Author's Note: Phew! Why was this chapter so hard to write? Every time I took a break and then came back a bit later, there were at least 10 things I wanted to change from the way I had already written them.
Anyway, I know this chapter took a little while longer than previous chapters, but the answer to why is in the title of the chapter. While she may appear as just an innocent and adorable little sister when you first watched Adventure, Kari's character is surprisingly complex when you dig a little deeper and that's not even accounting for the influence that mysterious entity had over her while she was in the Digital World. I've lost count of how many times I've watched the Myotismon Arc over this last week just to get Kari's character to appear somewhat recognisable in this story!
On to other matters, I'm going to close the poll soon since you guys appear to feel pretty content with me keeping Davis and Kari at age 9. So far 18 people have voted and 16 of those voted for one of the English options. Thanks to all of you guys who voted! Also, there have been a specific guest reviewer who have given me long and insightful reviews since chapter 1. Since I can't answer your review in a PM like I usually do, I'm going to post my answer to your review at the bottom of the chapter.
Now, with all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own Digimon.
"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."
Chapter III: Kari's Tears
As a late evening gust of wind swept in over Odaiba, the summer night instanly turned a few degrees colder. People in the streets shivered involuntarily, as chills ran down their pitiful little human spines and many of them drew their arms closer around their bodies and hugged themselves to try and keep out the cold. As cold blue eyes stared out over the crowded streets far below, the being they belonged to raised his arms towards the dark night sky and drew in a deep breath, gathering his powers in preparation for the advanced magical ritual he was about to perform.
High above the streets of the Odaiba districts, Myotismon waved his hands in swift motions as he released a great amount of his considerable power. The effect on the surrounding area was instant, as trails of impenetrable fog began to form at his fingertips and spread out around him. The Undead Digimon grunted as he felt the power drain from casting a spell of such magnitude and had to grit his vampiric teeth to keep himself from groaning. He couldn't show weakness in front of his minions. If they didn't believe that he was the strongest, then they might rebel against him when an opportunity presented itself.
"It's almost finished!" he stated, keeping his voice calm and steady. "As soon as the fog barrier have settled, our army will move to round up the humans and gather them in the Convention Center and the Sport's Stadium. Then, we will pick out and destroy the 8th Digidestined, once and for all!"
Gatomon, who was one of the digimon standing at attention behind her master and awaited his orders, shivered at the undertone of sadistic excitement that could be heard in Myotismon's voice. It reminded her of the days long before she swore her alliegance to him, the days when she still had the guts to go against the monster that had captured her. Whoever the 8th Digidestined may be, Gatomon knew that the poor child would be in for a world of pain once they found him.
She quickly shook her head. It wouldn't do to feel bad for her prey, it would only complicate things and possibly end up with another beating from her cruel master. If anything, she should be thankful that she no longer received those beatings as frequently as she used to. Yeah, that was it. She was thankful to her master, thankful that he had taken her under his wing and helped her become strong. She wouldn't be as strong as she was right now if it hadn't been for Myotismon.
"Lord Myotismon, if I may...?" a voice spoke up from the small group of digimon that had gathered atop the TV-Station.
Looking over towards the voice, Gatomon noticed that Wizardmon had taken a step forward. Wizardmon was one of the many Digimon that she herself had personally recruited to be part of her master's army shortly before they went to the Human World. She hadn't intended to ask him, but he had overheard her talk with another Digimon about joining the army and had offered his services. Something about the way he had looked at her back then had unnerved Gatomon greatly, but he hadn't stepped out of line since joining up with them so who was she to complain?
"What is it, Wizardmon? Can't you see that I'm busy?" Myotismon spoke as he turned around to face the group.
"Forgive me, my lord." Wizardmon was quick to say, bowing his head in the process. "I was simply curious as to why we're moving ahead of schedule? Wouldn't it make more sense to wait until at least one of us have received a reaction from the Crests so we can be certain that the 8th child really is in this vicinity?"
