Ch. 4
Investigation
Five days went by slowly. They Digidestineds put their plan in motion as they wait in front of the apartment building. Before they get in Mrs. Kamiya's car, Joe inspects the bruise on Tai's arm. "Okay. Seems like it's healing nicely. I brought a crutch with me. Wanna try it out, Tai?"
"Yeah," Tai nods, standing up from his chair as Joe gives him the crutch. Slowly, he limps towards his mother's car. "Still hurts a tiny bit, but not as bad as the first time."
"That's good. Though we should still keep the wheelchair close by," Joe informs him.
"Alright, Joe," Tai nods as everyone gets in. On the way there, Izzy couldn't help but notice something about Tai. "You know. It takes real courage and faith to leave things to Kari and the rest of us. Also, to not go back to the Digital World until we say so," he points out.
"Hm?" Tai wonders, gazing at his friends in the back seat.
"I agree," Matt nods with a smile. "I know I wouldn't be able to sit back and leave things up to everyone else if things were reversed. Don't get me wrong, I trust and believe in everyone…"
"I understand what you mean, Matt," Izzy tells him with a smile. "The Crest of Courage is Tai's and he deserves it."
"Just like you deserve the Crest of Knowledge, Izzy," Tai pipes in.
"Plus, Matt's Crest of Friendship," Joe adds.
"And your Crest of Reliability," Matt smiles. "Also, Sora's Crest of Love."
"Hm? I wonder," Tai says, placing a finger on his chin.
"I've seen that look before," Agumon says.
"The crests… hm," Tai says in a thinking tone. "Whoever that voice belongs to always refers to me as 'Courage'."
After another thirty minutes, Mrs. Kamiya parks just outside the gates of the Moonlight Daycare. A small building with a playground in front. Slides, swings, monkey bars connected to a jungle gym, and a sandbox. Grass overgrown in a few areas with vines on the building as well. The doors falling off the hinges, creaking each time the wind blows by.
"This place is creepy," Cody shivers as they get out.
"Tai," Mrs. Kamiya calls worriedly.
"Yeah, mom?" Tai asks, facing her.
"Please be careful," she tells him as a tear falls from her eye.
"We won't let anything bad happen to Tai," Agumon tells her. "You can count on us."
"Thank you, Agumon," Mrs. Kamiya smiles. "I'll wait right here for you kids."
"Right. Thanks mom," Tai smiles with a nod as they head through the worn out gate.
"Okay, let's look around the playground first," Sora suggests.
"Right. Groups of four since there's eight of us," Izzy adds.
"Alright," everyone agrees. Sora, Cody, Hiroki and Joe head over to the jungle gym. While Tai, Matt, Izzy and Sho make their way to the sandbox. Agumon staying close with Tapirmon.
So, you came where I first marked you. Courage, you have guts
"Huh?" Tai glances around only to see nothing.
Why not wait until you're fully healed? Can't be easy being dead weight
"Tsk. Shut up, already!" Tai outbursts, causing his friends to stare at him with questionable expressions.
Why all those other brats still hang around you, I have no clue. Didn't you nearly kill Light once? No, twice wasn't it?
"Gr," Tai growls, covering his ears tightly with his hands. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
But what fun would it be to not torment you, Courage? While I wait a couple weeks at most, I can still have some fun
Crap! It's no use! I can still hear him! Tai shouts in his head.
"Must be that voice again," Izzy verifies before noticing Tai's stitched up wound. "Huh?!" Gazing down at the sandbox to see an area close to it slightly glowing the same color red. "This can't be good."
"Tai! Come on, Tai!" Matt calls, placing his hands on his friend's shoulders.
You'll only lead Friendship and the others to destruction if you stay with them any longer
"Says you!" Tai shouts before noticing something close to the building. Heading inside as he slowly removes his hands from his ears. "What in the?"
"Tai, talk to me," Matt slightly begs. His eyes showing worry for his friend.
"Matt?" Tai wonders, blinking slightly.
"You okay, Tai?" Matt asks, clearly worried along with the others.
"Uh, I… think so," Tai slowly replies, gazing at the doors to the daycare again. What the heck was that?
"Something's definitely not right about this place," Sora says coming over to them.
"That's for sure, Sora," Izzy agrees with a nod.
"Um. Do you guys see that over there? By the door?" Tai asks as sweat drips from his temple.
"Huh?" the others wonder, gazing over at the door only to see nothing.
"I don't see anything, Tai," Cody tells him with a shrug.
"Neither do I," Hiroki replies. The others saying the same thing.
"Just because we can't see anything there, doesn't mean Tai's seeing things. I believe something's there," Matt says, slightly glaring at the doorway.
"What do you see, Tai?" Sho asks.
"From here… it looks like a cross between a wolf and a vine forest," Tai explains. "Just a bit transparent."
Like my pet?
"Hm? Pet?" Tai wonders, looking around again. He starts shaking as his breath suddenly gets heavy.
