Author's Note: If you've gotten this far into the story to read this, thank you. I appreciate all the support I've gotten for this story over the years, and am glad I still have loyal readers, even though the story has been on hold for quite some time now. I finally have some time to continue writing the story, and figured I should probably start with a re-write of all the previous chapters first. This is the revised version of the first chapter- please let me know if it's worth re-writing the previous chapters before continuing with the story. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chapter I: Computer Malfunction

TAI

"UH OH… Sorry for the inconvenience, but the website you are trying to acess is currently under repair. Please try again in a couple of hours. Thank you." A construction worker with a shovel in his hands flashed across the computer screen.

Taichi groaned in frustration as his favorite anime website was currently down. As usual, when Tai ran into a brick wall so to speak, he would rely on good old-fashioned google to help him search for an alternative. Scrolling through the website searches, he decided to be adventrous and click on the link flashing at the top of the screen: **FREE ANIME VIDEOS! NO ADS AT ALL! CLICK HERE!**

Tai hovered his mouse over the link, and for a split second, debated on wether he should click; 'it might be a virus…' Deciding against his better judgement, he pressed on the left mouse button. His computer flickered for a moment, then suddenly shut down and the screen was replaced by the black screen of death. The boy in front of the computer blinked a few times, confused, until it dawned on him that the website might not have been the best one to click on.

"Oops…" Tai whispered to himself sheepishly. Sighing, he reached down to the power switch on his desktop computer and pressed the button with a soft click. The computer whirred to life again and brought up his desktop with no problem. Unfortunately, when Tai went to open up the broswer, the computer decided to crash once again.

"Ahh! This had to happen today, didn't it?" Tai muttered under his breath while reaching over the wood-colored desk to grab his cell phone. He flicked it open with his thumb and quickly scrolled down to "IZZY" and pressed the call button.

"Computer Wizards, this is Izzy speaking. How may I help you today?" a male voice crackled through on the other end.

"Hi Izzy, Tai speaking. Quick question fo—" Tai was abruptly cut off by the tired voice on the other end.

"Tai? You know this is my work number, right?"

"Oh! Sorry about that; I didn't see what number I pressed to call. Should I hang up and call your cell?"

"No, no. That's fine… I have a few minutes to talk before going to my next meeting," Izzy reported as he gave a small sigh.

"Oh… ok. Well, my computer is immediately shutting down if I try to open up any programs… and this kinda happened after I clicked on some link. Do you think you'll have some time to stop by and take a look at it?" Tai asked eagerly.

"Uhhh… Sure… it sounds like the computer might have a virus. It will have to wait for a day; I'm still busy at work today and have some catching up to do tomorrow, but I can come over the day after that," the red haired boy explained. "Will that work?" Tai frowned, slightly saddened by the fact he that he would not be able to watch his show tonight itself, but understood his friend's delimma.

"Yeah, that should be fine. What are you still doing at work this late anyways? I thought it's just a summer job to pass the time." Tai asked, glancing up to the clock above him. '6:30 PM' it flashed in neon blue above his computer desk.

"Well, unfortunately being a summer intern at this place means I'm at the bottom of the food chain, and I get to do the grunt work. Yay!" his friend added in a sarcastic tone. "Plus I don't want to get a bad rep by leaving before my boss does! They've been having meetings all day today about how to bring up company sales and advertising. Anyways, I got to run, my boss is calling me in for the next meeting," Izzy quickly replied with a sigh. "I'll see you day after tomorrow," he finished with a click of the phone.

"Ok…bye…" Tai's voice echoed through the phone; only silence received him on the other end. 'Sounds like his summer job's pretty stressful,' Tai contemplated as he made his way over to his bed and plopped down for a quick nap.

AGUMON

The yellow digimon was found to be resting against the window, nose up against the glass as he gazed out at the sunset. Agumon tilted his head slightly when the sound of rain peltted down onto the glass. Looking up at the sky, he saw the big, thunderous clouds rolling in as a light drizzle started. The digimon grinned as his thoughts briefly turned to Gatomon and her fear of the rain.

