Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Undersea Master ❯ Beginnings ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Jenna D. 
After an otherwise great day at school, something happens to Kari that's going to mess everything up...
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 314 | Status: Completed
After an otherwise great day at school, something happens to Kari that's going to mess everything up...
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.4K | Visits: 314 | Status: Completed
Undersea Master
It was a beautiful day in Odaiba. The sun shining, birds chirping -- yes the author knows this is cheesy -- and the kids were happy to be let out of school.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" asked T.K.
"Huh?" Yeah, I'm just-" -Kari yawned- "-tired."
"You seemed more than tired in class," T.K. said, lowering his voice. "You were fading out again. Where were you going this time?"
"The beach again. I'm scared it's going to happen and nobody's going to be there with me," Kari admitted. "At night sometimes I begin to fade, then Gatomon wakes up Tai and he comes to wake me up. I can't tell my parents. They'd freak out."
"Hmmm..." T.K. paused. "Is it okay if I walk you home? Just in case, you know, something happens to you on the way."
"Yeah, that would be good," Kari said.
Kari and T.K. walked slowly back to Kari's apartment building, soon joined by Gatomon and Patamon. They talked about school, Kari taking a few pictures every now and then, but abruptly, she stopped.
"Kari, are you okay?" T.K. asked concernedly.
Kari closed her eyes. "I feel sick..." she moaned, before suddenly going limp and falling. T.K. caught her.
"Aw, man, now what..." T.K. muttered. "Patamon, fly up to her apartment and see if Tai's home."
"Right!" Patamon said. He flew up to the Kamiya's balcony. Tai was home, luckily, and Patamon knocked on the window until Tai opened it.
"Patamon, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Kari fainted! Call an ambulance or something!" Patamon announced. "T.K.'s with her."
"I'll be right down!" Tai said. Patamon flew back down as fast as his wings could carry him.
"He's calling an ambulance and he'll be right down!" Patamon relayed the information to T.K.
"Thank you Patamon!" T.K. commended. He'd laid Kari down on the ground, and continued in his attempts to wake her up. "Kari, wake up! Please, Kari!" he pleaded.
Tai soon arrived outside. "The ambulance is coming," he said, coming to his sister's side. "Thanks for being here T.K."
"She wasn't feeling well at school," T.K. told Tai, "so I thought I'd stay with her in case something happened. And, well, something did."
"It's a good thing you did!" Gatomon exclaimed. "Hey, there's Davis and Demiveemon."
"Hey, what's going on?" Demiveemon asked in his little voice.
"Kari fainted..." T.K. trailed off before muttering, "Oooh, where is that ambulance?!"
"What did you do T.S.?" Davis asked.
"I didn't do anything! We were walking home and she started to feel sick," T.K. answered through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowed in aggravation. "In case you didn't notice, she wasn't feeling to well in class either." Most of the last line was cut off by the wail of sirens in the air.
"Thank goodness, the ambulance!" Patamon exclaimed.
"We'd better hide," Gatomon said. "Uh-oh Tai, your mom is coming." Gatomon, Patamon and Demiveemon hid quickly.
Mrs. Kamiya was frantic. "Kari? Tai, what happened to Kari?"
"She fainted," Tai explained. "I called an ambulance."
"Were you with her?" Mrs. Kamiya asked, starting to freak out.
"No, I was," T.K. said quietly.
Practically attacking T.K., Mrs. Kamiya inquired, "What happened? Why were you with her? Did she say anything?"
"I was walking Kari home because she wasn't feeling well and when we got here, she fainted," T.K. said quickly, half wanting the ground to open up and swallow him so he'd be away from the interrogation.
The paramedics had been busily attending to Kari. One of them approached the boys and Kari's mom. "I think she'll be fine. I can't seem to find anything that would cause this. Does she faint often?"
"No, not recently... Oh, Tai, do you think she could be getting sick again?" Mrs. Kamiya asked.
"I would find it odd to happen so suddenly," Tai answered, unsure of what he was thinking.
"Even so, we'll take her to the hospital. Maybe we can find something there," the paramedic said. "You can come."
"Actually, I think I'll stay, for when Dad gets home," Tai said. "You go Mom."
Mrs. Kamiya climbed into the ambulance after they loaded Kari in and they sped off. The Digimon emerged from their hiding place.
