I do not own Digimon or am associated with anyone who does.
So glad to hear some of you enjoyed the last chapter. I'm eager to get into the thicker plot. There still some casual things to take care of. Sorry if this chapter isn't as exciting. Everything will come in due time.
Patamon came up behind T.K. suddenly. "There you are!" he yelled with relief, flying over to T.K. hurriedly.
"Patamon." T.K. turned to face his digimon partner.
"Where did you go?" Patamon huffed, anger setting in. "I was terrified!"
T.K. still hadn't recovered from what had just happened. Lost for words all he could do look at Patamon helplessly.
"T.K.?" Patamon's anger began to subside. "Did something happen?"
T.K. hesitated, glancing behind himself again, the black forest around him now being lit by the glow of the moon. "How long…?" his voice felt weak.
"It's been over an hour since I left you in the forest. T.K. the village was literally only a few minutes away. Where were you?"
"I…" T.K. had no way to explain it. "A digimon appeared after you flew off."
"A digimon?" Patamon's concern deepened.
T.K. nodded. "I'm fine. I just don't really know what happened."
"What digimon?" Patamon asked, looking around wearily.
"It said its name was Wisemon." T.K. looked weakly at Patamon.
"I've never heard of that digimon before." Patamon landed on T.K.'s shoulder. "We should tell the others—"
"No. It's fine. I'm fine." T.K. insisted.
"You're not lying to yourself again are you?" Patamon asked wearily.
T.K. had to laugh at Patamon's question, despite the fact that it bore truth. "I don't want to bother anyone, especially now that it's this late." T.K. grabbed his phone from his pocket, seeing it was almost eight at night. "Hopefully Matt's still at band practice or something."
Patamon and T.K. made their way to the village within a minute's time, the villagers greeting T.K. warmly and with worry—Patamon had obviously made a commotion about his disappearance.
Gatomon ran up to them as soon as they were safely inside the village. "Where on earth did you go?"
T.K. frowned, still unsure how to answer this question, he truly hadn't gone anywhere. "I…"
She looked worriedly at him, Veemon and Wormmon following behind her. "You just disappeared. I couldn't find any trace of you T.K."
Veemon frowned, crossing his arms. "We were about to call the others."
T.K. rose his hands in the air. "I'm right here. See? I'm fine."
Gatomon let out a sigh. "Don't scare us like that T.K."
T.K. nodded. "Sorry." Shifting he looked to the gate sitting across the small village. "Is the gate closed?" Gatomon and the others turned to look at the small screen sitting on the ground. Sure enough it was blank.
Veemon scratched his head. "Well that's strange."
Wormmon moaned. "Oh no, Ken…"
T.K. looked at the little green digimon and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me."
Wormmon nodded. "I bet he closed the gate on accident. He usually leaves last."
T.K. started laughing, not because he found his situation particular funny, but everything was piling up on him, making him slightly hysterical. "Great."
Patamon and the others watched T.K. worriedly as he exhaled deeply, calming himself back down. "T.K.?" Patamon spoke his name softly. "Are you alright?"
T.K. didn't respond, reaching into his back pocket he pulled out his cell, scrolling through his contacts he finally found the number he was looking for. Clicking on the familiar name he waited a second before placing the phone to his ear.
Patamon tilted his head to the side. "You're calling Izzy?"
He nodded silently, hoping this was still a current number for his old friend. After a few too many rings, T.K. was ready to hang up. As he pulled the phone from his face to click the end button he heard that familiar voice ring over the speaker. "Hello?"
T.K. pressed the phone back to his ear. "Hey Izzy."
"It really is you!" Izzy exclaimed. "Sora said you were back in town. How are you?"
"Honestly? Right now I'm kind of in a jam." He just wanted to go home.
"Oh? What's the problem?" Izzy asked curiously.
T.K. sighed and began explaining that Ken had accidentally closed the gate on him at the school. "So, I was wondering if you can remotely open gates? If not the school maybe the gate you installed on my computer at home?"