Speaking of the cat-like digimon, Gatomon who was in a light sleep next to Agumon on the windowsill perked her ears up as soon as the first raindrop hit the window. Cracking an eye open, she glanced at the darkening sky before deciding she didn't like the weather, and would be more peaceful inside Kari's room instead of the windowsill that she was currently at. Suddenly, a burst of lightning lit up the sky as Gatomon hissed and bolted for Kari's room.

Agumon laughed as he watched the little cat-like digimon scramble away. He decided to follow her example and made his way to Tai's room to turn in for the night.

TAI

The following day.

Tai walked into the small yet cozy 3 bedroom apartment he called home with his soccer bag slung over his shoulder.

Kari was found sitting on the couch, watching TV when her brother walked through the door. "Hey Tai," Kari started. "Mom made some food before she left for Grandma's. If you want to eat it, it's over by the stove," she said, making a slightly disgusted face at the mention of her mom's cooking.

"No thanks," Tai replied, cringing as flashbacks of the numerous times he had stomach aches after eating his mom's cooking came to mind. Dropping his bag by the dining table, he walked into the kitchen and stopped short when he was greeted by a wanton display of kitchen utensils spread out over the counter tops. 'Gosh, mom must have been in a rush to go to grandma's,' thought Tai, as he surveyed the state of the kitchen. 'I wonder what happened… oh well, if it's anything urgent, I'm sure she would have told us.' He walked over to the refrigerator and took out the condiments he needed to make a sandwich to his liking. After making his sandwich, Tai sauntered over to the snacks cabinet for some chips. Unfortunately, he didn't see the yellow little dinosaur sneaking by him to grab a piece of his sandwich.

After he was satisfied with his choice of chips and drink, Tai grabbed his plate from the kitchen counter and made his way over to the dining table. From his vantage point, he could glance over the dining table and couch to see the TV. "Hey, turn it over to the sports channel," Tai shouted as he took a big bite from his sandwich. Chewing, Tai frowned as the food didn't taste the way he intended it to be. Tai glanced down, opened up the two slices of bread between his hands, and a scream reverberated through the apartment.

"AGUMON! What did you do to my sandwich?!" Tai shouted, as he realized Agumon had eaten the contents of his sandwich and only left the bread behind. Agumon peeked out from behind the doorframe of Tai's bedroom as he finished licking some ketchup off the last of his fingers, trying to look innocent while he did so.

Tai glared at his digimon and decided it was time for some punishment. "You are going to make me a new sandwich!" Tai exclaimed as he jumped out of his chair and started chasing Agumon around the house. Kari lazily glanced back behind her shoulder and peeked over the top of the couch. "Don't think you can get out of it!" Tai shouted as he stumbled and barely missed grabbing the yellow digimon by the tip of his tail. Kari started giggling at the sight that greeted her. It had been a long time since Tai filled their home with his laughter and shouts. She was happy he was finally back to his normal, annoying self; ever since Sora decided to date Matt, Tai had not been quite himself.

Tai gave up chasing Agumon around the house once the little critter decided to crawl under the couch where Tai couldn't reach him. With an exasperated sigh, Tai fell back on to the couch and planted himself beside his sister. "So what have you decided to entertain yourself with this afternoon? " Tai panted out, exhausted from the chase.

"Oh nothing much. Just flipping though the channels. There is nothing worth while to watch at this hour," said Kari, unenthusiastically.

Tai chuckled at his baby sister's face. At that same moment, his stomach gave a loud roar, reminding Tai that he needed to refuel. Grumbling, Tai pulled himself off the couch and made himself another sandwich, this time eating it before entering his cluttered room. 'I really should clean up this up,' he thought to himself, as he kicked a pair of boxers off to the side, away from the door way. He glanced around the room that was cluttered with clothes and other accessories, and found Agumon laying on his bed. "Scoot over," Tai said as he pushed his friend over to the other side of his bed before laying down next to him.

Placing his hands behind his head, he asked, "Hey, bud. Do you want to go to the digital world today?", knowing that the little critter would agree immediately.