'I hope she's okay,' T.K. thought. "Hey Tai."
"Yeah?"
"What if she starts fading whille they're on their way to the hospital?"
"I didn't think of that," Tai whispered.
"Neither did I, until now," said T.K.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens," Davis said, breaking his silence.
"Yeah... well, I'll see you guys later," Tai said. He went back to the building, and he and Gatomon went upstairs.
"See ya," T.K. replied, grabbing his backpack as he started to leave.
"What do you think you were doing T.V.?" Davis called after him.
T.K. turned around. "What? What was I doing? I was trying to help!" he said.
"Why did you let her faint?" Davis asked.
"There wasn't really much I could do Davis!" T.K. shouted. "What would you have done?"
"I- uh..." stammered the brown-haired boy.
"Exactly! At least I was here, with her," T.K. said.
"I still think it's your fault T.F." Davis' stubbornness was in full view.
Now T.K. was mad. "Would you please call me by my real name? Sometimes you make me so mad Davis, I just want to..." He clenched his fist tightly.
"Punch me?" Davis taunted.
T.K. punched Davis soundly. "Yes!"
Davis came back and swung at T.K. "Why would that be?"
Ducking Davis' punch and tripping him, T.K. said, "Because I'm sick of you hating me!"
Davis fell and landed face first on the ground. "I don't hate you!" He tried to hit T.K. again.
The blonde pinned Davis to the ground and pulled his arm behind his back. "I think you do! You're always blaming me for everything that happens to Kari and never calling me by my real name."
"Lemme go!" Davis protested. T.K. let go and got up. Davis also stood up and turned around, trying to punch T.K. again. "I don't hate you! It's only that you're so close with Kari!"
Suddenly T.K. had Davis pinned again. "Kari?" he said quizzically.
"Get off me!" Davis and T.K. got up and stared at each other with angry eyes. "You two are such good friends, it's like I'm nothing," Davis said.
Tai came out of the apartment building, having seen what had gone on. "What are you guys fighting about?" he asked.
"Nothing," said Davis quickly, but something distracted him. "Aww, man, not her..."
Of all people, Jun showed up. "Hey guys!" she sang out, pulling up alongside the curb in a car with her friends. "What's up?"
The typical embarassed tone took over Tai's voice. "Er, not much Jun, how 'bout you?"
"Same as usual!" she said. "Davis, you're supposed to be home!"
"Yeah, well, I felt like walking," Davis muttered, thinking 'That was a lame excuse.'
Jun turned and asked her friends something. "You can come with us. Come on, get in," she said. Meanwhile, T.K. bolted. "Where's he going in such a hurry?"
"I dunno," Davis sighed, climbing into the car.
"Were you fighting? You've got a black eye," Jun pointed out.
"Huh? It was an accident, it doesn't hurt," Davis lied.
Jun shrugged, gave her usual eternally-perky smile and said, "Okay. Bye Tai!"
"Uh, bye Jun!" Tai said weakly, thankful that they were driving away. Tai went back inside.
~*~**~*~
T.K. got home and came in very dejectedly, dropping his backpack on the floor.
"How was your day honey?" his mom asked.
"Fine."
"Were you fighting T.K.?" she asked sternly.
"No."
"Then what are the bruises on your face from?"
"Fighting." He went to his room and shut the door, then stared out the window. His reflection in the glass showed him a scratch across his left temple, his hat dirty, his face red and bruised. He turned away, threw his hat on his desk and flopped face first on his bed, thinking, 'Why does he hate me? Kari? Just because we're friends? It's not like... oh, nevermind. This is confusing... my arm hurts.'
Ms. Takaishi knocked on the door. "T.K.?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" T.K. shouted.
"If you won't talk with me, will you talk with Tai? He's here," his mom asked.
"Let him in," T.K sighed.
Tai closed the door behind him, grabbed the desk chair and sat backwards on it. "So. You really let Davis have it didn't you?" he asked.
Still not looking up, T.K. replied, "It's about time I did."
"About time?"
"I've been getting more and more angry at him almost every day," T.K. muttered. "Today was the last straw."
"The last straw?" Tai repeated. "What has he been doing?"
"Hating me."
"What makes you think that?"
"Just the way he acts. He's always trying to be better than me at everything, and he never calls me T.K. It's always T.S. or T.I... once it was D.J. Where he got that from I'll never know. And I know he knows my name," explained T.K.