At this, Myotismon's face twisted into a predatorial grin, showing off his sharp vamipiric teeth.
"Oh, but that's just it." he said, his calm voice barely containing his excitement as he reached inside his cape and pulled out a golden tag containing a small pink badge with a strange symbol on it: his copy of the Crest of Light. "Earlier when I fought Angemon and WereGarurumon, my crest gave a reaction, so the child is here somewhere. All we need to do is force him out of hiding!"
As the vampire's cruel laughter echoed over the rooftops, Gatomon felt the scars at the back of her paws start to ache. She swallowed and had to look away from her master, as unpleasant memories of other times she had heard that laugh was brought to the surface. As much as she hated herself for feeling any sympathy for the enemy, she couldn't help but feel bad for the 8th Digidestined. The poor child had no idea what was coming for him.
-:-:-:-
Dinner at the Kamiya Household that evening was a tense affair. Kari had attempted to avoid her older brother as much as possible ever since their little chat after he got home earlier that afternoon, but she couldn't refuse it when her mother called them to the kitchen for dinner. Even though she wasn't hungry, she didn't want her parents to worry about her so she quietly sat in her chair and poked at her food, doing her best to not look at the spiky haired boy sitting to her left. At least he wasn't spreading his negativity while he was eating.
"Kari sweetheart, is everything okay?" her mother's voice brought Kari out of her thoughts.
Looking up, she found that both her parents were looking at her with worry in their eyes. Kari chanced a glance towards Tai and found that he too was looking at her, though he immediately looked away when their eyes met. Feeling as if her heart sunk even deeper in her chest upon seeing the dismissive gesture from her older brother, Kari looked back down at the plate in front of her.
"I'm just not feeling very hungry, that's all." she said, trying to act as if it was no big deal. If her parents found out that she was feeling down because something that Tai had done, then they would probably give him a scolding for upsetting his little sister and despite their little feud, she didn't want that. "Mom, is it okay if I put this in the fridge and finish it later?"
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her mom cross her arms over chest like she always did when she was about to protest about something, but was stopped from lecturing her daughter about eating habits when her dad put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Sighing to herself, Kari silently thanked her dad for stepping in, as she really didn't feel like being lectured right now. Without saying another word, she stood up and walked over to one of the drawers with her plate to encase it in plastic foil, before placing it in the fridge.
She was just about to leave the kitchen when suddenly, the handheld phone that was lying on the counter began ringing. Hesitating for only just a moment, Kari eventually reached out and grabbed it since she was standing just beside it anyway and brought it to her ear after pressing the green phone-button.
"Hello? Kamiya Residence." she said, mimicing the way her mother always answered the phone.
"Hey, this is Matt. Is Tai there?" the sound of a boy's voice came through the phone.
Kari frowned at the rude tone this boy was talking with and for a moment, she forgot that she was actually mad at her brother. She couldn't recall Tai ever having a friend called Matt, but the name did still have a familiar ring to it... wasn't he the one that Tai said had taught him how to cook while they were in the Digital World? That meant that he had to be one of the other Digidestined.
Upon being reminded that Tai was indeed part of the Digidestined and what it had done to her normally so cheerful and supportive big brother, Kari's mood instantly turned sour. Suddenly feeling like she wanted to be alone, she spun around in place and held out the phone towards the dinnertable, where the rest of her family was still seated.
"Tai, it's one of your friends from camp." she said, her light brown eyes narrowing ever so slightly at her brother.
Frowning, Tai stood up and made his way over towards her to take the phone. As soon as she was rid of the device, Kari slipped past her brother and left the kitchen to go to her room, hoping that she would get some space there.
Tai stared after his sister for a moment with a growing feeling of unease building in his chest. Kari was usually a carefree and curious girl who loved to spend time with their family. Dinnertime was usually her favourite time of the day, since that was the one time their entire family was always together. This behavior wasn't normal for her, and it didn't help that he had a feeling that he was partly to blame for putting her in this mood.
