy said this the entire group cheered, except Erin. Sora cheered loudest, as Mimi and her were best friends before she left for America. This also meant that she could tell Mimi about T.K and Kari face to face and not over an e-mail.
"She e-mailed me earlier this week and told me to inform you as a group. She flies in the day after tomorrow." Izzy continued. As it now seemed that Izzy's meeting was finished, excited chartering broke out throughout the group. Izzy sat down at his computer and was soon approached by Yolei, who was just as interested in computers as Izzy, and started their own conversation.
Erin, although feeling a little overwhelmed, was accepted by the group immediately and was soon in a conversation with Davis, Kari and T.K.
"So how long have you been digi-destined?" Davis asked, he was obviously trying to make a good impression for Erin.
"Well I got my digivice a little over two years ago. I have only been to the Digital World once and that was shortly after I got it. I wasn't there long, I only met one Digimon so I guess he was my partner, I didn't even find out his name, all I remember of him was that he had really big ears. But then something happened and I got sent back." Erin replied.
"Don't worry about that, we'll get you back and I'm sure Gennai can help you find your partner." Davis said smiling widely at Erin. There was a slight gap in the conversation, and then T.K changed the subject completely.
"Aren't you hot wearing all that black?" He asked, everyone in the small group laughed before Erin answered.
"No actually. I don't know if you have ever been there but England is quite cold and it takes a lot for me to get hot, even in weather like this." Erin answered still smiling. Just then Ken came to join their group.
"Hey everyone." He said.
"Hi, Ken right," Erin, said back. "So you're the newbie of the group, not counting me of course"
"Well I wouldn't say that, I've known these guys since they became digi-destined, well the newer ones anyway. But that's a long story and I'd really rather not get into it right now"
"Okay, you and the purple hared girl, I'm sorry I'm really useless with names, you seem to be pretty close, are you going out?" Erin asked. Ken blushed slightly.
"Oh Yolei, yeah we've been going out for a while now"
"That's cool. You lot all seem to be in couples, I hope you've left someone for me." Erin said, casting a sly grin in Davis' direction. He didn't notice this either.
As the afternoon wore on, everybody introduced them selves properly to Erin and she was getting to know everyone quite well. Matt had been sent to re stock the cooler, as he was the only one who brought any money with him; they also decided that they would eat in the park. They decided on pizza and sent Matt, again, to go and order for them, they did however all say that they would pay him back as soon as they could get their hands on some money. After lunch the boys decided that they would play soccer while the girls sunbathed. By the time they had finished playing, they had lost track of who had won so decided to call it a draw. T.K collapsed by the side of Kari.
"T.K you're in my light." She said jokingly.
"Sorry." T.K said as he moved round to Kari's other side.
"Now you're in my light." Yolei said joining Kari's joke. The rest of the boys had collapsed in a similar fashion, but under the shade of the tree, so T.K went to join them. They were talking about the game they had just played and Davis was arguing that his team won and it wasn't a draw. Everyone else was now too tired to pay too much attention to him and so just let him get on with it. One by one the girls slowly joined them under the tree, Kari was the first to join them and Yolei was the last, she was getting all that she could from the sun before it went down. It was now quite late in the afternoon, so after one final drink from the cooler they all helped pack up Davis' supplies.
They all left the way they had arrived, in small groups. Cody, Yolei and Ken were the first to leave followed by Tai, Sora and Matt. Izzy and Joe then left leaving Erin, Davis, Kari and T.K. As they all lived in the same direction, they all helped Davis carry his things. Kari's apartment block was the first one they came to. T.K decided to walk Kari to her door and so left Davis and Erin alone.
"So what do you think of the Odaiba branch of the digi-destined?" He asked.
"You are all the nicest people I have ever met, I mean, I had friends back in England. But you all accepted me immediately, I think I am going to get on fine with you all." She said smiling at Davis.
"Well we have had practice at accepting people at short notice. The group started out with only Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, Kari and T.K. Then Yolei, Cody and me came along about a year ago, and then Ken. Besides we have met several other digi-destined around the world. I guess it's because we all have one thing in common that makes us able to relate to each other better and accept others into our group." Davis said smiling back. Before Erin had a chance to reply T.K returned looking a bit flushed. Erin eyed him suspiciously.
"What were you to getting up to in the lift on the way up?" She asked in a very knowing way.
"Nothing." T.K answered very sheepishly rearranging his hat. No more was said on the matter, which came as something as a relief to T.K. He picked up the things he left as well as the things Kari was carrying.
The next apartment block they came to was T.K's. He redistributed the things he was carrying between Davis and Erin, said goodbye and left for his apartment. Davis and Erin carried on walking.
"So where do you live?" Davis asked.
"There actually." Erin replied indicating the block they were walking past.
"Cool practically next door. Err don't you want to stop"
"What, and leave you to carry all this back to your apartment. There no way you could carry all this lot by yourself. How did you get it down this morning"
"Actually my dad gave me a lift down in his car on his way to work"
"Well there you go, you need all the help you can get." She said smiling at him again.
"Thanks." Was Davis's only reply. They carried on to Davis's apartment in silence until they reached his door. Erin unloaded the things she was carrying and turned to face Davis.
"Thanks for that," Davis said straightening up. "Do you want to come in for a drink or something?" He asked.
"Thanks, but I really have to go now." Erin said looking at her watch. "I guess I will see you tomorrow then, probably." She added.
"Sure." Davis replied. Erin then reached into one of the pockets in her trousers, pulled out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something on it.
"Here," she said, "This is my phone number, call me tomorrow. Oh and if you see the others before I do pass it on." She added.
"Thanks," Davis said, "I'll do that. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then"
"Okay, bye." Erin said. With that Davis shut his door and Erin turned to go back to her apartment.
On her way back, she was approached by a man in a black suit.
"Agent 4-5-2, you have made contact I presume." The man spoke in an English accent.
"I have, listen, I really don't think this is a good idea. I've heard some of the things this group have done, they have risked their lives to protect the Digital World and would do it again in an instant if they thought it was under attack"
"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that"
"Anyway what are you doing here, I resigned"
"Reverse activation clause in your contract"
"Well this is the last job I am doing for you people, then you leave me alone, understand"
"Absolutely, report back in one week." The man then quickened his pace and left Erin to walk back alone.
To Be Continued...