"Well, it's kind of hard to forget two letters," Tai pointed out.
T.K. laughed weakly. "I know. And... this is the big one... every time something bad happens to her, it's my fault. It's 'cause he's jealous of me."
"Her? Who is she?"
"Kari."
"My sister?"
T.K. sat up on his bed. "Davis likes her, and the reason why he's jealous of me is because I'm good friends with Kari and he's not," T.K. continued.
"What do you think of his jealousy?" Tai asked.
"I find it hard to believe anyone could be jealous of me," admitted T.K.
Tai straightened up. "I don't think it's that hard. You've got a lot going for you, T.K.; a lot," he said. "You're great at basketball, you've got a family that loves you, and you're a great student. There's nothing you can't do T.K. I can easily see why Davis would envy you."
"I suppose you're right Tai," T.K. said, "but you can't see why he wouldn't envy me."
"All right, tell me then. Why would Davis not be jealous of you?" Tai asked.
T.K.'s eyes were cast down. "His family is all together. I hate living away from Matt and Dad. It's great that Mom and I moved into Odaiba. Now we're closer, but it's still not the same as actually being together, in one home." He reached under his pillow, pulled out a framed photograph and showed it to Tai. "That's before Mom and Dad split up, when we went on a vacation in the mountains. It was fun. I remember it like it was last week. Matt and I had bunk beds in the cabin. He let me sleep on the top once, even though I was only about four or five... I liked that trip."
Giving the picture back, Tai said, "So I guess you'd want to do something like that again."
"Yeah..." T.K. trailed off. "So I guess that's why I don't think anyone could be jealous of me... and I'm not a great student. I think I'm failing Math."
"You know what to do about that, T.K.," Tai told him.
"Yeah... Do you know how Kari's doing?" T.K. asked.
"No. Dad came home and then went straight to the hospital," Tai answered, "which reminds me, I stopped in here on my way over, so I should be going."
"Can I come with you?"
"I'd love for you to come, but-" -Tai leaned over and spoke quietly- "-I think you should talk to your mom."
T.K. sighed, but consented. "All right. Thanks Tai."
Tai turned and smiled at T.K. before he left. "No problem."
~*~**~*~
At the hospital...
"Hey, is she up yet?" Tai asked, entering Kari's ER room.
"No. It's about time you got here," his mom said, a little irritated.
"Where were you?" Mr. Kamiya asked.
:I had to take care of something," Tai said.
"You know," Mrs. Kamiya said, "the strangest thing happened on the way here Tai."
Tai gulped, suddenly nervous. "What was it?"
Mrs. Kamiya explained, "Kari seemed to be fading away like snow on the television. It was rather odd. The paramedics couldn't figure it out."
"And the doctors still can't figure out why she fainted," Mr. Kamiya added. "They're running a lot of tests." Tai stayed quiet and held Kari's hand.
In Kari's mind... she was at the beach.
"This is too familiar... It can't be the same place as before. No, it is. I just don't want it to be. I remember that cave... there are those eyes again. This is weirder than it was before," she said to herself. "If I look in the sky I can see what's in front of me." She looked up. "Oh, good, Tai's here. I wonder if I can say anything to them."
Tai's voice echoed out. "Kari..."
Kari clamped her hands over her ears. "Woah! That was loud. At least I know I can hear him."
Tai was a bit quieter the next time he spoke. "Try and squeeze my hand Kari."
"Squeeze his hand? How do I do that?" Kari asked herself. She tried visualizing herself squeezing Tai's hand, but nothing. "Okay, that's not working..." So she clenched her fists tightly.
"She did it! Mom, Dad, she squeezed my hand! She can hear me!"
"Well of course I can hear you. All too loudly," Kari said, looking around, and behind her. "Akkk!" she shouted, jumping. "Scubamon again... No..."
"You're back," a Scubamon said. "We were waiting for you Kari."
"No... I still don't want to go anywhere with you!"
"But you must Kari. We have heard of your abilities and want you to help us defeat our undersea master," another Scubamon said.
"What abilites?" Kari asked, her voice shaking. "There's nothing special about me."
"You helped the Numemon get away from their master," the first Scubamon said.
"That was four years ago," Kari told them. "I don't think I can do anything like that again."
"You never know until you try," they said. "Come with us Kari... Come with us..."