Sighing, he tiredly shook his head and lifted the phone to his ear. He would have to deal with Kari later. Right now, he had to focus. If one of his friends had discovered something that was urgent enough to call him at this time, it was probably important.
"Yes? This is Taichi speaking."
-:-:-:-
While Tai was talking to Matt over the phone, Kari had returned to her room and had immediately climbed the ladder on the bunkbed and hid under the blanket. This day had been one long emotional rollercoaster for her and it had left her with a wish to be able to just fall asleep and pretend that it had never happened. As the events of the day replayed in her mind, she pulled her legs up in front of her and rested her forehead against her knees.
Despite the argument she had with her mom that morning, the day had been pretty nice once Davis had showed up. Even though they didn't really do much, she had felt pretty content just sitting around and talking to him about trivial things. He was very nice and easy to talk to, especially for a boy, and she had found that she really enjoyed having him around.
That was probably why it had felt like such a slap in the face when he had said that he wanted to go down to the park for a while and play soccer with the other boys. Even after he had said that he believed her about the Digimon, which was another thing that had made him stand out from her other friends, he still hadn't wanted to really talk any more about it. Had he just said it to make her feel good? He probably thought that she was a weirdo and had just said that he believed her so she wouldn't get angry at him while he was here.
Thinking that her new friend may have just been pretending to be her friend these last two days, Kari felt her eyes sting with unshed tears and she let out a quiet whimper. As strange as it was, she had really gotten attached to him since she got to know him better and the thought that it may have just been an act on his part made her feel cold inside.
After Davis had left, Kari had spent the last few hours of daylight out on the balcony, trying to enjoy the warm summer weather while she waited for her brother to come home. Tai had always known exactly what to say to make her feel better, and he was a soccer kid just like Davis so she had hoped that maybe he could shed some light on why Davis had just up and left her like that. But instead, he had made it even worse, with his worries about Myotismon and the Digidestineds' lack of progress with finding the 8th child.
"Hey, Kari? Are you okay?" the familiar voice of her brother's partner Digimon sounded from somewhere in the lower part of the bunkbed. He still hadn't managed to digivolve back into his rookie form so he couldn't climb the ladder and get up here, something that Kari was grateful for. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now.
"I'm fine! Just leave me alone, Koromon!" she cried, angry that she couldn't even get some time to herself in her own room.
"Really?" Koromon's innocent but worried voice came from below her again. "You don't sound like you're fine. Are you crying, Kari?"
Hearing the ridiculus question, Kari let a snarl that sounded suspiciously like Miko that one time when Tai had accidently stepped on the poor cat's tail. Refusing to answer, she turned away from the edge of the bed and faced the wall, as if that would make Koromon go away. She was not crying! If Davis thought that she was weird, then that was his problem, just like it had always been! It wasn't like they... were...
"It's not like we're friends, right?"
As memories of their conversation from just last afternoon, Kari felt her throat constrict. Why did this upset her so much?! Up until yetsterday, Davis had just been another one of her classmates that she never even spoke to! He could've moved away from Japan and she would've been none the wiser. They had barely known each other for 2 days!
"You look a lot better today. How are you feeling?"
Remembering how sincere he had sounded when he had said those words, how much it had meant to her to have someone outside of her family who cared about how she was feeling, Kari couldn't hold back the tears that had gathered in her eyes anymore. She hadn't realized it before because she had never had a friend like that, but she wanted to have a friend like him, a friend with whom she felt safe. Someone with whom she could talk about anything without the fear of being laughed at or made fun of.
Feeling the tears roll down her cheeks and wet her yellow dress, Kari silently cursed Davis for making her feel this way. She couldn't even bring herself to hate him for making her cry. Whenever she thought of him, all she could see was his smiling face as he declared that he believed her, his smile as she told him that she was feeling better... his smile as she thanked him for helping her, even though he had absolutely no reason to.