"Sure!" Agumon exclaimed, jumping up and down repeatedly on Tai's bed. "When do we go?" Tai's body swayed dangerously close to the edge as the bed rocked from side to side with the weight of the digimon jumping next to him.

Tai chuckled at the hyper- active digimon. "Ok, ok… We'll go soon," he said as he sat up on the side of the bed. "I'd better tell Kari where we're going, or she might freak," Tai muttered while walking towards his bedroom door.

"Okay. Hurry!" yelled Agumon as he watched his human partner go out of the room to inform Kari.

"Hey Kari, me and Agumon are going to the digital world," Tai started.

"It's Agumon and I," the brown-haired girl immediately corrected, pausing for a second. Then she continued, "and when do you plan on coming back?" her voice sounding eerily similar to their mother's.

"Don't worry "mom," Tai joked. Kari glared in response. "Um, we should be back before or sometime around dinnertime… But we won't stay over night. Don't worry, nothing's going to happen." Tai repeated, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Alright, have fun," Kari waved as she turned back to the television, finally finding a show of interest.

Tai walked back into his room, and pulled his digivice out from his backpack. His computer flickered on, and Tai quickly brought up the portal that connected his world to the digital world. Pointing the digivice at the computer, he glanced down to make sure Agumon was beside him. Suddenly, Tai remembered that Izzy was coming tomorrow to repair his computer.

"Oh no! I forgot Izzy hasn't fixed the computer yet," Tai whispered, his body going cold and a dreadful look painting his face. He had no idea what would happen if they got sucked into the computer while there was a virus on it. He didn't even know if they would land in the digital world itself!

Tai unknowingly dropped his digivice as he made a grab for Agumon, who was already half way through the computer screen. "Agumon! Waitttt!" screamed Tai, as he himself started getting pulled into the portal. Kari unfortunately could not hear a thing over the television and was blissfully unaware of what was taking place in her brother's room.

Tai caught hold of Agumon's leg before he was sucked in, and tried to reach over with his other hand to grab onto a chair or piece of furniture in his room to anchor them to the real world, but it was too late and the portal was too strong. "KARI!" Tai screamed out, hoping to catch the little girl's attention, but to no avail. Tai was sucked in as well, his digivice lying on the ground where he dropped it.

MATT

"Hey, so you going out with your girlfriend tonight?" a band member asked a yellow haired teen as he packed up his guitar.

"Maybe. Why do you ask?" Matt responded as he clicked his case closed and threw it over his shoulder.

"It just seems like your spending quite a bit of time with her and not as much time with us anymore, man." Matt shrugged in response and replied "well, I'll see what I can do; there's not enough hours in the day to make all of you happy." Not willing to divulge information about his family situation to his band, he let them think most of his time outside practice was spent with his girlfriend.

"Whatever man. Just remember, we started this band together before you hooked up with that chick. Bros before hos, right?" his friend chuckled as Matt watched his band members disperse for the afternoon.

Sighing, Matt dug out his phone from his back pocket and quickly dialed Sora's number. Waiting for her to pick up, he thought to himself, 'I guess they're right. I probably need to spend a little more time with them if I want to keep my band members happy.'

"Hey Matt! Done with practice?" Sora greeted on the other end.

"Yup. Hey, listen," Matt started. "I know I haven't been the best boyfriend in the world recently, having been busy with my other job and family issues to take care of… and I know I promised you dinner tonight, but I don't know if I can make it. The guys were giving me a rough time for not spending enough time with them, and I feel like if I keep brushing them off, I'm going to regret it soon."

He heard Sora sigh through the phone. "Sure, I understand. With your grandmother sick in the hospital, and your mom taking care of her, you need the extra money to help your family." Sora replied. "That works out anyways; I'm stuck closing up my mom's shop this evening."

"Thanks. I'll make it up to you." Matt said his goodbyes and hung up the phone. 'Sorry Sora.' he thought to himself. He immediately called his band and made plans for later in the evening. Once that was done, Matt made his way down the street to squeeze in a few hours at his other job- the music school where he helped out with the guitar summer classes.