"No! I don't want to! You can't make me!" Kari shouted.
All the Scubamon began chanting, "Come with us... come with us... come with us..." They continued chanting, and reached out towards Kari.
"No, leave me alone! Go away! Let me go!!" screamed Kari. "I don't want to go with you! Leave me alone!" She started backing away, pulling her hands away from the outstretched arms of the Scubamon. After discovering she is surrounded, Kari began to call for help. "Tai! T.K.! Help me! T.K.! Somebody! Tai! Please help me!!" Two Scubamon grabbed her and began to pull her towards the ocean. "Leave me alone! Tai! Help me! Someone, please! Yolei! Sora! Matt! I don't want to go, please, leave me alone I want to go home! Izzy! Mimi! Scubamon, I don't want to go with you, please! Joe! Cody! Oh, even Davis! Help me, somebody!" Kari's feet were splashed by water and she continued calling out for help. Up to her knees... then waist... then shoulders... "Let me go!!!" She was now almost up to her head in water.
In the hospital room... "Huh?" Tai noticed Kari's head moving quickly back and forth, an unhappy expression on her face. "She seems to be dreaming!"
In Kari's mind, she was almost completely underwater. In the hospital room, she sat bolt upright and let out a piercing shriek. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" was followed by deep, fast breaths. "Tai!" Kari embraced her brother and began sobbing into his shoulder as doctors rush in.
"Kari..." he whispered, "tell me about it later, okay? Let the doctors look at you." Kari slowly pulled away and allowed the doctors to check her over.
"And I suppose that's it. I'm not exactly sure why this is happening to me. It's all very confusing to me," Kari said. "I don't know why I have this special power, or what I'm supposed to use it for." She was sitting in a psychologist's office. "I don't even know what it is yet. But if anything like that ever happens again... I don't know."
"I see..." said the psychologist.
"Are you sure?" Kari asked. "You know, you've been saying that all afternoon and we haven't gotten anywhere."
The psychologist ignored Kari's comment. "I have some... background information on you and your brother." Kari gulped. "It seems you two are... members of a group known as the... 'Digidestined.' Four years ago there were strange monsters attacking the town... and you, your brother and six other children were supposed to stop them, and... save this 'Digital World' along with our own... Is that true?" He spoke with long pauses between words and the expression he had in his voice was often inappropriate for the sentence.
'He knows! How'd he find that out?' Kari thought. "Yes."
"Would these dreams, the fading, and your... 'special powers' have... anything to do with this?"
"Uhhh..."
"Is that why you've been... the way you are lately?"
"I think so, yes."
"You thought it was... over, didn't you?"
"I guess so. I mean, I knew that I'd never forget about the DigiWorld but I never thought it would ever be thrown back into turmoil."
"So, this is happening... again to you and your brother?"
"Well, not so much to my brother. He's really busy with school and stuff, so there are three new kids that have joined me."
"So the four of you-"
"-five, actually. There's five of us. Another one of the old DigiDestined is still with us."
"All right then the... five of you. The five of you go back to this... 'Digital World' to try and save it... again. What is the... enemy this time?"
"We don't know."
"Is it by any chance this... undersea master that these... 'Scubamon,' as you call them, are trying... to take you to?"
"That's a possibility but we don't know."
"Could it be the same... enemy you faced before?"
"I don't know, but I doubt any of them would come back after the ass-kicking we gave them." (A/N: Momentary lapse of character. I'm sorry.)
"Could it be...-"
Kari was now very angry. "You know what? It's not!" she yelled. "It can't be someone we faced before because we defeated all those enemies!" She leapt to her feet. "I don't know who you think you are! You have no clue what you're talking about! You don't know anything about me or my situation, and you can't help me!" She stormed out of the office. Tai was in the waiting room and Kari grabbed him by the wrist. "We're leaving, Tai. He's no help."
Outside, Kari was still fuming.
"What did he say Kari?" Tai asked.
"Tai, he knows," Kari said.
"About what?"
Kari stopped, turned and looked Tai straight in the eye. "About DigiWorld," she whispered.
Tai gasped. "How?"
"He has stuff on our battle with Myotismon. I had to tell him other stuff. He thinks he understands. But he doesn't," she said, starting her walk back home again. "He knows absolutely nothing, and with the way I acted he's most definitely going to call Mom and Dad."
