27

I'm Waiting, Waiting For You...

"Ugh..." I raise my head from the... concrete? "Whoa! Where am I?" I look around, I'm back in the city, my city, my home world. I stand up and look around some more, scratching my hair. "I was just in the Digital World with Matt, TK, Kari and Sora. What happened? Where are they?"

This is all so confusing, reconstruction on the city only started days ago, how can it already be done? Not only that, there's really nobody here at all. "Alice? ALICE!" Even Alice is gone.

BONK!

I was hit in the back of my head by a ball, I managed to take a look at it and see that it's a soccer ball.

"I'm so sorry about that mister!" a young girl cried out from a distance.

I picked up the ball and looked in the direction the voice came from, to my shock it was a kindergarten Sora! And she was coming this way too.

"Are you okay mister?" she asks me.

I was too shocked to answer back properly, I almost dropped the ball trying to speak. "I-I-I-I'm fine..." I quietly handed her back the ball.

"That's good," she smiles at me quickly.

"Soooraaaa!" a young boy's scream ringed through the air, I turn to see who it is. It was me!

"I'm coming!" the little girl cried back as she trotted away.

Too confused to do anything, I decided to walk to where the young Sora had went. "Did I fall through a time portal this time?"

I reached the field where the children disappeared, except I didn't see the same two children from before, they grown up a couple years! They were playing in soccer in the field before me. Just what is going on here?

"Oh, hello," I hear a familiar voice to my side, I turn to see who it is and I find the Sora from my time standing there.

"S-Sora?" I could barely say her name, let alone anything else.

"Huh?" she looked really puzzled. "Do I know you?"

"Say wha-" did she really mean that? Or is this just some sort of sick joke? "Never mind. What are you doing here?"

"Actually," she started walking down into the field. "I had a friend a long time ago that I used to always play with here."

I decide to follow her. I turned to the field again to see that both me and her had grown up again.

"We would always have fun together here," Sora continued as she stares at the field, I see both children growing as time goes on. "We always played soccer. It wasn't my type of sport at first, but it grew on me thanks to him. Eventually I got just as good as he was. Of course he didn't mind, it allowed him to get better too."

I see that 'Sora' is now just as old as when we first entered the digital world, the start of our adventure. But I don't see myself anywhere at all.

"But as we grew up," Sora starts walking again and I follow her. "We started seeing less and less of each other until he stopped coming."

Now the Sora on the field started walking next to the Sora in front of me, they walked together until they fused. "Why did he stop coming? What did I do to him?" She looks back at me, there were tears in her eyes, "It's been so long. I even forgot his name." The tears started to flow down her cheeks I move in to try and wipe them off but she backs away suddenly. "I'm sorry, I can't. I don't want to let anyone near me again. I'm so sorry!" Sora runs off crying.

I was about to call after her, but I realized that it wouldn't do me any good. I stare at the empty field once more, the kindergarten Sora and Tai had returned. I decide to watch again, this history, between me and Sora.

I begin to wonder, if I can do anything in here. Or if it's already too late.

"It's useless," Sora told him. "NightmareMyotismon not only granted us the powers of darkness, our powers feed on our own dark hearts. There's nothing you can do, tiger."

"Oh?" Sora sounded amused. "It's too late for that, tiger. I'm much more powerful the Kari, don't you know why?"

"Just how long were you waiting for me Sora? Is it really too late to do anything for you? I know now, it was all my fault. Is it too late to save you?"


"What is this world?" I only thing I can do in here is keep getting lost. "There's nobody here at all, but how did I get here in the first place?" Not a person, car, bird or bug in sight, at all. I try flying, I jump up with my arms stretched out. I fall on my face. "Oooowww..." For some reason, I'm solid again. Not that I mind, but in a strange world like this, I don't think I like it.

I wander around again, hoping to find somebody. There really is no one here, it's like a ghost town, except I'm not a ghost, well no right now. Yet, all these tall buildings seem new. Someone must have built them. I just need to find out where they are.

After a long time of walking around, I find someone on a bench, crying. As I move closer, I notice that it's Sora! I stop myself from getting nearer, something was wrong with her. I don't think I should be here. She looks up and sees me, I can't hide now. She wipes her tears away as I walk closer.