"Kari, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Kari flinched slightly in surprise upon hearing her brother's voice from the edge of her bed. When had he come back to their room? She hadn't even heard the door open! However, as much as she would've liked to tell him to just go away and leave her alone, she knew that it wouldn't matter. If Tai really wanted to talk to her, he wouldn't listen to her even if she told him to give her some space. And indeed, just a few seconds later she heard the wooden ladder that led to the upper part of their shared bunkbed creak as Tai climbed up and sat down beside her in the bed.
For a moment, everything was quiet, save for Kari's shaky deep breaths. Kari stubbornly tried to ignore her brother and refused to give any indication to have noticed him. However, once it became clear that his sister had no intention to acknowledge him though, Tai reached out and pulled the blankets off of her. This only caused Kari to hug her legs closer to her chest and press her face harder against her kness.
Seeing the state that his sister was in, Tai felt his heart sink in his chest and he had to swallow to not let out a sigh. This was his fault. He shouldn't have forced his own problems onto her. She had nothing to do with it and there was nothing she could do to help him either. As mature as she could be, Kari was still just a 9 year old kid and he was her big brother. He was supposed to protect her from things like this, not the other way around! What had he been thinking when he had spilled all his worries in front of her that afternoon?
"Hey... listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I... I've been under a lot of pressure lately." he said meakly. What was he supposed to do? As much as he would've liked to, he couldn't really make her just forget that he was worried about their lack of progress in finding the 8th child. Nothing could make something that had already been said unsaid.
A few seconds past while neither of the two siblings moved. Then, much to Tai's surprise, Kari drew a deep, shaky breath and turned around to look up at him. Upon seeing his little sister's face, the leader of the Digidestined felt like he just wanted to sink through the ground and disappear. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and her cheeks were damp with tearstains.
"I-it's okay, Tai." she hiccuped. "It's not your fault. I-I know you've done everything you can to help your friends. I'm not m-mad at you."
"No, it's not okay!" Tai said as he reached out and put a hand on Kari's shoulder. "If everything was okay, then you wouldn't have avoided me for the entire afternoon and I wouldn't have found you here crying just now!"
However, Kari just shook her head and turned away from him again, as if she was trying to hide her face from view. Tai felt alarm bells going off in his mind when he noticed her shoulders had began shaking again, as if she was trying to hold back more tears. Slowly, he reached out and pulled her into what he hoped was a comforting embrace and began stroking her soft brown hair with his hand. To his great relief, his sister didn't resist and instead grabbed the front of his shirt with her small hands and buried her face in his chest.
For what felt like an eternity, Tai sat there and murmured comforting words in his sister's ear, as Kari clung to him as if her life depended on it. After his slip in judgement that afternoon, he wouldn't allow anything to keep him from comforting his precious little sister. He didn't care that him and his friends potentially had the fate of the world resting at their shoulders. He didn't even care that Matt had claimed that his digivice had picked up an unidentified digivice signal that could very well turn out to be the lead they needed to locate the 8th Digidestined. Right then and there, all that mattered to him was Kari.
"Don't worry, Kari. Everything's going to be alright." he whispered softly in her ear. "Everyting's going to be alright."
-:-:-:-
'Weird,' Davis thought as he studied the mysterious device from different angles. 'It's not even making a sound now. So why did it light up like a christmas tree earlier?'
As soon as the chaos had settled downtown where the Digimon had duked it out earlier that evening, the Motomiya family had escaped the scene in a haste, eager to get back to the safety of their own home. Jun was still in shock over the events they had witnessed and their parents had their hands full trying to comfort her, while Davis was left to his own devices, as he didn't appear to be as traumatized. They still checked on him once every 20 minutes just to make sure that he was okay, but otherwise calming down his sister was their priority.