Izzy was silent for a few minutes, clicking keys could be heard in the background. "No. I can't open gates remotely, however…" he paused. "There! I found your location using your digivice. I'll open that gate on my computer here. At least that way you can get back to the real world."
"Thanks Izzy." T.K. watched as the monitor flickered on, relieving a huge amount of stress off his chest—he had feared the gate had permanently closed—something he feared every time he went through the gate now that the digital world was at peace. He hung up his phone and bid farewell to the digimon, ignoring their unanswered questions and concerned gazes. "I'll see you soon." He waved goodbye and phased through the gate.
Exhausted, T.K. landed in Izzy's living room. Izzy, despite being a full time college student, was living on his own, making a living through a private technology company. Computers and electronics dotted every available surface. "Sorry for the intrusion." T.K. looked up at the red head sheepishly.
"No worries. It's good to see you!" He reached down and helped T.K. to his feet. T.K. noted how he had grown taller than Izzy now.
"How have you been?" T.K. asked, straightening his jacket.
Izzy shrugged. "Not too bad. Staying busy. You?"
"Just started my senior year here in Odiaba. So pretty busy myself." T.K. pulled his phone from his pocket, it was almost eight thirty now. "I'm sorry it's so late."
Izzy waved his hand. "Nah. I usually stay up until midnight or later working these days. Do you need a ride home?"
T.K. hesitated. "Uhm, where exactly am I?" he smiled weakly, realizing he didn't know exactly where Izzy lived.
Izzy explained he was living close to his and Tai's university, so he was about a 20 minute drive from his and Matt's apartment. "So I'm thinking that's a yes to the ride home?"
"That's too much to ask. You've already done enough." T.K. declined Izzy's generous offer.
"But T.K., it'll take you an hour to walk home, if not more. I will not take no for an answer." Izzy insisted.
T.K. was tired and stressed and he still had no clue what happened to him and where all that time had gone. "I owe you."
Izzy smiled. "Don't mention it."
#
T.K. pushed the door to his apartment open, it was now nine. He saw Matt's shoes sitting by the door and knew he was probably in for an earful. Creeping in slowly he saw Matt sitting on the couch watching reruns of old sitcoms.
"And where have you been?" Matt chided.
T.K. inhaled deeply. "The digital world."
"All day?" Matt turned to face him, rephrasing. "All night?" glaring at T.K. skeptically.
T.K. didn't want to worry Matt or talk about what happened. He had all the same questions everyone else had, with no answers. "I got stuck."
"Stuck?" Matt raised an eyebrow.
T.K. walked toward the kitchen, realizing how hungry he was. "I stayed behind to talk to Patamon for a bit after everyone else left. Apparently Ken closed the gate behind himself."
"What?" Matt narrowed his eyes angrily. "Not cool."
"I've been gone for over a year. I'm sure it was a habit or something. Anyway…" he rummaged through the nearly bare cupboard.
"How did you get back then?" Matt walked into the kitchen, leaning against the far wall.
"I called Izzy hoping he could remotely open a gate for me."
"Oh." Matt looked at his brother with approval. "Smart."
"Well, he wasn't able to do that, so he opened a gate to his own place." T.K. pulled out a packet of ramen and began boiling some water. "He had to drive me across town to get me home."
Matt's eyes widened. "Oh jeez, T.K., you could have called me. I would have come and got you."
"I was going to walk home, but Izzy wouldn't have it."
"You gotta stop that. You're turning into me when I was all angsty and anti-social, but worse." Matt joked.
T.K. watched his pan of water, willing it to boil. "No way."
Matt sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're all right." He paused. "You are all right, aren't you?"
T.K. nodded without looking up, seeing bubbles start to simmer at the bottom of the pan—just a few more seconds.
"You look stressed." Matt eyed his little brother carefully.
T.K. shook his head. "Long day."
Matt shrugged. "Alright then." He walked out of the kitchen and disappeared into his bedroom.