TAI

A pair of chocolate brown eyes cracked open slowly, and immediately closed again, not expecting the bright sun directly overhead. The brown haired boy slowly sat up, his hands finding sand all around him. Looking around, Tai wondered where he had landed and hoped he made it to the digital world.

"Agumon?" Tai asked, looking around feverishly. He surveyed the area but couldn't find what he was looking for. "AGUMON! WHERE ARE YOU?" He screamed at the top of his lungs, but only silence returned to him. "Agumon!" Tai moaned out, stumbling to his knees on the uneven sand.

Tai slowly turned his head and looked around to see if he could recognize where he was, but couldn't make out anything. This place was unfamiliar to his eyes. Sand stretched on for miles around him with no ocean in sight. Squinting up towards the sky, Tai immediately brought his hand over his eyes to lessen the glare against the sunlight. He saw some type of bird circling the area above his head. Not willing to risk finding out if the bird was a predator or friend, the boy decided to get moving and started heading in one direction, hoping to reach an ocean before he died of thirst.

After what felt like three hours of walking, or in Tai's case, dragging his feet through the sand, he spotted a blur of green in the distance. "Could that be trees?" he muttered to himself as he spat out some sand that found its way into his mouth. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Tai slipped out of his jacket, tied it around his waist and then continued trekking towards the shadow of green.

After another couple of hours of walking, Tai found himself within the vicinity of the shade that the forest of trees in front of him provided. By this time, Tai's shoes and socks had come off, pants rolled up as high as possible, shirt sleeves rolled up, and jacket slung around his chest in a makeshift bag to carry his shoes.

"Is this the digital world?' Tai wondered as he glanced around. 'Maybe, if I landed in the digiworld, then Agumon must be here too," Tai said, thinking aloud. 'If I use my digivice I can track down where he is,' Tai reached into his pocket to try and find the little piece of technology that connected the digital world to the real world. Tai's eyes widened as his search became more frantic, his hands grasping at only pocket lint.

'Where did it go? I know I put it in my pocket...I think...' he added in afterthought. Tai searched all of his pockets but couldn't find it. 'Oh no! I remember now... it fell from my hands when I went to grab Agumon. Great...' he thought, with narrowed eyes. 'Just great!' Tai kicked some sand away from his feet, in anger and frustration.

Tai suddenly jumped as an unexpected roar was heard vibrating from the direction he just came from. The brown haired boy felt chills race down his spine as he turned to look at where the source of the sound was.

His eyes bulged out and heart flipped over when he took note of a gigantic Monochromon running towards him at full speed. "Looks like I am in the digital world," the brown haired boy stated bluntly. Of course at the speed the Monochromon was running, Tai could probably outrun the mammoth beast on a good day, but after soccer practice and what felt like 5 hours of walking in the heat and sand, Tai felt his extremities turn into lead weights. Groaning, he turned around and took off running in the direction of the forest in front of him. "Hopefully the trees will slow him down some," Tai panted out as he ducked under a low lying branch.

"Ouch!" Tai yelled out as a pine cone pierced the bottom of his foot. Hopping onto the other foot, Tai thought it might be better to put his shoes on again before running through the forest. Taking a sharp right turn, Tai ran a good distance away from where he started and slid behind a tree trunk. 'This should give me enough time to put my shoes on before the digimon realizes I've come this way,' Tai thought to himself as he quickly slipped on his shoes. His ears perked up as the sound of trampling feet coming closer towards him reached his ears. Tai scrambled back up and started running on a parallel path to the one he originally took, his jacket and socks discarded and left behind on the forest floor.

Turning around, the boy saw the distance between the digimon and himself was narrowing down considerably. His calf muscles were burning and starting to cramp up. He realized he had to slow the digimon down somehow before he got trampled over, or worse, eaten by it. Glancing around, he caught sight of a fairly thick branch that had fallen off the trees a distance away on the forest floor. 'It seems long enough to attack and sturdy enough.' Tai swerved to the left and then the right, hoping to dodge the monster long enough to get his weapon. He made his way over to the fallen branch, picked it up, and tested the weight of the weapon in his hands. "Decent," he shrugged, as he slid behind one of the monstrous tree trunks next to him, waiting patiently for the rampaging Monochromon to come his way.