So while the rest of his family was gathered in the kitchen, Davis had withdrawn to his room to take a closer look at the mysterious device. For some reason, it had activated itself while they were out eating but now it wouldn't make give a sound. He had tried pressing the 3 buttons in different orders and had even tried holding them all down at the same time, but the device remained as dead as it had all day.
'I've got to show this thing to Kari. If this is somehow connected to these "Digimon", then I'm sure she'll know what to do with it.' he thought, as he put it down on his desk and stood up to go get the portable phone and find his phonebook. Since Kari and he were in the same class, it would be easy to find her phone number there.
Just as he was about to grab the doorknob and leave his room when he realized something. Kari would probably know how to help him with this, but would she want to help him? In all the confusion and panic surrounding the Digimon attack, he had completely forgotten what had occupied his thoughts just moments before that werewolf Digimon had come flying through the wall.
He still hadn't apologized to Kari for leaving her alone that afternoon.
What if she was still mad at him and didn't want to help him because of it? And that was if she would even accept his call to begin with. It was entirerly possible that she wouldn't want to even talk with him at all. Perhaps he should wait until tomorrow, so he could go visit her in person and apologize before he started asking more questions about the Digital World?
Sighing, he went back to his bed and laid down on the covers. As much as he hated waiting, that was probably the best thing he could do. If he tried to apologize over the phone, she might take that as a sign that he didn't really want to talk to her face to face and that would only make the situation worse. The last thing he wanted right now was to give Kari another reason to be mad at him.
Just then, a soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Frowning, Davis sat up to find his mom sticking her head in through the half-open door, looking troubled by something. She looked tired and the make-up she had worn while they were out eating was still smudged around her eyes, but still managed to give a somewhat reassuring smile as she waved her son over.
"Davis," she said as calmly as she could as she bent down so she was on eye level with him. "Do you think you could pack some of your clothes in a small bag, just enough for one night? Your dad and I are going to take Jun to the hospital."
Upon hearing that Jun was going to the hospital, all thoughts of anything else immediately left Davis' mind to be replaced with worry for his sister. As annoying as she was, she was still his sister, she was family! Feeling his voice tremble ever so slightly, Davis' croaked out:
"Why? What's wrong with her?"
"Well..." his mom said, pondering if she should really tell her 9 year old son why his sister was going to the hospital. However, since he also had been present when... it happened, she figured that it was best to tell him. "She's been suffering from a mental shock ever since the incident and no matter what we do, we can't seem to calm her down. We're worried that if we wait any longer, it'll get worse so we're going to seek professional help."
As he realized that the situation with Jun probably was a lot worse than he had thought, Davis looked down at his feet. He didn't know exactly what it meant to suffer from a "mental shock", but whatever it was it didn't sound pleasant. And while Jun had been going through that, he had been sitting in his room and pushed buttons on an unresponsive piece of junk.
"I... see." he murmured. "Okay, I'll get right on it."
His mom sighed with relief upon hearing his answer, if it was because he hadn't argued with having to leave home or becuase he hadn't asked any more questions about Jun's condition, Davis didn't know.
"Thanks." she said as she stood up again. "I'll just call Muiri's parents and explain the situation."
As Davis processed that little piece of information, something occured to him. An idea began forming in his head as he was reminded that he had actually wanted to talk to a specific friend of his, but not the one his mom had just said she wanted to leave him with over the night. But what if...?
"Wait!" he said urgently, before his mom could leave. "Do you... do you think you could drop me off at the Kamiya Residence instead?"
-:-:-:-
"So let me get this straight." Tai said one more time, just to make sure he had understood exactly what his sister had said. "After I left for the Digital World, your fever came back and Davis, who just happened to stumble across you, helped you get home and took care of you until mom and dad came home and he left just before I got home yesterday. Then today, he came over to visit you again and you were having a good time until he suddenly just decided that he didn't want to hang out with you anymore and left?"
