"I don't understand. He knew we were there, if he was hurt that badly why didn't he come to us?" Davis grumbled loudly.
"I don't know, Davis. But maybe we should go back. We're not even sure he kept going this way." Ken shook his head.
Veemon tugged on Davis' pants. "We should at least slow down. We could be missing something by going so fast."
Davis stopped and turned to the others. "The only way we're going to catch up to him is if we move our asses. T.K.'s hurt, so he's probably not moving that fast, this is our chance to find him."
Ken frowned. "Did you hear that?" looking off to side of the trail they were following.
"Huh?" Davis held his breath, listening carefully.
"I'm scared!" Patamon's voice yelled in the distance.
Davis and Ken looked at each other and darted up the small hill. Davis could hardly breathe. They'd really found him. "Please be okay, you dumb idiot." He thought as they reached the top of the incline.
#
"Patamon!" T.K. spoke quietly, but sharply.
Patamon saw the anger in T.K.'s expression, but it was quickly overcome with pain as he forced himself to stand. "T.K., don't push yourself." Patamon tried to reason with him.
T.K. ignored the fact that everything spun when he stood, closing his eyes he steadied himself on a nearby tree. He straightened and opened his eyes, the lightheaded feeling less intense than before. Just as he let go of the tree to run he heard Ken's voice.
"T.K.!" Ken yelled, slightly out of breath from his short sprint.
T.K. didn't turn to look at him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to even his breathing.
"I'm sorry." Patamon whispered.
Davis' irritated tone made T.K. stiffen. He hadn't expect him to be there, but then again, he was the only one who actually saw him there last night. "T.K.! What the hell is going on?"
Ken shook his head. "Davis."
Davis looked over at Ken, pursing his lips and looked back at T.K., letting Ken walk ahead of him.
T.K. finally turned to face them. He felt faint, but he took a deep breath fighting it. His mouth was dry and the pain in his shoulder was beginning to pulse. He knew what he wanted to say, but it wasn't what he needed to say.
Ken stopped at the look T.K. gave him. Like he would run if he took another step. "Hey." He looked T.K. over carefully. He saw some cuts and bruises on his face and hands, but it was his right arm that had been injured. His sweatshirt covered in blood.
T.K. averted his eyes from Ken and spoke lightly. "What do you want?"
"Huh?" Ken took a step forward, desperate to help him. "I—"
T.K. shifted, grabbing the tree again to keep his balance. "I don't have time for this."
Ken stopped. "Hey, listen. We just want to make sure you're alright." He nodded toward T.K.'s arm. "And maybe we can talk a little?"
T.K. shook his head. Every second they were near him was another chance for Wisemon or one of the other digimon working with him to show up. "I'm fine. Just go—" T.K. winced, the pain in his shoulder throbbing.
Ken held his breath, watching T.K. fight through the pain. He knew he was lying every time he said those words, but instead of getting mad, he nodded. "Okay, you're fine. Then can we just talk a little?"
T.K. shook his head. "I have to go…" He couldn't stop the pain from reaching his voice.
Davis' shouted with frustration. "Seriously?"
T.K. looked up at Davis, the mixture of frustration and worry on his face made T.K. feel all that more guilty. "Oh, like you care."
"What is your problem?" Davis snapped.
Ken stopped Davis before he could continue. "Calm down, both of you."
T.K. looked down at Patamon. "Let's go."
Patamon didn't move. "Just this once, T.K. Let them help us?"
"No." T.K. snapped. "Come on."
"T.K., stop." Ken pleaded. "I know that I haven't been there for you lately and I'm sorry, but I'm here now. We're going to help you whether you want it or not."
T.K. turned away from Ken and took a few steps, feeling a little more confident in his strength, he steadied his pace. "If you want to help me, you'll both go home."
Ken watched as blood ran down T.K.'s arm, dripping onto the ground as he walked away. "I'm not letting you walk away from me again, T.K."
T.K. turned just as Ken reached him. "Let go!" he growled, trying to pull away.
"Look at yourself! Do you even realize how much blood you've lost?" Ken lifted his blood soaked arm up forcefully.