Twenty feet… thump… thump…his heart went.

Ten feet… thump… thump… thump

Five feet… thump, thump, thump, thump…

Tai's heart was fluttering as fast as a hummingbird as he shut his eyes tight and blindly attacked the Monochromon, which in after thought was a stupid decision. But he was able to get a lucky shot and when he opened his eyes, he saw the branch sticking out from the hole that was meant for Monochromon's eyeball. Tai sent out a small prayer, thankful that the stick was strong enough to last the attack.

The Monochromon roared in pain, as what looked like blood, trickled down the beast's jawbone. Dropping down to it's haunches, the digimon tried to use it's front legs to grasp the sharp branch and pull it out. Unable to reach the stick, the beast shook his head and gave out another loud roar, slightly different than the first, and Tai felt the forest floor vibrate beneath him. Not wanting to find out if the digimon had called for backup, Tai took this time to run away from the digimon.

Unfortunately, he didn't get very far before another Monochromon took the place of the injured one behind Tai. Ahead of him were some trees that were packed close together. 'Maybe…' Tai started as he quickly glanced behind him and approximated the size of the Monochromon. He turned back around and grinned when he realized the distance between the two tree trunks was wide enough for two people, but was not enough for a Monochromon to get through. Tai nodded to himself and ran in-between the two trees. Fortunately, the Monochromon was stupid enough to follow Tai and found himself stuck there. The massive digimon gave a snarl of frustration and tried to wiggle his way through. It would have been a funny sight to see if Tai had bothered to look, but instead he continued running forward as he caught glimpses of the beast's brothers through the trees, making a beeline towards him.

After a few minutes, the brown haired boy felt his calfs pulsating, threatening to cramp from the exertion. Hiding behind a tree, Tai had stopped to catch his breath as sweat poured down his face. Resting the back of his head against a tree trunk, his chest heaved as he tried to gulp down as much air as his lungs would allow. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a flick of his wrist and glanced back behind the thick trunk. He saw the Monochromon looking around in confusion, a good 20 feet behind him. The digimon roared in annoyance as it continued on, veering to the right. 'It's getting really hot here,' Tai thought as a gust of hot air nipped at the back of his neck. He wiped down the back of his neck and suddenly felt the puff of hot air again down his back… and again…

Gulping, Tai took a peek around to his left side and had to swallow a scream as he saw a second Monochromon sniffing him. 'Maybe if I stand really still, he'll think I'm part of the tree, and go away,' Tai thought, the throbbing pain in his calf muscles reminding him he could not outrun the digimon at this time.

"AHHHHHH!" Tai screamed, as the beast next to him decided Tai probably tasted as good as he smelled and grabbed his left arm in it's mouth. Tai squrimed around trying to pull his arm out, but that just made the digimon clamp down even harder. Deciding it was probably going to come down to loosing an arm or dying a slow and painful death between the digimon's razor sharp teeth, Tai decided his life was a little more important to him right now than his arm. 'I could always ask Gennai for a mechanical arm…. That would be pretty cool!' Tai thought to himself, trying to lighten his damp mood. Gritting his teeth, the boy took at deep breath and held it as he pulled with as much strength as he had left.

He heard the sound of a ripping shirt before the pain registered. Tai felt the rotator cuff mucles of his shoulder shredding to bits like thin strips of bacon as the Monochromon growled and reared his head from side to side. Tai heard a pop as his shoulder dislocated from the severe shaking; his nerves were searing with pain as Tai took this chance to yank his slick, saliva-covered arm out from the digimon's grasp.

Not planning to loose this advantage, the brown haired boy took off as fast as he could in the direction he was originally headed, his limp and unresponsive arm flopping around next to him. Tai squinted as a flash of light hit his eyes for a brief moment, and once again a few seconds later. Realizing he is probably close to the edge of the forest or a clearing, the boy sped up his pace and made it out of the Monochromon infested part of the forest in record breaking speed.