When Kari nodded her head, Tai sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache building up. So much had happened around his sister over the last two days and he had been comletely oblivious to it because he hadn't paid any attention to her since he got back from the Digital World. Ever since he got back, all he had been able to think about was finding the 8th Digidestined and now that he had actual taken the time to talk to Kari, it turned out that she might've held a vital clue all along.
"And you're saying that Davis claims that his sister, Jun Motomiya, have seen the Digimon on the news reports, just like you and I did when I was home 2 days ago?" he asked, just for clarification.
"Yeah." Kari said as she took another sip of the hot chocolate that her brother had went and gotten for her once she had begun to calm down from her breakdown earlier. "I'm not sure if she only saw the one Davis mentioned or if she saw more of them, but he said that she described it as a giant, flying red bug of some sort."
Tai sweatdropped.
"Yeah, that sounds like a Digimon I know." he said, thinking about the Kuwagamon he and the other Digidestined had run into shortly after first arriving in the Digital World. However, he quickly shook his head to banish everything Digimon-related from his mind. He could think about that later, right now he had other priorities. "But enough about that for now. Tell me more about your problem with Davis."
Upon being prompted by her brother to try and explain what exactly had happened between herself and her new friend, Kari felt the unpleasant sting in her chest from earlier return, though it wasn't as overwhelming as it had been less than an hour ago. To try and buy herself some time to think, she slowly raised the cup of chocolate to her lips and took another sip.
If she was to be honest, she wasn't sure what the problem was. It wasn't like he had insulted her or anything, all he had really done was leave her for a while to go play soccer instead. Now that she was feeling a little bit better after her brother had taken care of her like he used to, she felt kind of silly for reacting the way that she had.
"I... I don't really know how to explain it." she said softly, putting her cup down in front of her knees. "He didn't really do anything wrong. It's more of a feeling I got when he left."
But it wasn't really that either, because she hadn't thought much of it when it had happened, at least not to the point where it had caused her to break down. She had felt a bit left out and confused, but she had just figured that she could wait for Tai to come home and then he could help her understand better why Davis had done what he did. The real problem had presented itself when Tai hadn't been able to reassure her and she began thinking about Davis' actions on her own, making up her own thoughts of why he had left. It was the thought that he may have left because he didn't want to be her friend anymore that had disturbed her, more than anything else.
While Kari was trying to come up with something to better describe what had made her so upset earlier, Tai was going over what his sister had just told him to try and understand where she was coming from. Truth to be told, he couldn't really say that he thought Davis had done anything wrong, it sounded just like something that he himself would do.
He didn't know Davis Motomiya that well, but he had met the kid a few times in the park while playing soccer, and he was aware that he and Kari had been in the same class since first grade. Aside from that however, his impression of the boy was limited to what he was capable of on the soccer field, but that knowledge would do little to help him understand the situation his sister was in.
"Can you try to describe what you felt earlier, before I came in?" he asked thoughtfully, his undivided attention once again aimed at his little sister. "Like, were you feeling sad? Were you angry? Just, try to describe it with one word."
Kari blinked in surprise as she met her brother's intense gaze, but she lowered her head again as she processed what he had asked. If she was to describe what she had been feeling earlier, then what would she say? As she recalled what she had been feeling, what she had been thinking just before Tai came back to their bedroom...
"I guess... more than anything, I was afraid." she said, before looking back up to meet her brother's contemplative gaze. "N-not like I was afraid of him or anything, it's just..."
She swallowed as the images from earlier that afternoon came back to her, and she watched as her new friend just turned around and walked out her door like it was nothing, not even looking back at her once. It had been a pretty innocent gesture, but she had still felt a little hurt that he didn't want to hang out with her anymore, and that feeling had gotten worse the more she pondered it and came up with worse and worse reasons as to why Davis had left her alone.
"Tai? Do you... do you think I'm weird?"
"What?!" Tai cried out in shock over the strange question. "No! Of course not! Why would...?"