"Smooth move sis. Does he know about-"
"-the others? Yes, and I sure hope he doesn't know who they are, or else we're all in big trouble."
"Well, it's not that many people..." Tai trailed off.
"Not that many people?" Kari repeated, an incredulous look on her face. "Tai, we know of at least eleven other Digidestined besides ourselves. Who knows how many more there could be? Like Michael. There is no way he could have saved New York City all by himself. It's huge. He had to have other people with him. Plus, if there's kids like us in America, there's bound to be more in other countries. Tai, this is serious."
"Okay," he said. "you're right. We should meet with the others as soon as possible."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was a beautiful day in Odaiba. The sun shining, birds chirping -- yes the author knows this is cheesy -- and the kids were happy to be let out of school.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" asked T.K.
"Huh?" Yeah, I'm just-" -Kari yawned- "-tired."
"You seemed more than tired in class," T.K. said, lowering his voice. "You were fading out again. Where were you going this time?"
"The beach again. I'm scared it's going to happen and nobody's going to be there with me," Kari admitted. "At night sometimes I begin to fade, then Gatomon wakes up Tai and he comes to wake me up. I can't tell my parents. They'd freak out."
"Hmmm..." T.K. paused. "Is it okay if I walk you home? Just in case, you know, something happens to you on the way."
"Yeah, that would be good," Kari said.
Kari and T.K. walked slowly back to Kari's apartment building, soon joined by Gatomon and Patamon. They talked about school, Kari taking a few pictures every now and then, but abruptly, she stopped.
"Kari, are you okay?" T.K. asked concernedly.
Kari closed her eyes. "I feel sick..." she moaned, before suddenly going limp and falling. T.K. caught her.
"Aw, man, now what..." T.K. muttered. "Patamon, fly up to her apartment and see if Tai's home."
"Right!" Patamon said. He flew up to the Kamiya's balcony. Tai was home, luckily, and Patamon knocked on the window until Tai opened it.
"Patamon, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Kari fainted! Call an ambulance or something!" Patamon announced. "T.K.'s with her."
"I'll be right down!" Tai said. Patamon flew back down as fast as his wings could carry him.
"He's calling an ambulance and he'll be right down!" Patamon relayed the information to T.K.
"Thank you Patamon!" T.K. commended. He'd laid Kari down on the ground, and continued in his attempts to wake her up. "Kari, wake up! Please, Kari!" he pleaded.
Tai soon arrived outside. "The ambulance is coming," he said, coming to his sister's side. "Thanks for being here T.K."
"She wasn't feeling well at school," T.K. told Tai, "so I thought I'd stay with her in case something happened. And, well, something did."
"It's a good thing you did!" Gatomon exclaimed. "Hey, there's Davis and Demiveemon."
"Hey, what's going on?" Demiveemon asked in his little voice.
"Kari fainted..." T.K. trailed off before muttering, "Oooh, where is that ambulance?!"
"What did you do T.S.?" Davis asked.
"I didn't do anything! We were walking home and she started to feel sick," T.K. answered through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowed in aggravation. "In case you didn't notice, she wasn't feeling to well in class either." Most of the last line was cut off by the wail of sirens in the air.
"Thank goodness, the ambulance!" Patamon exclaimed.
"We'd better hide," Gatomon said. "Uh-oh Tai, your mom is coming." Gatomon, Patamon and Demiveemon hid quickly.
Mrs. Kamiya was frantic. "Kari? Tai, what happened to Kari?"
"She fainted," Tai explained. "I called an ambulance."
"Were you with her?" Mrs. Kamiya asked, starting to freak out.
"No, I was," T.K. said quietly.
Practically attacking T.K., Mrs. Kamiya inquired, "What happened? Why were you with her? Did she say anything?"
"I was walking Kari home because she wasn't feeling well and when we got here, she fainted," T.K. said quickly, half wanting the ground to open up and swallow him so he'd be away from the interrogation.
The paramedics had been busily attending to Kari. One of them approached the boys and Kari's mom. "I think she'll be fine. I can't seem to find anything that would cause this. Does she faint often?"
"No, not recently... Oh, Tai, do you think she could be getting sick again?" Mrs. Kamiya asked.
"I would find it odd to happen so suddenly," Tai answered, unsure of what he was thinking.