Once he made it through to a thinner part of trees, he stopped to catch his breath and look at the condition of his arm. The sleeve was torn off, and blood was dripping off, slowly trailing down his hand to the dirt ground below. Tai tried to move his arm but was fruitless. He couldn't feel his left arm at all, even as he repeatedly pinched at whatever skin was left at his shoulder joint. Ripping off the strings of cloth that were left over from the wrekage, Tai finally saw the full extent of his wound. There was barely any intact skin or muscle left over his shoulder and upper arm; what was left was hanging on for dear life. Feeling nauseated, Tai quickly turned his head away, but regretted it immediately as his vision blurred and he started swaying in place. Tai could feel himself getting dizzier by the moment as the blood left his body. Deciding he should do something about the blood loss first, Tai ripped the sleeve of his other arm with his teeth, and wrapped the wound the best he could with the shirt sleeve, attempting to make a makeshift sling.

"Okay, almost out of the forest," the boy stated as he continued at a slower pace. Unfortunately, Tai wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and suddenly felt the floor give away beneath him. "Wha-" he muttered as he glanced down confused. Tai's eyes narrowed as he thought bitterly, 'This is just not my day...' The floor beneath his feet looked normal enough, but when taking a closer look, he could see it was no longer dirt but quick sand.

The more he tried to move his feet, the quicker the sand moved to suck him in. Trying to grab hold of anything near by that he could use to pull himself out of the sand, Tai finally found a vine that was conveniently placed near by and tried to reach for it. Once in his grasp, Tai gave a tenative tug to see if it would be strong enough. Convinced it would hold his weight, he tried to move his left arm to get a better hold, forgetting that it incapacitated. He let out a small scream as a jolt of pain shot through his arm to the base of his neck with the abrupt movements.

His arm was in no condition to move so he gritted his teeth and used his right arm to pull himself out of the quick sand. Suddnely drained of his energy, Tai quickly felt the quick sand winning as he was now thigh deep in the ground. 'I hope I don't die like this. I can imagine when they find my body- death by quicksand… how sad is that?' Tai mused. Feeling desperate, he let out a scream, "AGUMON! Where are you!?" as he feverishly tried to pull himself out of the quicksand once again. Unfortunately, fatigue took over his body like a vice, and the blood loss was finally taking a toll, which resulted in Tai being unable to get himself out of his current predicament.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise was heard echoing through the trees, and was getting louder with each passing second. Turning his head towards the sound, his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the animal flying towards him.

KARI

Kari let out a satisfied sigh as the movie credits rolled onto the screen. The girl slowly stood, stretched out her back, and felt her stomach rumble. "I guess it's dinner time. Gatomon, did you eat?" she asked as she looked around for her digimon. She spotted the feline near the kitchen enterance, inhaling a bowl of food. 'At least she's self sufficient,' Kari thought while walking into the kitchen.

She grimaced when she realized that they would have to eat out tonight. 'Ugh… great, mom left the kitchen a mess and went to grandmas, and dad is out of town on a business trip. That just leaves Tai and I to clean it up. Tai better get his butt back home soon and help me…' Kari thought. "Let's see what's for dinner," she started to say, walking towards her room to get the stack of take- out menus.

Just as she was about to place a foot into her room, the phone rang, startling Kari. She turned and reached for the phone.

"Hello, Kari Kamiya speaking."

"Hey Kari, this is Izzy. Is Taichi there?"

"Oh, hi Izzy. No Tai's not here, he went to the digital world." Kari heard silence on the other line. "Izzy? Are you still there?"

'I'm sure Tai's not stupid enough to use the portal on a virus- infected computer,' Izzy thought to himself, brushing off the sliver of worry that had seeped into his mind. "Yeah, sorry about that. Lost in my own thoughts," he chuckled. "I got out of work early today and had some free time. Thought I could swing by and take a look at Tai's computer if he was there."

