"Embrace the darkness after all without it there can be no light"

Once more she stood on the lifeless shore of the dark beach as the ocean dimly glimmered. The air around the ocean felt suffocating, when the waves met the shore with their aggression the water managed to reach her, it burned her with its touch. It felt strangely acidic.

"Come embrace us" the voice rang in again, repeating the same sentence over and over again, each one louder than the last and each one more demanding of the matter as time flew by.

"I- I don't want to go with you...stay away" She began to tremble as she stood on the shore, her fear was making her shake and she couldn't stop. She closed her eyes and called the names of those she knew she could rely on, but nobody came.

"HEY! KARI WAKE UP!"

The ocean soon began to fade away. Melting away as if it didn't exist, as if she hadn't been there. She arose with a startle to see that her older brother, Tai was there looking at her with concern.

"Everything…Okay?"Tai looked at his sister with worry. She had been shaking in her sleep and calling for people, begging to be saved, but it looked like nobody came. Now that he thought about it, yesterday it looked like she had a bad dream too. Maybe that's why she was acting so strange.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine" Kari nodded and looked at her brother, but she did not dare look him in the eye. If she did he'd know, and she didn't want him worrying.

"You sure? You kept going, Gatomon, T.K., help me please. I think at one point you even called for the Navy." Tai stifled a laugh, he didn't find her suffering funny, but he couldn't help ,but wonder why in the world she wanted the Navy to come. The other two he wasn't surprised at, more than anyone else he trusted them to look after her.

Kari looked down, embarrassed at her words in her dreams. She understood why she called for Gatomon and T.K. , after all they were the reason she got out the first time, but really the Navy?

"Don't worry since you wouldn't stop calling for T.K., I took the liberty of telling him for you that you need to talk to him" Tai tossed Kari's phone at her with a smirk and walked out. If he couldn't pester his sister enough then T.K. surely would. That guy was basically an expert at it.

"Hey, Tai!" Kari called out for her brother who proudly sat at the table with his orange dinosaur eating a meal. Kari sighed and she began to get ready for the day. When she finished preparing herself she walked into the kitchen to see Tai and Agumon looking pleased at themselves as they filled themselves with toast. It must have been a big breakfast to have lasted more than ten minutes with Agumon at the table. She patted Agumon on the head and smiled.

Without warning they heard a knock at the door. "Hey I think that's for you" Tai grinned, exceedingly proud of himself. Kari rolled her eyes, she really didn't want to bother T.K. with this. She opened the door to see T.K. attempting to catch his breath, it was almost as if he had run all the way there. Knowing him, this was probably true. As soon as he saw that she answered the door he quickly stood up and regained his composure.

"Hi Kari '' the little hamster with wings said as he smiled and flew inside. She smiled at Patamon as he sat down next to Agumon and Gatomon on the table. Gatomon offered Patamon a toast ,but it appeared Agumon had yet to notice the small Digimon was there.

"Kari, I'm here, what's wrong?" T.K. looks at her, still out of breath yet making an effort to pretend he wasn't completely exhausted. As soon as he had received the message he came as quickly as he could. Cody had asked him where he was going and he wasn't even sure if he made any sense with his explanation.

"Nothing, I'm sorry to bother you." Kari let out a small smile and shook her head at him. She felt bad looking at him, he had worn himself out and it was her own fault…well and Tai's too, but still, he shouldn't have had to do something like that.

"Don't say that! You know it's never a bother! I'm always here for you…" T.K. looked at her sadly as he strung off, almost as if he wanted to say more ,but he restrained himself. Tai sighed, it felt like a cliche every time. He was starting to get tired of watching them both dance around their words when what they wanted to say seemed so obvious to everyone.

"She's lying, don't let her off the hook." Tai said as he grabbed another piece of toast. Was that toast infinite? Gatomon looked at the toaster, the poor thing must be working overtime.