"Even so, we'll take her to the hospital. Maybe we can find something there," the paramedic said. "You can come."
"Actually, I think I'll stay, for when Dad gets home," Tai said. "You go Mom."
Mrs. Kamiya climbed into the ambulance after they loaded Kari in and they sped off. The Digimon emerged from their hiding place.
'I hope she's okay,' T.K. thought. "Hey Tai."
"Yeah?"
"What if she starts fading whille they're on their way to the hospital?"
"I didn't think of that," Tai whispered.
"Neither did I, until now," said T.K.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens," Davis said, breaking his silence.
"Yeah... well, I'll see you guys later," Tai said. He went back to the building, and he and Gatomon went upstairs.
"See ya," T.K. replied, grabbing his backpack as he started to leave.
"What do you think you were doing T.V.?" Davis called after him.
T.K. turned around. "What? What was I doing? I was trying to help!" he said.
"Why did you let her faint?" Davis asked.
"There wasn't really much I could do Davis!" T.K. shouted. "What would you have done?"
"I- uh..." stammered the brown-haired boy.
"Exactly! At least I was here, with her," T.K. said.
"I still think it's your fault T.F." Davis' stubbornness was in full view.
Now T.K. was mad. "Would you please call me by my real name? Sometimes you make me so mad Davis, I just want to..." He clenched his fist tightly.
"Punch me?" Davis taunted.
T.K. punched Davis soundly. "Yes!"
Davis came back and swung at T.K. "Why would that be?"
Ducking Davis' punch and tripping him, T.K. said, "Because I'm sick of you hating me!"
Davis fell and landed face first on the ground. "I don't hate you!" He tried to hit T.K. again.
The blonde pinned Davis to the ground and pulled his arm behind his back. "I think you do! You're always blaming me for everything that happens to Kari and never calling me by my real name."
"Lemme go!" Davis protested. T.K. let go and got up. Davis also stood up and turned around, trying to punch T.K. again. "I don't hate you! It's only that you're so close with Kari!"
Suddenly T.K. had Davis pinned again. "Kari?" he said quizzically.
"Get off me!" Davis and T.K. got up and stared at each other with angry eyes. "You two are such good friends, it's like I'm nothing," Davis said.
Tai came out of the apartment building, having seen what had gone on. "What are you guys fighting about?" he asked.
"Nothing," said Davis quickly, but something distracted him. "Aww, man, not her..."
Of all people, Jun showed up. "Hey guys!" she sang out, pulling up alongside the curb in a car with her friends. "What's up?"
The typical embarassed tone took over Tai's voice. "Er, not much Jun, how 'bout you?"
"Same as usual!" she said. "Davis, you're supposed to be home!"
"Yeah, well, I felt like walking," Davis muttered, thinking 'That was a lame excuse.'
Jun turned and asked her friends something. "You can come with us. Come on, get in," she said. Meanwhile, T.K. bolted. "Where's he going in such a hurry?"
"I dunno," Davis sighed, climbing into the car.
"Were you fighting? You've got a black eye," Jun pointed out.
"Huh? It was an accident, it doesn't hurt," Davis lied.
Jun shrugged, gave her usual eternally-perky smile and said, "Okay. Bye Tai!"
"Uh, bye Jun!" Tai said weakly, thankful that they were driving away. Tai went back inside.
~*~**~*~
T.K. got home and came in very dejectedly, dropping his backpack on the floor.
"How was your day honey?" his mom asked.
"Fine."
"Were you fighting T.K.?" she asked sternly.
"No."
"Then what are the bruises on your face from?"
"Fighting." He went to his room and shut the door, then stared out the window. His reflection in the glass showed him a scratch across his left temple, his hat dirty, his face red and bruised. He turned away, threw his hat on his desk and flopped face first on his bed, thinking, 'Why does he hate me? Kari? Just because we're friends? It's not like... oh, nevermind. This is confusing... my arm hurts.'
Ms. Takaishi knocked on the door. "T.K.?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" T.K. shouted.
"If you won't talk with me, will you talk with Tai? He's here," his mom asked.
"Let him in," T.K sighed.
Tai closed the door behind him, grabbed the desk chair and sat backwards on it. "So. You really let Davis have it didn't you?" he asked.
Still not looking up, T.K. replied, "It's about time I did."
"About time?"