Come to me, Courage. There's no other way to stop my torment
"Time to go guys. We'll come back a different day," Matt tells everyone, gently grabbing Tai's arm.
"No argument here. Let's go," Hiroki nods, carefully taking Tai's other arm. Both pulling Tai back to the car.
"Mrs. Kamiya, let's hurry home," Izzy tells her as he gets in the front seat. The others getting in the back. Not wasting time with questions, Mrs. Kamiya starts the car and drives off. Away from the abandoned daycare.
"Tai?" Matt wonders as Tai suddenly drops his head on his shoulder with his eyes closed. "Tai?" Placing a hand on the brunette's forehead, no fever. That's good, but then… maybe it was what he saw and heard. Wait. Matt takes the recorder off Tai's belt before plugging in his earbuds. Sticking them in his ears as he hits play.
After a while, he takes his ear buds out with a growl. "Definitely Myotismon, Apocolamon and Diaboromon's voices," he growls.
"The wire-tap worked?" Cody asks.
"Yeah and that jerk is going to get it once we find out where he's hiding," Matt growls through his teeth, Handing the recorder to Izzy to listen to.
"This isn't good at all," Izzy says, taking the ear buds out of his ears. "If anything we've got to figure why this guy wants him so much. Before something happens."
"Yeah. Though that's easier said than done right now," Sora points out.
Once back to the apartment building, Matt carries his friend to his apartment. Going in and into his room to find the others had returned.
"Tai!" Kari gasps the moment she saw him.
"Relax Kari. Tai's alright, just sleeping right now," Matt assures her as he places him on the bottom bunk. "The wire-tap worked, but what he heard really ticks me off."
"I want to hear," Kari says with determination in her eyes.
"It's not pleasant," Sora informs her.
"Pleasant or not, I still want to hear it," Kari tells her.
"Hm… alright," Sora nods, giving her the recorder. Everyone listens to it and can't believe what they heard.
"A cross between a wolf and a vine forest… I wonder what that actually looks like," Sho says, crossing his arms.
"I'm wondering that too," Izzy says, getting on his laptop.
"We still didn't find anything in that forest," Davis complains.
"Getting upset about it won't help," Ken tells him. "Sooner or later we'll find something."
"You're right, Ken. But I can't help it. I'm frustrated at this unknown jerk targeting Tai," Davis tells him in frustration.
"We are all frustrated about that, Davis," Joe informs him. "Even though Tai's not exactly showing it, I bet he's scared."
"I know I am, Joe," Matt admits.
Three weeks later, Tai's leg is finally all healed but the gash is still on his arm. Showing no signs of healing at all.
At lunch; Izzy, Matt, Sora and Tai eat around the table. "I would still like to know what it actually looked like," Izzy says eating some rice.
"Hm? Oh, just a second, Izzy," Ta says, placing his rice bowl down before getting in his bag.
"Hm?" his friends wonder as he takes a sketch book out of his bag. Flipping through the pages to a certain page.
"Here," Tai says, turning it around to show the others. "Go ahead and laugh guys. I haven't improved much on drawing anything, right?"
"Are you kidding, Tai? That's better than that lousy map you drew in the Digital World," Matt tells him with wide eyes to see the well-drawn out picture on the page.
"Yeah, I agree with Matt. That's amazing," Izzy awes before noticing the picture beside the wolf-vine creature. "What's that, Tai?"
"Hm?" Tai looks at the picture before saying, "I saw this guy before Matt and Hiroki dragged me back to the car. I don't know, it was transparent too, but this look really creeped me out."
"Yeah, it gives me the creeps just looking at it on paper," Matt says in an uneasy tone.
"Hm. I wonder if my Digi Analyzer can recognize Digimon from a drawing," Izzy wonders out loud.
"Here, Izzy. You can test that out," Tai says, giving him the sketch book.
"Thanks Tai. Hm? I've seen that look before," Izzy says, taking the book while staring at the stubborn look on Tai's face.
"After school, I'm heading back to that daycare with Agumon. But going with just him isn't a good idea," Tai tells them.
"Dang right it's not," Matt tells him sternly. "I'm coming with you. T.K brought Gabumon back with him three days ago."
"Me too," Izzy nods. "Tentomon came back with Cody. Along with Gomamon, so Joe's coming with us."
"I want to check out that forest. So, I'm off to the Digital World after school," Sora tells them. "With Davis and Ken."
"Yuki wants to check out that daycare too. So, he'll be joining us," Tai explains.
"Alright," his friends nod.
"Even though my leg is fully healed now, my coach still wants me to take a week longer to rest," Tai suddenly complains, taking his rice bowl.
"I've noticed you've been jogging to school lately, Tai," Matt says.
"How else am I going to get my stamina back up?" Tai asks, taking a drink of water.
Enough waiting! Come to me now, Courage! Leave those brats behind and come to me!
Tai's eyes suddenly grew wide as he spits his water out, coughing hard. Once he stops coughing, he groans, "that… guy."