"Hello," I figured I should be the one to start. "Are you okay?"

The older girl wipes off her face some more, "Ah... I'm fine."
"Can I sit?"

She moves aside a little and I sat myself right next to her. I waited for her to finish up as I wondered what could've happened.

"I'm sorry," She started. "I was just... having memories again."

"Memories?" that word really doesn't sit well with me. I have too many memories myself, many of them are sad. "Were they sad memories?"

Sora giggled a little through the tears, "No, they were good memories." She still has tears in her eyes as she looks up to the sky. "My happiest memories. But there was something important that I had forgotten, and I can't take it back."

Something important from her past? Perhaps, the only way out of this world was to help her regain her lost memories. "Can I help?"

"Ah, huh?" Sora looked at me, confused.

"The reason you're sad, is because something is missing from your happiest memories," I told her. "You can't have a happy memory if you're missing something from it."

"Hah," Sora is still trying to hold back her tears. "You're right, I can't call it a happy memory if I just leave it like that." She stands, as the tears in her eyes dries up her face looks determined.

"Where can we start looking?" I ask her.

"It okay," she tells me happily. "I think I know where to find it." She walks forward a bit and stops to look at me again, "Thank you..."

"Alice," I tell her. "My name is Alice."

"Thank you Alice, that's one name I won't forget." Sora disappears into the distance as I just stood there watching.

Now what do I do? Nothing's changed at all, I'm still here. And that Sora, it's not the same Sora, is it? May be all the other digidestined are around this city as well, I have to find them. Huh? A soccer ball rolls towards my feet, that can only mean one person. I look to where the ball came from, but the person I was looking for, was actually a younger version of him! By the looks of it, he's around the age of his first digital world adventure.

"Sorry about that," He says. "Guess I kick harder than I thought."

He quickly pucks up the ball, then takes a good look at me, "Hey, are you good at soccer?"

"Ha? Me? Oh, no no no."

"Don't worry about it," this young Tai grabs my hand and starts dragging me. "I can teach you, it's no fun playing all alone."

Alone? Why is this Tai alone? And on top of that, why is Tai younger while Sora still looks the same?

We made it to a deserted playground, well it's hard to find a place here that isn't deserted.

"Ready?" Tai calls for me. "We'll start with the basics."

He bumps the ball to me lightly, then gets into a defensive position. "Now kick it back as hard as you can. I just want to see how strong you are."

I reeled up my leg, and kicked. The ball went flying, not quite straight, but straight enough for Tai to jump for it. It slipped between his fingers and landed behind him.

Tai got up and dusted himself off, "Wow, you're better than I thought." He smiles then turns around to get the ball.

"Um... don't you have friends that you'd rather play with?"

After picking up the ball, he didn't turn around, "I... don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

Tai looks at me, "I don't know if we're still friends." Then he faces the ground.

After a brief silence, I walk up to him. He sees me but instead I walk past him and sit on the swings. Not letting go of the ball, he sits in the swing right next to me.

"Are you scared of something?" I start, I need to be careful here as this may be the only way to get out of this world.

"Wha-No!" I knew I'd get that reaction, I smile at him. "What makes you say that? In case you didn't know, I happen to hold the power of Courage!"

"Courage?" I start swinging. "Is that why you're scared of Love?" I hear the ball drop as my eyes focus on the sky.

"I-I'm not scared," I see Tai's head look away, he's embarrassed by something. "I'm just, unsure."

I continue swinging back and forth to let him collect his thoughts.

"I don't know how to talk to her anymore," he started to speak. "We've been together all this time. I don't know what's happened to me."

So, it was around this time the Tai started to have feelings for her. "You... haven't tried talking to her?"

"What can I say to her?" Tai quickly replies. "I can never find the words I want to tell her. When we do talk I always talk like we always did, just as friends. But I can't , I just can't see her as just a friend anymore. What will I do if she doesn't like me? What if I say something stupid or crazy instead?"

I see, it was just a young boy's crush trouble. "You will never know."

"Huh?"

"If you keep your feelings to yourself, how is she supposed to know about them?"

"..."

"I think, that you're not the only one that's hurting."

"What?"