Agumon suddenly perked up "Hook? Is there fish?" They all couldn't help ,but smile at the goofy dinosaur who was always hungry.

"No silly" Tai lightly tapped his head. Agumon placed his hand on his chin as if to think and realized what was missing.

"Oh Hi T.K., Hi Patamon, I didn't see you there." Agumon said with a wave as he munched on a piece of bacon.

T.K. chuckled and waved at the dinosaur with a smile. He then looked up at Tai. "Don't worry Tai, I didn't intend on it."

Kari sighed she knew there was no escaping it; she walked out and closed the door behind her. "Hey! Why'd you-" the door closed before Tai could finish, her brother was being way too nosy today.

"You don't need to hide it, You can rely on me."T.K. gently grabbed her hand and gave her a sincere look. Her demeanor was finally broken, a bashful smile painted her face and she nodded. "I know…I'm sorry."

He smiled weakly at her admittance, in part relieved that she had taken him for his word. He looked at her, noticing her eyes fixated on a tree below them.

"Let's go talk at the usual spot" He tells her and she nods as they both walk to a tree. A tree that's normal lively colors was beginning to fade away as the seasons changed. Its leaves were falling ,but there was something beautiful about how something so frail would bloom once more when spring came around.

For some reason they had always spoken underneath it. There was something oddly comforting about a tree that changed so much as the years passed ,but was still the same. They both looked at it for a few seconds before beginning their conversation.

"Hey, what's wrong? You've been acting strange since yesterday…kinda like you're afraid. I'm really worried about you" T.K. looked at her. There was worry tracing each corner of his eyes.

Kari stayed silent, she knew he would only continue to worry if she didn't say anything. "If I'm being honest here, it was actually Tai that messaged you, he heard me talking in my sleep and well I've been having dreams ...about that place"

T.K. looked at her with great concern, immediately understanding what she meant. They hadn't seen or heard anything about that place in ages, but it didn't change the fact it was a horrible place and he never wanted her to wander there again.

"You don't need to worry about that place, I'll always be here for you. No matter what. If you sense anything out of the ordinary you tell me and we'll beat the darkness together." Kari stared at him for a second, losing herself in his words. It was hard to believe what Tai had told her how he was before they met. Always crying and even running away from the darkness. Now he wanted to be strong and fight the darkness. The one time she remembered him crying was when Patamon disappeared. That was the most broken he had ever looked. She felt herself wondering why and when this change occurred. There was something so admirable about the person standing in front of her.

"S-sorry" T.K. had wondered if his words had perhaps come off as too strong. He put his hand behind his neck embarrassed, he knew he came off as too strong sometimes, but he couldn't help it, especially when it came to her.

"What?! NO. I'm sorry. I really appreciate it. Thank you." Kari looks at him with a smile.

T.K. looks at her and smiles back, noticing that her cheeks had flushed ,but he shook it off, thinking it must have been his imagination. A song from his brother's band filled the air as T.K. looked at his phone.

"Ooo someone's calling you." Kari gave him a playful smirk ,but T.K. laughed it off as he was about to answer, he noticed the time. Davis was the one calling him. Oh no. Davis was calling.