T.K. cried out in pain. "Let go!" he repeated through clenched teeth.
"Not until you tell me what's going on!" Ken shouted.
T.K. reached up and grabbed his head. His vision starting to blur, fading in and out. "I don't want…" T.K. started to collapse but Ken caught him.
"T.K.!" Ken struggled to keep his limp body from falling to the ground. Davis was suddenly next to them, helping Ken with his weight.
"Let's get him down to the ground." Davis scowled at T.K., his complexion had gone nearly white.
"T.K.!" Patamon ran to his side frantic.
Ken checked T.K.'s pulse. "His pulse is slow, but he's alright for now. It looks like he passed out from the blood loss." He pulled the sweatshirt off T.K.'s shoulder, unwrapping the cloth and examining the wound. "It's not infected, but it's deep."
T.K. moaned in pain as Ken shifted his arm to see into the cut better. His eyes fluttered open lightly, his vision still going in and out. "Stop—" T.K. winced, crying out in pain. "Please…stop…." He begged through clenched teeth. "I just don't… want anyone to get hurt… because of me." T.K.'s voice fading in and out.
Ken looked at T.K.'s face, realizing he'd lost consciousness again. "What did you say?"
Davis scowled down at T.K. "He's not doing a very good job if he doesn't want anyone to get hurt."
Ken looked at Patamon. "What did he mean?"
Patamon's concern deepened. "That's not for me to say."
"Are you serious?" Ken looked away in frustration, directing his attention back to T.K.'s wound. "How am I supposed to do anything with this? I have no medical supplies—"
Davis called Veemon over, taking the backpack off his back, unzipping it without a word and tossing two first aid kits and some other supplies in Ken's direction. "Will any of this help?"
Ken frowned. "When did you…?"
"I went by one of those little convenient stores near your house and raided their, like, two inch section of medical supplies." Davis shrugged, seeing that Ken was still confused. "I told you, Kari said he was really hurt. I didn't know how or if any of this stuff would help, but I just felt like I needed to bring something."
Ken sighed, smiling at Davis lightly. "No, you did good. This will definitely help."
T.K. opened his eyes slowly. The sun shining down through the trees was bright—it must have been hours since he lost consciousness.
"Hey…" Ken spoke quietly, clearly concerned.
T.K. looked up at him groggily. "What happened?"
Ken looked at T.K. apologetically. "You passed out. I was able to clean your wound, but it needs stitches. You're cut all the way into the muscle."
"Nhh…" T.K. tried to move but found he was still in a lot of pain. "Mmm, yeah, that'd explain why it hurts so bad."
Ken nodded. "You really need to go to the hospital."
"No." T.K. closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Not happening."
"Don't be stupid." Ken snapped. "A muscle injury that bad in your dominate arm? I don't need to go over all the complications muscles could have healing, especially left untreated. You might never play another game again."
T.K. looked away from Ken, his voice subdued. "It doesn't matter."
Ken rolled his eyes out of frustration. "Are you kidding me, right now?"
T.K. felt numb inside. "It's not like I'd make it onto a college team with three arm or shoulder injuries. I'm just a liability at this point."
"Are you listening to yourself, T.K.?"
T.K. let out an involuntary chuckle. "Yeah, I am. I really wish you would give it a shot."
Ken scowled at T.K. "I am listening."
T.K. looked back at the sky, squinting as the leaves shifted in the breeze, letting the sun flicker in his gaze. "Why did you come?"
Ken studied T.K.'s expression carefully. "Why do you have to ask something like that? Are you really going to lie there and pretend you think that I wouldn't be worried sick?"
T.K. felt his chest tighten. He couldn't respond, he knew his voice would give him away.
"He brought some supplies in his backpack." Ken nodded toward Davis who was asleep against a nearby tree. "You know he didn't sleep at all last night? He was too worried about you."
T.K. looked down to see clean bandages over his cut and Patamon asleep at his side. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing to relieve some pain. "Or maybe he was just trying to alleviate some of his guilt."
"What?" Ken frowned.