T.K. started to lose focus as his thoughts went back to that digimon. Gate? What gate? How was he a gate? How had so much time gone by? It had only felt like seconds. His mind whirled and he kept imagining the digimon over and over. What would have happened to him if it had of caught him? What if—
"T.K.!" Matt yanked T.K. away from the stove as the water began boiling over and splash out over the side of the pan. "What are you doing?"
T.K. had been so lost in thought he wasn't even paying attention to the water anymore. "Sorry." He spoke weakly. That was a word he was saying more and more.
"Are you hurt?" Matt inspected his hand, seeing he had successfully saved T.K. from a nasty burn.
"No. I'm fine." More words he was saying too frequently.
Matt turned around and turned the heat down on the water. "Snap out of it. You're scaring me T.K." Matt handed him his pouch of noodles. "You got this?"
T.K. nodded. "Yeah." Taking the package, he started cooking his dinner without further incident.
#
Lying in bed that night T.K. tossed and turned, unable to get any real sleep. That digimon's haunting image plaguing his mind, it's hollow voice echoing in his head over and over.
"Argh!" T.K. threw his blankets off and sat up, the clock read 3:48am. Standing he wiped the sweat from his face and walked over to his computer, the bright screen snapped to life, making him squint. Pulling up his email he started typing a message to Izzy asking him to look up Wisemon on his database. Though if Patamon hadn't recognized the name he wasn't sure Izzy would be able to find much on him.
Leaning back in his chair he ran his hands over his face—the darkness in his room was uncomfortable to say the least, especially now with the contrast of the bright computer screen in the corner. Putting his computer back to sleep T.K. crawled back into bed. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep until he heard Matt's voice above him, telling him to wake up.
Glancing at the clock he saw it had only been a couple hours and groaned from exhaustion. "Go away."
"You're going to be late for school." Matt bent down, his hands on his hips. "Hurry up, I got places to be this morning too you know."
"I'm not going." T.K. hissed, rolling away from Matt.
"Are you sick again?" Matt asked worriedly.
"I didn't sleep well. Leave me alone." T.K. grumbled from under the blankets.
"You can't miss school already, you just started back up yesterday. If you're not feeling well by lunch I'll come get you, okay?" Matt started walking out of his room.
T.K. sat up and glared at Matt. "I don't believe you." He grabbed his pillow and threw it as hard as he could toward Matt who quickly used the door as a shield, peeking back in. "I'm worried about you! I'll come this time, I promise!"
"Whatever…" T.K. fell back onto his bed and moaned, covering his face with his arms.
"You have like fifteen minutes to get ready." Matt hollered as he walked away from T.K.'s room.
#
T.K. watched out the car window as the wind picked up and the rain grew heavier. Matt pulled up to the front of the school and T.K. got out without a word, slamming the car door. "Hey, don't take it out on the car!" His brother yelled after him.
T.K. didn't respond, too tired and irritable to care—he was almost to class when he saw Davis and Kari walking together. He slowed his pace so a larger crowd of people would be between them and they'd most likely miss him as he passed by them. He successfully made it to class without being spotted and slid into his seat. Realizing only then that he had left his backpack in the computer lab the day before. "Great…"
He had a hard time concentrating on his classes throughout the day, between being tired and the events from the day before he couldn't have cared less about the math problems on the white board.
Finally, the bell sounded announcing lunch and T.K. didn't hesitate pulling his phone out and clicking on Matt's name. He heard his brother answer, interrupting his greeting. "Come get me." He laid his head down on his desk staring blindly at the wall.
"T.K. what's the matter?" Matt asked softly.
T.K. could hear his band members in the background calling for him to hurry. "I… I don't know. I don't…" he stumbled over his own words sitting up straight he sighed loudly. He was just being a burden. "Nevermind." He hung up the phone and stood, heading to the computer lab to grab his pack before lunch. Matt's name popped back up on the screen but T.K. hit ignore and placed the phone in his pocket.
#
Walking into the cafeteria T.K. was immediately waved over by Davis, who was sitting with both Kari and Cody.
T.K. sighed and waved back, pointing to the line for food. He slowly made his way down, picking up a couple of small items before heading over to the table. "Hey." He greeted.