"Oh no! We're late!" Kari said, suddenly remembered the plans they had made. They both made a run for it till they had to go back when they realized that they had forgotten their digimon.

~~~

Cody woke up and looked at his partner who was still asleep. He looked at the time, he had overslept by a few minutes. He remained laying down, still looking at the walls. They looked a little less bleak than they did the previous night, but something still felt off about them.

"Good morning!" His partner yawned and looked up at him with a big smile.

"Good morning." Cody said as he patted him and stood up from his bed. He couldn't deny the fact he had woken up, his heart still feeling empty, but he didn't want to think about it. After all, they had all agreed to go to a festival today.

"How are you feeling today?" Upamon asks almost as if he had caught on to him.

"Better" Cody said with a small smile, it wasn't a fake one, but it wasn't an assertive one. He did feel a bit better, but a part of him had woken up with a painful, emptiness.

"Great then let's get ready" Upamon cuddled up to him with a smile, if Cody felt a little sad still, then he would have to make him feel better. After all that was his destiny as his partner.

~~

Yolei woke up the next morning feeling exhausted. Updating the storage had ended up being more work then she originally thought and she had gone to bed extremely late because of it.

"Yolei you need to wake up" her partner digimon jumped viciously on her. Her alarm had gone off a few times and it was driving him mad.

"Five more minutes pleaseee." Yolei groaned as she placed a pillow over her face. She then heard a faint knock on the door and groaned even more. She stood up and about as quickly as she could, got ready and answered the door.

"Are you ready?" Cody asked politely as she opened the door. He had been waiting there for a while. He had seen many neighbors leave their homes and even seen T.K. who quickly tried to explain where he was going to him. He hadn't understood much of what T.K. had said other than a quick apology, but seeing him rush like that only led him to one conclusion.

"I am now," Yolei grabbed her bag and locked the door behind her. They had all agreed to go to the festival the previous day. Yolei searched the area and noticed one of her friends was missing. He couldn't still be getting ready after all she had just woken up a few minutes ago. How she managed to get ready so quickly, even surprised herself.

"Where's T.K.?"Yolei looked at Cody confused. Usually when they all met up they would all leave together ,but today he was nowhere in sight.

"He went to see Kari, I think something was wrong."Cody said, still a bit puzzled himself, "He seemed to be in a rush. He didn't really say much and I could barely understand him"

"Hmm...do you think they're still coming?"Yolei looked at Cody with suspicion. For some reason there was a part of her that felt they were going to ditch them and she wasn't sure why.

"They'll be there,"Cody affirmed. Yolei sighed, it had been a while since she had done anything with Kari so she had intended on stealing her away. Hopefully her suspicion was wrong, it had to be. They wouldn't do that…

"Are you coming?" Upamon impatiently looked at Yolei who nodded. The four of them departed and soon arrived at the festival. They both waited at the festival entrance for the rest of the gang.

~~~

"He didn't answer the phone." Davis, looking annoyed, groaned.

"Davis, he didn't answer your twelve other calls, I don't think he will answer," Ken said, trying to find the most gentle way possible to tell Davis he should probably stop calling.

"They're always last,"Davis sighed as he looked at his watch. He had already been waiting for half an hour and was getting impatient.

"Does that bother you, Davis?"Yolei grinned as she teased him, however Davis at that moment did not care what they were doing. They could have gone on a boat and left the country and he didn't care. He just wanted them to arrive already even if it meant crashing the boat into the festival. He sighed and only continued to wait more impatiently.

"Sorry we're late"T.K. and Kari were panting as they both arrived with digimon tightly in hand.

"Sorry?! I called you thirteen times!" Davis says in a very accusing tone.

"Oh uh I didn't notice…" T.K. says and Davis looks at him upset.

"You're lying! How could you not! I've heard that damn ringtone of yours, it's the same song my sister has as hers!" Davis groans, he liked Matt's music too ,but man was his sister way too obsessed.

"Well I didn't notice the first seven calls…the other five I didn't answer because we were already on our way here" T.K. says, seeming to have not noticed the comment on his ringtone.

"Whatever Man." Davis scoffs.

What took you guys so long?"Davis looked at his two friends in defeat.

"We forgot the Digimon" The two of them said in unison.

"How do you forget them?!" Davis looked at the two of them stunned. "DemiVeemon would not shut up about today!"

"HEY!" Demiveemon snarked back at his partner who was just as excited as him to be there. Yolei, whose patience finally snapped,began to run inside the festival "Festival Gate Open!" Yolei smiled as she went inside the park and everyone followed.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Davis and DemiVeemon both shouted in unison as they ran past the gate.

~~~~~~