"You said that you were together for a long time," I began to speak, not slowing down my swings. "If it really has been that long then you start to sense things from your friend, that's what I think. Without even talking, you start to feel things from them the longer you are together. I think that she can feel your distress whenever you are near her. You hide your true feelings, yet she knows it's there somewhere and she waiting for them to come out. She's waiting for you to tell her."

"Waiting..." Tai looks down on the ground as I continue to swing past.

I don't want him to see my eyes, I'm telling all this and yet... "Go to her."

Startled, he looks at me as I stop myself.

I keep my head down and hold back my own emotions. "Go and tell her how you feel, how you truly feel about her. If you don't, you'll only end up making things worse for both yourself and her. You, who is afraid to admit himself to her. And her, who is waiting for you, and she'll keep waiting, no matter how long it takes..."

A silence hung over us as Tai looks at the sky. He stands up slowly and walks forward slowly. He turns around for a brief moment to smile at me. "Thanks a lot. I feel better now, much better, I know I can tell her. If there's anything, anything at all I can do for you please let me know." Tai runs off.

I tighten my grip on the swings in order to stop myself from going after him. There were so many things I wanted to tell him, even though it isn't the same Tai that I... It's just wrong, even with the right Tai, we come from different worlds and I am not supposed to exist.

What was my reason to become his power? Was it because I wanted to 'exist' longer? But now, it's different, now it's personal.

I see my own tears drip onto the ground beneath me.


"Oh, hello again," A familiar voice came to me, I turned to see Sora again. It looks like she managed to get herself to stop crying.

"Hi," I answer back halfheartedly before I look at the field again, it had just restarted back to our kindergarten age. I was still deep in my own thoughts, I don't know if I can talk properly like this.

"Where you here this whole time?" She asks me curiously.

"Yeah," I tell her. "I was... thinking about something."

"You too?"

"Huh?" I look at her with a little surprise.

"I was hoping to remember the name here," Sora smiles as she stares at the field. "My happiest memories must be complete before I can really call them my happiest memories."

I look back at the field myself, "Yeah..."

We stood there for a while silently, a gentle breeze blows our backs.

Sora turns to me, "Can I ask what is bothering you?"

I turn to face her for a second, then back to the field. "A long time ago, there was a girl I grew up with."

"Really?" she sounded happy, as if teasing me.

"We would always play together, just like them," I keep my eyes on the time loop of me and Sora playing together. She watches them as well.

"But, as we grew older," I took a deep breath, I can do this, there's no turning back now. "My feelings for her grew as well."

I sense that Sora is looking at me with a concerned look.

"I wasn't sure how to deal with it, I was scared of myself and of her." The loop returns to the first adventure Sora, as Tai disappears entirely, then it loops again. "There so many things I wanted to tell her, I wanted to let her know. But I couldn't get myself to say them. In the end, I became frightened of those feelings. I always hid them by acting as though everything was normal, it became harder and harder as time went on. Eventually, I started avoiding her all at once."

"What do you call those memories?" she asked softly.

I turn my head as the breeze strengthens, I stare into her eyes for a moment. "It's hard to say, I always liked playing with her. Our time together was the best. And yet, when I think about how I couldn't tell her my feelings, I tell myself that I was a fool."

"You should go to her and tell her now," she made that sound so easy.

"..." I stare into her eyes again.

"What's the matter?" Sora's face started to red up, "Did I say something funny?"

"It's... nothing," I face the field once more. "I still don't know how to tell her. Or perhaps, I think it's too late."

"It's never too late," Sora suddenly spoke. "If you keep holding in your feelings, you're never going to know anything. Those feelings will continue to build up until you can't stand them anymore. Even if the result isn't what you wanted, even if she has already found someone else, you have to let yourself go or you'll only end up hurting on the inside."

"You sound like you're going through the same thing as me..."

"I am," she replied softly. "That boy whose name I can't remember, my feelings for him grew and grew. But instead of telling him, I was waiting instead. I wanted to know how he felt about me first, because I was afraid to reveal myself. Now it's too late, I can't confess to him now until I know his name."

"Confess?" I was puzzled. "Even after forgetting his name, your feelings are still that strong?"

Sora smiles at me, "Of course, I can't just throw them away since I've had them for so long. That's why I'm here, to let it all out. I just hope that he doesn't think less of me because of it. But no matter what he thinks of me, no matter what happens to us afterwards, at least he'll know, and I know that he knows and we can both be at ease..."