Davis slid over on the bench, making room for him. T.K. hesitated but sat down, resting his pack by his legs and setting his tray down. "So hey, we were thinking of going to the digital world today. Yolie said she might not be able to make it, but Ken was for it."
T.K. shrugged. "I might be able to. I have homework to catch up on though."
Davis sighed loudly. "What's the deal with you and that homework."
"I didn't bring my backpack home with me last night, so I'll have two days' worth tonight."
Cody looked at him worriedly. "Did you forget it? I thought it was sitting right next to the computer when we came through the gate."
"Uhm, well…" T.K. figured they'd hear about it eventually. "I think Ken closed the gate on me yesterday."
Kari's eyes widened. "What?"
Davis raised an eyebrow at him. "No way."
T.K. shrugged. "It was closed when I got back. I ended up having to call Izzy to get home."
Cody looked thoughtfully at his food before nodding. "He usually does close the gate when we all get back."
T.K. shrugged. "I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. Just out of habit maybe?"
Davis finished the last bite of his sandwich before adding. "Ken wouldn't have done that intentionally."
Kari looked to the side guiltily. "I was talking to Ken when we left, maybe I distracted him."
T.K. smiled at her, a more genuine smile than she'd seen on his face in a long time, at least directed at her. "I'll give him a hard time about it, but I'm not mad. Don't worry."
Kari sighed. "I still feel bad about it."
T.K. shrugged. "It's my fault for staying behind."
Kari frowned. "But still…"
T.K. starting eating his cafeteria food with little enthusiasm. "Things happen." He spoke between bites. "I was out pretty late anyway."
Cody looked at T.K.'s lunch with a frown. "Don't you usually bring a lunch?"
T.K. didn't look up as he responded. "Woke up late today."
Davis was the only one who didn't notice his melancholy attitude. "When's your next practice?"
"Mmm…" T.K. had to think. "Tomorrow after school? I'm pretty sure."
Davis and T.K. ended up having a fairly busy conversation about the current basketball team and the new coach, keeping both Cody and Kari silent through the rest of lunch. With hurried goodbyes they all left the cafeteria for their classes.
#
On the way to their class Davis eyed Kari worriedly, seeing the stress on her expression as she walked beside him, barely paying attention to her surroundings.
"So, is everything alright?" Davis asked casually, drawing her attention away from the floor.
"Uh. Yeah." She smiled, giving him a confused look. "Why?"
"You're quiet around T.K.. It's kind of weird."
Kari gave him an innocent look. "Everything's fine. I guess you of all people would notice though." She had to poke fun at him.
Davis stopped and gave her a look. "I may not be as pushy about it, but I still care about you a lot. You act different when he's around, but not like before, not different in a way that makes me jealous of him, but kind of makes me think he did something to you."
Kari was surprised Davis was speaking up about this. He really hadn't brought up his feelings for her in almost a year. "Davis, he didn't do anything. Things are just different. I guess we just aren't as close as we used to be."
Davis gave her a defeated look. "If you say so."
Kari nodded, giving Davis an encouraging smile. "Don't worry about me."
"That ain't gonna happen." Davis adjusted his backpack onto his other shoulder and sighed, walking past her. "We're gonna be late, come on."
Kari nodded, following close behind. "Yeah."
#
T.K. quickly slipped from his last class, ignoring yet another call from Matt. He didn't want to talk right now. He didn't want to be around anyone right now. Finding a quiet spot in the back of the school library T.K. focused on his homework, forcing his thoughts of his friends, Kari, and that strange digimon from his mind.
An hour and a half later T.K. had finished all his homework and even read ahead in some chapters of his textbooks. He contemplated just walking home but he knew he couldn't keep running away. He had made up his mind. He was going to try and made a mends, somehow.
So this chapter was getting crazy long so I'm splitting it up. You'll probably get another update soon. Hope you enjoyed.
Thank you for the reviews last chapter. It makes me excited to continue moving the plot forward. I think you'll all enjoy where this story is headed.
As per the usual. If you'd like to support me with my original work, please google The Silent Ballad Series! =)