"Ah, okay. I will ask him to give you a call as soon as he gets back, which should hopefully be soon." Kari replied, glancing at the time listed on the phone. "What's wrong with the computer?" Kari asked, curious.

Izzy responded, "Tai had mentioned something about possibly having a virus on it and he wanted me to take a look at it. But I can come by tomorrow. Oh! I'm getting another call from the office on the other line, I'll call you back Kari?"

"Yup. See you tomorrow then," she said before hanging up the phone. Turning around, she saw her digimon sprawled out on the dining table, taking a post-dinner nap.

Kari's eyes widened as realization hit her a moment later. "Oh my god!" Gatomon jumped up, startled by the girl's sudden exclamation. "Tai used his computer to go to the digital world and there's a virus on it!" Kari said, worry seeping into her voice.

"Kari, don't panic. I'm sure Tai didn't become virus food or something... He has his digivice with him, right? We can go to the digital world, and if he's there we can track him down," Gatomon said in a sleepy voice, trying to get her human to calm down. "And he might not have used his computer, he may have used yours," Gatomon pointed out, jumping off the table.

"Yes, that's true. Hold on," Kari stopped as she peeked into Tai's room. She saw his computer, humming to its own tune in the quiet bedroom. The screen was black. 'Maybe he didn't use his computer?' she thought for a brief second until a flash from the floor caught her eye. Kari gasped as she saw Tai's digivice on the floor beside the computer, and Tai was nowhere to be seen.

She ran back out into the hallway, picked up the phone and quickly dialed Izzy's number.

"Hi! You've reached Izzy…"

"Hey Izzy, this is Kar—" she was cut off by the rest of the answering machine's message reminding her Izzy was not able to pick up the phone. Growling with frustration, she hung up the phone and quickly picked it up again after dialing T.K.'s number.

"You have reached the Ishida Residence. We are not home right now, but if you could leave your—" Kari slammed the phone down with unnecessary force. Grabbing it once again, she tried dialing Davis' cell. 'Please pick up!' His phone just rang, and rang. "Ugh! Where is everyone today?" Kari growled. "I'm half tempted to just go to the digital world myself right now, but I should at least let someone else know before I go."

The girl started to dial Joe's number, but stopped when she remembered he would be still be in the hospital at this hour. She quickly ran through the other digidestined who may be avaliable this evening in her mind, and suddenly remembered Sora. 'Hopefully she's at home, if she's not with Matt.' By now, the brown haired girl's fingers were trembling as she dialed the number.

"Hello?" a perky voice answered on the other line.

"Sora! Thank god!" Kari exclaimed as she slumped over the phone. "Tai dropped his digivice when he was sucked into the portal on the computer with a virus and I'm not sure where he is, and I can't reach him!" Kari blubbered over the phone.

"Kari?" Sora questioned as she tried to comprehend what the other girl was saying on the phone between sobs. "Slow down, I can't understand what you're saying."

Kari tried explaining again, only getting out every third word coherently enough for Sora to understand. Frustrated, yet understanding what her partner was going through, Gatomon grabbed the phone from the sobbing girl's hand and told Sora the situation.

"Oh no," Kari could hear Sora whisper. "Okay. Kari obviously can't go by herself given the state that she's in right now. Both of you come over and we'll go to the digital world, from here," Sora commanded. "I have to close up the shop really quick and should be ready to go when you get here."

"Alright, I'm on my way." Kari said and replaced the phone back onto the cradle. Gatomon ran to Kari's room to grab a sweater from her closet as Kari bolted to the door, eager to get to Sora's as fast as she could. She slipped her shoes on and ran out the door, Gatomon hot on her trail, sweater trailing behind, barely hanging on from the digimon's mouth.

Kari heard the echo of her feet pounding against the pavement as she set a quick pace towards the redhead's apartment. As she was running towards the apartment complex, she bumped into someone, and landed hard on the concrete behind her.

"I'm sorry," mumbled Kari as she looked up. When she did, she let out a soft gasp upon seeing whom she bumped into.