"You okay, Tai?" Izzy asks, taking a napkin to his now wet face.
"I… oh. Sorry about that Izzy," Tai apologizes, once he looks over at him all wet from his sudden spit of water.
"No worries, Tai," Izzy tells him with a smile.
"Some people might think I've gone crazy if I suddenly outburst at nothing," Tai says, placing a hand on his head. "He's fed up with waiting." He hands the recorder to Matt who plugs in his ear buds.
"Tsk. So, this jerk is trying to make you ditch us?" Matt asks, letting the others listen to it next.
"Yeah. How he knows about me making Kari's cold worse that time as kids… I don't know," Tai growls. "And as much as I don't want to put my best friends in danger… I can't fight this alone. Would've gone insane weeks ago if I was alone."
"That's a good point," Izzy nods.
"Been attempting to convince me I'll only get all of you killed if I don't leave you guys behind and go to him," Tai explains. "This is the first time he's 'bugged' me during school."
They will die soon if you don't come to my forest alone, Courage
Tai does what he can to ignore the voice for the rest of the school day. He jogs off around the school building a few times before spotting his friends coming out.
"Tai," Sora calls, seeing him coming around the building.
"That guy is driving me crazy. He won't shut up," Tai huffs, jogging in place beside his friends.
"Let's get our Digimon and go. Joe's going to meet us there. I have a feeling we'll find something in that daycare this time," Izzy says, his eyes serious.
"Right," they all agree. Heading home to get their friend. Riding their bikes to the daycare as they first wait outside the gate.
"See anything, Tai?" Izzy asks, staring at the unhinged door.
"That wolf-vine thing by the door and that other thing staring at us from the third window," Tai tells them slightly shaking.
Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.
"Uh," Tai suddenly feels a dark shadow cloud his mind as he starts walking towards the daycare entrance.
"Tai!" Agumon shouts, running to his side.
"Something's not right," Joe says in a warning tone as Matt plugs his ear buds in the recorder.
Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.
"Gr. Must be some kind of hypnosis," Matt tells the others as they all enter the building. "Repeating, 'come to me'… Tai snap out of it!" He shakes his friend a bit roughly, yet it didn't seem to be working. "Don't make me punch you, Tai! Snap out of it!"
Tai blinks his eyes a few times before asking, "What happened? When did we get inside?"
"You don't remember?" Yuki asks.
"I remember standing at the gate, then… nothing," Tai replies, placing a hand on his head.
"Definitely hypnosis. This guy is trying everything now to get you, Tai," Izzy verifies.
"No kidding," Tentomon agrees. "Let's get searching and get out of here. I don't like this place."
"Right," Tai nods as they search the rooms cautiously. They go into the fourth room only to be greeted by a flash of light. Shielding their eyes as the light vanishes moments later. Looking around for something that might help them, after shrugging it off.
"Huh?" Tai wonders, looking at the worn out names on the little cubbies on the far wall. Towards the middle he found his name. "No way. This was my room before it shut down."
"No joke," Joe says, coming over to see Tai's name on the cubby.
"Hm… there's something in there," Tai says, taking the cubby out only to be greeted by a bunch of vines. "No way!" The vines smack Joe, Gomamon, and Agumon away before clutching around Tai's limbs.
"Tai!" his friends shout, rushing to him only to be blocked by the vines.
"Blue blaster!" Gabumon calls his attack. Hitting the vines yet none back off.
See? You're going to get them killed if you don't surrender to me
"Ah! Why you," Tai growls as a sudden orange light comes on his chest, back and shoulders. "Get off me!"
"Whoa," Joe awes seeing the light from Tai eliminating the vines.
"Gr. You won't ever convince me to doubt myself or my friends! You're not the answer even if you somehow did convince me!" Tai shouts.
Oh, come now…
"Shut it! There's no 'come now'!" Tai cuts the voice off.
"Izzy… do you know what's happening to Tai?" Yuki and Matt ask at the same time.
"Not a clue," Izzy replies with his eyes wide. Soon, all the vines disappear as the orange light on Tai slowly disappears too.
"Tai?" Agumon asks, getting to his partner's side. "Tai, you okay?"
"Tai?" Matt wonders, also getting to his friend's side. Tai doesn't answer as he falls over, into Matt who catches him with a gasp. "Tai!"
Tsk. Courage somehow tapped into that power I want. The power of Courage is all I want to fuel my plans. You'll come back to my base again real soon. Courage. When that happens, you're mine
Matt carries Tai outside as the others join him. All trying to get Tai to wake up only to fail. They decide it best to get as far away from this building as possible. Rushing as far as they can, pushing their bikes along. Not stopping for any reason until they make it home.
"I am not liking this situation at all," Matt says in a warning tone as he lays his friend in his bed.
"Will Tai wake up?" Agumon asks in concern.
"In time he will," Joe replies, examining his friend.
"No matter what, our guard can't be lowered," Yuki tells them.
"Right," everyone nods in agreement.
...
Sorry for the super long wait for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it though