T.K. pursed his lips, Davis didn't tell him that he'd seen him in the ruins. "Nothing."
"What going on, T.K.?" Ken asked, exasperated.
"I don't want to do this right now." T.K. sighed.
Ken laughed out of frustration. "Oh, I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"
"Yeah, kind of, it is." T.K. said with complete honesty.
"Idiot." Davis grumbled wearily, looking over at them. "If you weren't in such bad shape, I'd punch you in the face."
T.K. closed his eyes and laughed lightly, a defeated tone in his tired voice. "You know what? Go for it."
Davis inhaled deeply, clenching his teeth. "Don't tempt me." He pushed himself up and walked over to them.
T.K. started to push himself up, but Davis knelt down and rested his hand on his left shoulder. "Get your hands off—" T.K. winced as Davis pushed him down.
"Take it easy." Davis glared down at T.K. "You don't want to you to open your wound again."
Ken hesitated before asking. "When you were unconscious, you said 'I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me.' What exactly did you mean?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He murmured, resting his left arm over his eyes.
Davis expression darkened. "Liar."
Ken shook his head. "T.K., what makes you think we're going to get hurt?"
T.K. looked over at Ken, the words threatening to pour out, to tell them everything. But he closed his eyes. "Just…let me go."
Davis looked up at Ken. "He can't stop us both, not in this condition. Let's get him home."
Ken stared at T.K. "You're right. But…"
T.K. moaned. "You don't understand…"
"Then explain!" Ken shouted. "Make me understand."
"I can't…" T.K. groaned out of frustration.
Ken clenched his fists tightly and then took a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm not leaving you here. Whatever you've gotten yourself into, it's obvious you're in danger."
T.K. tried to avoid it, but they just wouldn't listen. "I only got hurt last night because everyone chased after me." Ken and Davis looked at him with surprise.
Davis frowned, clearly confused. "How did we cause this?"
T.K. held his breath and shoved Davis' hand off his shoulder. Even so the pain made him moan. He sat up before Davis could stop him again. "It doesn't matter. Just leave me alone." He slid his sleeve back on his injured arm and zipped his hoodie back up.
Ken looked at T.K. with disbelief. "I'm your friend, how can you expect me to accept that, without a reasonable explanation?"
"You made it pretty clear that we aren't friends anymore." T.K. fought hard to keep his stern expression as Ken's changed from frustrated to regretful. "Or was that whole conversation about you being done with me, supposed to be interpreted differently?"
Ken opened his mouth to argue, tripping over his own words. "It wasn't, I mean. T.K. that isn't at all how I meant it, it was just that…and I was frustrated and you just—"
"I don't need you're excuses. Just go." He looked at Davis. "Both of you. Just go home. Go back and just keep living your lives the same as you have, it's not like it makes a difference to any of you, where I'm at."
T.K. stood and Davis followed, his fist coming up faster than T.K. could react, punching him in the jaw. T.K. staggered backwards, surprised he'd had enough strength to keep from falling down.
"Davis!" Ken yelled, not being able to react fast enough to stop him.
Davis grabbed T.K. by his collar and shoved him against a tree, making him fight back a scream. "Where do you get off saying that crap? You're the one choosing to exclude yourself from everything to do with us!" Davis retorted angrily.
T.K. reached up and wiped the blood from his lips, his voice shaking. "I know you're slow, Davis, but what does that say about the situation?"
Davis frowned. "You…" he clenched his teeth, fighting the urge to punch him again.
"I chose to stop hanging out with all of you. It was obvious that it didn't matter that I came back in the first place." T.K. took in a sharp breath. "And, let's be honest, you didn't want to find me last night, did you?"
Davis opened his mouth, hesitating. If Ken found out, the others were bound to, as well. If Kari knew he let T.K. slip past them that night.
Ken suddenly pulled Davis back, his grip on T.K.'s shirt slipping easily. "Davis, that's enough. That's not going to help anyone!"
T.K. reached up and put his shaking hand up to his shoulder and clench his aching jaw, fighting back the pain. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"I get it." Ken shook his head. "This your pathetic last ditch effort to push us away."