"I've been getting more and more angry at him almost every day," T.K. muttered. "Today was the last straw."
"The last straw?" Tai repeated. "What has he been doing?"
"Hating me."
"What makes you think that?"
"Just the way he acts. He's always trying to be better than me at everything, and he never calls me T.K. It's always T.S. or T.I... once it was D.J. Where he got that from I'll never know. And I know he knows my name," explained T.K.
"Well, it's kind of hard to forget two letters," Tai pointed out.
T.K. laughed weakly. "I know. And... this is the big one... every time something bad happens to her, it's my fault. It's 'cause he's jealous of me."
"Her? Who is she?"
"Kari."
"My sister?"
T.K. sat up on his bed. "Davis likes her, and the reason why he's jealous of me is because I'm good friends with Kari and he's not," T.K. continued.
"What do you think of his jealousy?" Tai asked.
"I find it hard to believe anyone could be jealous of me," admitted T.K.
Tai straightened up. "I don't think it's that hard. You've got a lot going for you, T.K.; a lot," he said. "You're great at basketball, you've got a family that loves you, and you're a great student. There's nothing you can't do T.K. I can easily see why Davis would envy you."
"I suppose you're right Tai," T.K. said, "but you can't see why he wouldn't envy me."
"All right, tell me then. Why would Davis not be jealous of you?" Tai asked.
T.K.'s eyes were cast down. "His family is all together. I hate living away from Matt and Dad. It's great that Mom and I moved into Odaiba. Now we're closer, but it's still not the same as actually being together, in one home." He reached under his pillow, pulled out a framed photograph and showed it to Tai. "That's before Mom and Dad split up, when we went on a vacation in the mountains. It was fun. I remember it like it was last week. Matt and I had bunk beds in the cabin. He let me sleep on the top once, even though I was only about four or five... I liked that trip."
Giving the picture back, Tai said, "So I guess you'd want to do something like that again."
"Yeah..." T.K. trailed off. "So I guess that's why I don't think anyone could be jealous of me... and I'm not a great student. I think I'm failing Math."
"You know what to do about that, T.K.," Tai told him.
"Yeah... Do you know how Kari's doing?" T.K. asked.
"No. Dad came home and then went straight to the hospital," Tai answered, "which reminds me, I stopped in here on my way over, so I should be going."
"Can I come with you?"
"I'd love for you to come, but-" -Tai leaned over and spoke quietly- "-I think you should talk to your mom."
T.K. sighed, but consented. "All right. Thanks Tai."
Tai turned and smiled at T.K. before he left. "No problem."
~*~**~*~
At the hospital...
"Hey, is she up yet?" Tai asked, entering Kari's ER room.
"No. It's about time you got here," his mom said, a little irritated.
"Where were you?" Mr. Kamiya asked.
:I had to take care of something," Tai said.
"You know," Mrs. Kamiya said, "the strangest thing happened on the way here Tai."
Tai gulped, suddenly nervous. "What was it?"
Mrs. Kamiya explained, "Kari seemed to be fading away like snow on the television. It was rather odd. The paramedics couldn't figure it out."
"And the doctors still can't figure out why she fainted," Mr. Kamiya added. "They're running a lot of tests." Tai stayed quiet and held Kari's hand.
In Kari's mind... she was at the beach.
"This is too familiar... It can't be the same place as before. No, it is. I just don't want it to be. I remember that cave... there are those eyes again. This is weirder than it was before," she said to herself. "If I look in the sky I can see what's in front of me." She looked up. "Oh, good, Tai's here. I wonder if I can say anything to them."
Tai's voice echoed out. "Kari..."
Kari clamped her hands over her ears. "Woah! That was loud. At least I know I can hear him."
Tai was a bit quieter the next time he spoke. "Try and squeeze my hand Kari."
"Squeeze his hand? How do I do that?" Kari asked herself. She tried visualizing herself squeezing Tai's hand, but nothing. "Okay, that's not working..." So she clenched her fists tightly.
"She did it! Mom, Dad, she squeezed my hand! She can hear me!"
"Well of course I can hear you. All too loudly," Kari said, looking around, and behind her. "Akkk!" she shouted, jumping. "Scubamon again... No..."
"You're back," a Scubamon said. "We were waiting for you Kari."
"No... I still don't want to go anywhere with you!"
"But you must Kari. We have heard of your abilities and want you to help us defeat our undersea master," another Scubamon said.