But as he took in Kari's expression, he suddenly came to a halt as a it finally dawned on him what had upset her. What he saw in his sister's light brown eyes wasn't something that he often saw in her, but he could easily recognize it. It was the same look that she had when their parents had brought her home from the hospital after the pneumonia incident 3 years ago, and she had been worried that Tai might not like her anymore because she couldn't kick the soccer ball like he had tried to teach her.
It was fear. More specifically, the fear of rejection.
Kari was afraid that Davis had left because she had done something wrong, afraid that he might not like her anymore and wouldn't want to be her friend, just like she had been afraid that Tai wouldn't like her anymore because she wasn't as good at soccer as him. A lump began to develop at the bottom of his throat as he felt his temper flaring. The pneumonia incident had always been a sore subject for him, and if someone hurt his sister in the same way that he had back then...
He shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself. If Kari was worried about Davis not liking her, then it would only upset her more if he told her what he would do to the boy if he rejected his sister's friendship. Instead, he let out a deep sigh and tried to put on the best comforting smile he could muster, even if thoughts of how many bruises he could give the boy if he hurt Kari's feelings lingered at the back of hsi mind.
"Kari." he spoke softly to get her attention. "I'm sure Davis didn't mean it like that and if he did, then he doesn't deserve to be your friend."
To his horror, Kari's face instantly fell upon hearing his words.
"B-but I want him to be my friend!" she cried out, looking as if she was on the verge of crying again. "H-he's been nothing but nice to me so far and he even believed me when I told him about Digimon! I want to have a friend like him!"
For a moment, neither of the siblings moved an inch as Kari glared defiantly at her brother, as if it would be his fault if Davis didn't like her. Then, realization dawned on Kari that she had actually shouted those words out loud. Suddenly feeling embarrassed at her outburst, she instantly looked away from her brother as she felt her cheeks heat up.
"S-sorry." she murmured timidly. "I didn't mean to shout."
Tai just sat there dumbfonded for a moment, staring at his sister as if he had never seen her before. Kari had never raised her voice against him before, and he couldn't remember her ever being this adamant about something that she wanted. For as long as he could remember, Kari had always been the kind of person who felt happy as long as the people around her were happy. Whatever impression Davis had made on her, it had brought out a side in Kari that Tai had never seen before.
"Don't feel sorry, Kari." he said, shaking his head to get over the shock of hearing his sister raise her voice. "Wanting to have friends is nothing to be ashamed of, it's only natural."
That made Kari feel a little better about hrself, but she still felt embarrassed for her outburst. Silence settled between the two once again, neither of the Kamiya siblings knowing what to say. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kari noted that the telephone went off again but she didn't pay it any mind. Instead, she reached out and grabbed her cup of chocolate again and emptied it of the last drop of her hot drink.
"So what am I supposed to do?" she asked as she fiddled nervously with the empty cup. This was why she had originally wanted her big brother's help. She wanted to talk to Davis, but she was scared of what his answer might be. This whole thing was unfamiliar to her and she feared that if she screwed it up, she might end up making it even worse.
Her brother appeared to think carefully about the matter for a few seconds, but eventually he seemed to make up his mind. He had just opened his mouth to answer when a soft knock on the door interrupted him. Frowning, both siblings looked up as the door opened and their mother stuck her head in, looking troubled about something.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt." she said as she realized that her children had been in the middle of a conversation when she had knocked. "But that was mrs Motomiya who called just now. Something happened while they were in the city and her daughter might need medical attention so they're taking her to the hospital. However, they don't want to leave Davis alone, so he'll be spending the night here."
-:-:-:-
As the fog finally settled around the Odaiba district and cut off all communication with the outside world, Gatomon gathered her half of Myotismon's Army (which admitedly mainly consisted of Bakemon) at the most western point of the fog barrier, from which she would be driving the humans towards the Convention Center, which was located in the central part of the city. As one of two generals, she was responsible for the western half of the city while Phantomon would be responsible for the eastern half.