"You... seem to have resolved yourself for this. It must take a lot of courage to do."

"I bet it does," she giggles. "But he, he was always the brave one. I guess some of that just rubbed off onto me, right?" She smiles at me.

I turn my whole body to face her, "Then, for this moment, let me borrow that resolve of yours."

"SORA!" a loud yell rang through the air. We both turn to see my first adventure self standing at the edge of the park, I look to see that the first adventure Sora is looking him too.

"Ugh," my Sora suddenly had to hold her head. She then turns slowly towards me as another breeze blows by.

Slowly I walk towards her, she has a look of wonder. I place my hands on her shoulders gently, and look deep into her eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my younger self running through the fields towards the younger Sora, my eyes are focused on my Sora, and her alone.

"Wha-what are you...?"

"Sora," I started as calmly as I could. "Please listen to what I have to say. I may never be able to say this ever again..."

"What took you?" the younger Sora asks.

"I..." my younger self scratches his head and looks down. "I wanted to tell you something, but I don't know how. So, here goes nothing..."

"Ever since we were young," both me and my younger self talked in unison. "I've always liked you, but now it's more than that, much more. It's really hard to say this you know? As I... no, as we both grew up, these feelings have gotten so strong that I've become afraid of them, afraid of you. Because of that, because of me, you've been hurt. And so have I..."

Both me and my younger self move in closer to embrace our Soras. "I'm sorry. For putting you through all this. I never wanted to hurt in any way, but I did, I hurt you in the most. Believe me when I say this Sora, because it's the truth from my on heart to yours...

I love you...

Our younger versions beside us vanished in a brilliant shine of light. I close my eyes and snuggle up.

"T-Tai?" the Sora that I was holding started to wiggle.

"Shh..."

"Tai..." she calmed down quickly. I feel her arms wrapping around me, her breathing slowed, almost matching mine.

I feel something in both my heart and hers, we separate slightly to see both of our Crests glowing. We look into each other's eyes briefly and smile. The light of both Courage and Love glows brightly and the light continues to grow. Before the light engulfs this world completely, I thought I saw Alice...


"!" A strong dark blast erupted from Sora's body, followed by a light in her chest. The darkness in her body is being driven away by her Crest. She can feel Tai's tight embrace, yet she can also feel that he's badly hurt.

"So...ra..." Tai managed to say her name before loosening his grip, then fall.

"TAI!" Sora screams after him. Without the dark powers, she begins to fall as well, she stretches her arm out as far as she can.

Tai wake up! Alice desperately tries to do whatever she can, to no avail. She tries to move Tai's body herself, she is at least able to raise one of Tai's arms, as if trying to reach Sora.

"MetalGarurumon!" Matt didn't even have to say anything.

"On it!" the steel wolf begins flying at full speed towards the 2.

However, they see that dark energies that came from Sora starting to surround her again.

"DO IT!" Matt cries out.

"Ice Wolf Bite!" several missiles barrage the dark powers, shattering them for good.

A portion of the darkness manages to escape the attack and knocks Matt off of his partner. MetalGarurumon doubles back to retrieve him but the dark remnant gets in his way, landing a couple quick blows to the wolf.

"Metal Wolf Claw!" MetalGarurumon breathes out ice that encases the remnant and destroys it. He flies downward to retrieve Matt as quickly as possible.

"Thanks MetalGarurumon, but we need to hurry or else..."

"Hang on tight!" MetalGarurumon hits the afterburners.

Sora is still struggling to get to Tai, she can see his hand reach out to her. The Crest glows brightly. She is closing in on Tai, her hand finally reaches his and she pulls him up to her. All she can do is give him a warm embrace through the sky. Sora's crest glows brighter then ever.

"Matt! I'm not going to make it!" MetalGarurumon cries out.

Tai and Sora land on a bunch of golden feathers. Sora slowly raises her head to see that they were riding on a giant golden bird with four wings.

"Are you okay Sora?" the bird asks her.

"Yeah, thank you, but who are you?"

"I'm Phoenixmon, the Mega form of Biyomon! I felt a surge of power flowing through me, but the first thing I saw was you falling from the sky."

"Biyomon?"