T.K. looked at Ken, his voice calm. "Is that what you really think? Deep down, is that what your guts telling you?"
Ken had seen that same look on T.K.'s face before, it was the same composed, yet smug expression he gave him when they were fighting inside his emperor base. Ken shook his head "I know you, and T.K., I can't imagine what is happening right now, to make you this desperate to push us away. But I'm not going to give up on you."
"You don't know me at all." T.K. gave Ken an incredulous look. "And you already gave up on me, so don't go acting like you actually give a damn now."
Patamon, who had remained silent to the side, finally spoke up. "Are you feeling well enough to leave, T.K.?"
Ken looked T.K. in the eyes. "I'm not letting you just leave like this. You're in no condition to be in the digital world, and I mean that physically and mentally."
"He's right. We're not letting you go." Davis clenched his fists. "I made a promise to Kari, and I'm not about to break that."
The mention of Kari made T.K. catch his breath. His muscles in his fingers twitched from the tension that ran through his body. T.K. looked down at Patamon apologetically before looking back up at Davis and Ken. "If you force my hand, I won't hold back." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his digivice.
Davis and Ken both hesitated at the threat of a fight.
"You can't be serious." Davis glared at T.K. "Are you really willing to go that far?"
Veemon looked sadly at Patamon. "I know he's your partner, but you can't possibly go along with this, can you?"
Patamon sat between them and his partner. "I know T.K. won't say it, so I will—Thank you for helping us today. But, I will not hesitate to protect T.K., even if it's from my friends."
Wormmon and Veemon stepped between Patamon and their partners, ready to react when given the word.
"We've wasted enough time." T.K. turned and started walking away.
Veemon didn't take his eyes off of Patamon who followed after T.K. closely. "You're really going to let him go?"
Wormmon looked up. "Ken?"
Davis felt paralyzed. "Ken, we have to do something."
Ken shook his head. "Patamon can reach ultimate again, somehow, the only way to stop him from leaving would be to evolve into Paildramon and even then I'm not sure we could stop him. So even if we could physically force T.K. to come with us, I don't know if we'd make it to a gate before MagnaAngemon could come stop us."
"On top of that," Wormmon added. "If T.K. struggled to get away from you guys, he would probably hurt himself even worse."
Davis clenched his fists and cursed loudly. "We really can't do anything?"
Ken's phone rang, startling all of them. He reached into his pocket, seeing Matt's name on the screen. He hesitated, seeing the grimace Davis made when saw. Sighing loudly he clicked answer and put the phone to his ear. "Hello—"
"What are you guys doing there?" Matt yelled. "Why didn't you say something? This was Davis' idea wasn't it?"
Ken lowered the phone from his ear, letting out a deep breath, before clicking speaker phone. "Calm down, Matt."
"No, I'm not going to be calm. I'm being blindsided by everyone right now." Matt's voice grew louder by the second.
They could hear Tai in the background. "No one blindsided you."
Followed by Izzy speaking defensively. "I think 'blindsided' is a bit strong for this particular situation, I was only attempting to—"
Matt interrupted Izzy. "You choosing not to tell anyone that Davis and Ken went to the digital world hours ago feels pretty blind…siding. Gah. Whatever." Matt sigh loudly, his voice calming. "Do you know where he is? Did you find anything? We're on our way."
Ken didn't want to do this over the phone. "No, don't come. We're on our way back right now."
"So you didn't find anything?" Matt pressed.
Ken sighed. "We did. But it's just easier if you wait for us to come back."
Again they heard Izzy in the background. "I'll open a digital gate from my apartment."
"What did you find?" Matt completely ignoring Ken saying he'd tell them when they got back.
Kari was suddenly talking, Matt in the background yelling for his phone back. "Ken? Davis?" her voice shaking. "Where is he?"
Davis' eyes filled with anger and guilt. "He's…" a lump forming in his throat stopped him from finishing his sentence.
Ken looked at Davis sympathetically. "T.K.'s alright, Kari. We'll tell you everything when we get back."
It was evident that Kari was trying not to cry. "Mm. See you soon."