Aside from the Bakemon, Gatomon's unit consisted of Wizardmon, Musyamon and DarkTyrannomon, all of whom were standing a few feet behind her. Myotismon had opted to put the real hard hitters in Phantomon's unit, since he would be covering a more populated area than her. As for the Undead Digimon himself, he was still recovering from casting the fog spell and wouldn't be participating, unless they were met with heavy resistance, something that Gatomon honestly doubted. Only the Digidestined could possibly hold a candle to their army, but there were only 7 of them, and at a few thousands of Bakemon.
"And so it begins." a soft voice spoke from somewhere to her left. "The moment we have all been waiting for."
Glancing towards the voice, Gatomon found that Wizardmon had taken a few steps forward and was standing just behind her, slightly to her left. The Demon Man Digimon had become awfully talkactive lately, especially while in her presence and it was starting to annoy her. However, she opted to just try to ignore him. Soon enough, they would have to split up anyway to perform their duty towards their master.
Ever since he had first approached her while she was trying to recruit Veedramon to her master's cause, she had been getting this strange feeling whenever Wizardmon was around. Something was tugging at the back of her mind every time she looked at him, it was almost as if she had met him somewhere before but for some reason couldn't remember when or where. It didn't help that he always gave her that strange knowing look, as if he knew exactly what was going on inside her head.
"I must admit, when I approached you in that tavern I would've never guessed that you were part of something like this." Wizardmon said, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze was glued to the back of Gatomon's head. "Was this really what you were searching for, Gatomon?"
Feeling as if someone had cracked a very cold egg on top of her head, Gatomon felt chills run down her spine as her mind processed Wizardmon's words and she stiffened involuntarily. There it was again! He was talking to her as if he knew her from somewhere, and a part of her responded to it, a part that she thought she had locked away a long time ago. A part that she didn't want to acknowledge.
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you, Wizardmon." she said, glancing at him from over her shoulder with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "You know nothing about me, and if you don't want to find out what happens when you anger me, I suggest you keep quiet from now on."
With that, she turned back to watch the city in front of her, waiting for the signal that they were to begin their assault. Behind her, Wizardmon kept staring at his old friend, before he shook his head and turned back to watch the city for the signal as well.
'I know more about you than you think, Gatomon.' he thought, as a majority of the lights in the city finally went out, signaling that any communication with the outside world had been cut. Despite what he himself thought about this invasion, he gribbed his staff tightly with both his hands as he joined Gatomon and Musyamon on the front of the assault, with DarkTyrannomon just behind them. The invasion had begun!
Author's Note: Oh my! A lot happened in this chapter, I'm not even sure if I myself can keep track of it all. This was without a doubt the hardest chapter to write so far, but I hope it came out okay! Things are starting to heat up, so all of you who have been looking forward to some actual action, it will come in the next chapter.
I don't really have a lot to say here, other than thank you so much for all the support so far! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. The characters are starting to change from how they were in canon now (not sure if I may have messed up Kari's character somewhat). Tell me what you thought about the chapter in a review! Can we SMASH 75 reviews with this chapter?! I'll leave that in your hands! :)
Now, to my dear guest reviewer: I wasn't complaining when I mentioned your opinion about the characters ages and their maturity, I was simply making a point that it wouldn't make sense to lower the characters' ages further when they are already acting a little above the average maturity of their current age. And I know the feeling, younger siblings can be a pain! xD
Yeah, I'm going to go back and change the mention of the tower when I go back and change some grammar and typos. I just didn't remember what it was called at the time when I was writing the chapter. Yeah, Parrotmon is an Ultimate, but Kari doesn't know that, but the aftermath of that battle is the only projection she has of what it would b like if there were Digimon fights daily in the streets.
Uh, yeah... think I was supposed to write "man" in that sentence, not mate. xD Dunno why I messed that up. And don't worry about telling me what you think in a review, it's those insightful and helpful reviews I like the most! I can't improve my writing and story-telling if no1 point's out what needs to improve. :)