"Hit the brakes!" Matt calls out. Sora sees Matt and MetalGarurumon fly past at high speeds. The wolf stops suddenly but the jerk sends Matt into the air.

"Matt!" MetalGarurumon dives for him again.

"Heheh..." Sora forces out a laugh. "Bring us down please, Phoenixmon." As the bird lightly descends, she looks at Tai's unconscious body, it's been tattered and torn in several places thanks to the battle. "Tai..."

Phoenixmon lands and Sora carries Tai's body off, she then sets him down in front of her, placing his head on her lap. TK, holding Kari and with Gatomon on his head, rides in on Pegasusmon. WarGreymon flies behind him. Matt on MetalGarurumon arrives soon after.

"How is he?" Matt asks Sora.

"He'll be fine," Sora smiles. "He just needs some rest."

"And Kari?" Matt turns to TK.

"Same."

"Let's not rush it," Matt turns to the castle. "You know what's next."

Gatomon jumps off of TK's head and heads to Phoenixmon, "So when were you able to warp digivolve?"

"I don't know, I just suddenly felt a lot of power coming into me and then I see Tai and Sora fall out of the sky. The next thing I knew, I warped digivolved."

"At least now we have more power than ever," WarGreymon added.

"Ugh, ah..."

"Kari!" TK slowly lets Kari up. They both get off of Pegasusmon, who de-digivolves back to Patamon.

"TK? Ooooh my head hurts," Kari holds her head.

"Are you alright Kari?" TK asks her.

"I think so," Kari looks back at him after straightening up. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Gatomon informs. "I was knocked out until I saw Phoenixmon fly down."

"Phoenixmon? WHOA!"

"Looks like that woke you up Kari," Sora giggles lightly.

"Tai!" Kari quickly sits next to Sora to look at her brother. "What happened to him?"

"NightmareMyotismon, that's what." Matt told her. "We're going to wait for Tai to recover before we take him on. But we're too open and vulnerable here, he can attack at anytime."

"Hahahaa!" An ominous laughter fills the air, the ground rumbles and the sky darkens. Dark energies swirl above them, forming NightmareMyotismon.

"NightmareMyotismon," Matt says angrily.

"You have provided for me quite the show Digidestend," he cackles. "But I'm afraid it's all over for you now. I'll start with you, then I'll re-enter your world and then this new world and its digital world. But that's only the beginning, I'm sure there are several more worlds with digital worlds that's just waiting for me to conquer. Hahahaaa!"

"Crimson Light!" a great beam of radiant energy rains on NightmareMyotismon.

"That light...! It's too strong.... NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" NightmareMyotismon shatters into darkness and reforms not too far away.

"Everyone!" Matt calls out.

Gallantmon Crimson Mode, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, Sakuyamon, Justimon, MegaGargomon, Beelzemon Blast Mode, MegaKabuterimon, Lilimon, Zudomon, Aquilamon, Ankylomon, Ken, Davis, Yolei, Cody, Izzy, Joe and Mimi all arrived.

"Don't think you're going to have all the fun," Mimi winked at Matt.

"What happened to Tai, and who's that?" Gallantmon asks quickly.
"It's too complicated right now," Matt started. "Phoenixmon is Biyomon's Mega form."

"Biyomon's Mega form?" Izzy and Yolei asks in shock.

"I told you it's complicated," Matt tells them.

"I think I have an idea," Mimi giggles.

"FOOLS!" NightmareMyotismon yells at them. "No matter how many times you try, you cannot defeat me!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Matt yells back. "Now we have more friends than ever, now we're a lot stronger than before! This time, YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"


Author: Matt is leading them all in place of Tai, who was knocked out, physically and mentally. With the Tamers by their side, can the Digidestined defeat NightmareMyotismon once and for all? This is it, the fate of an untold number of worlds hangs on this battle. There is no turning back, there is no tomorrow for the defeated.

This story is nearing its end.

Now, onto random stuff. This chapter wasn't in the original plan, back then it was just Sora waking up and realizing that Tai isn't letting her go. When I decided to have Tai go inside Sora's heart, Alice wasn't there in the planning stages. But I wanted to expand on that triangle and give Alice a bigger role as we closed in on the end. And the darkness attacking Matt was a last minute addition, I needed something to slow him down.