"What abilites?" Kari asked, her voice shaking. "There's nothing special about me."
"You helped the Numemon get away from their master," the first Scubamon said.
"That was four years ago," Kari told them. "I don't think I can do anything like that again."
"You never know until you try," they said. "Come with us Kari... Come with us..."
"No! I don't want to! You can't make me!" Kari shouted.
All the Scubamon began chanting, "Come with us... come with us... come with us..." They continued chanting, and reached out towards Kari.
"No, leave me alone! Go away! Let me go!!" screamed Kari. "I don't want to go with you! Leave me alone!" She started backing away, pulling her hands away from the outstretched arms of the Scubamon. After discovering she is surrounded, Kari began to call for help. "Tai! T.K.! Help me! T.K.! Somebody! Tai! Please help me!!" Two Scubamon grabbed her and began to pull her towards the ocean. "Leave me alone! Tai! Help me! Someone, please! Yolei! Sora! Matt! I don't want to go, please, leave me alone I want to go home! Izzy! Mimi! Scubamon, I don't want to go with you, please! Joe! Cody! Oh, even Davis! Help me, somebody!" Kari's feet were splashed by water and she continued calling out for help. Up to her knees... then waist... then shoulders... "Let me go!!!" She was now almost up to her head in water.
In the hospital room... "Huh?" Tai noticed Kari's head moving quickly back and forth, an unhappy expression on her face. "She seems to be dreaming!"
In Kari's mind, she was almost completely underwater. In the hospital room, she sat bolt upright and let out a piercing shriek. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" was followed by deep, fast breaths. "Tai!" Kari embraced her brother and began sobbing into his shoulder as doctors rush in.
"Kari..." he whispered, "tell me about it later, okay? Let the doctors look at you." Kari slowly pulled away and allowed the doctors to check her over.
"And I suppose that's it. I'm not exactly sure why this is happening to me. It's all very confusing to me," Kari said. "I don't know why I have this special power, or what I'm supposed to use it for." She was sitting in a psychologist's office. "I don't even know what it is yet. But if anything like that ever happens again... I don't know."
"I see..." said the psychologist.
"Are you sure?" Kari asked. "You know, you've been saying that all afternoon and we haven't gotten anywhere."
The psychologist ignored Kari's comment. "I have some... background information on you and your brother." Kari gulped. "It seems you two are... members of a group known as the... 'Digidestined.' Four years ago there were strange monsters attacking the town... and you, your brother and six other children were supposed to stop them, and... save this 'Digital World' along with our own... Is that true?" He spoke with long pauses between words and the expression he had in his voice was often inappropriate for the sentence.
'He knows! How'd he find that out?' Kari thought. "Yes."
"Would these dreams, the fading, and your... 'special powers' have... anything to do with this?"
"Uhhh..."
"Is that why you've been... the way you are lately?"
"I think so, yes."
"You thought it was... over, didn't you?"
"I guess so. I mean, I knew that I'd never forget about the DigiWorld but I never thought it would ever be thrown back into turmoil."
"So, this is happening... again to you and your brother?"
"Well, not so much to my brother. He's really busy with school and stuff, so there are three new kids that have joined me."
"So the four of you-"
"-five, actually. There's five of us. Another one of the old DigiDestined is still with us."
"All right then the... five of you. The five of you go back to this... 'Digital World' to try and save it... again. What is the... enemy this time?"
"We don't know."
"Is it by any chance this... undersea master that these... 'Scubamon,' as you call them, are trying... to take you to?"
"That's a possibility but we don't know."
"Could it be the same... enemy you faced before?"
"I don't know, but I doubt any of them would come back after the ass-kicking we gave them." (A/N: Momentary lapse of character. I'm sorry.)
"Could it be...-"
Kari was now very angry. "You know what? It's not!" she yelled. "It can't be someone we faced before because we defeated all those enemies!" She leapt to her feet. "I don't know who you think you are! You have no clue what you're talking about! You don't know anything about me or my situation, and you can't help me!" She stormed out of the office. Tai was in the waiting room and Kari grabbed him by the wrist. "We're leaving, Tai. He's no help."
Outside, Kari was still fuming.
"What did he say Kari?" Tai asked.
"Tai, he knows," Kari said.
"About what?"
Kari stopped, turned and looked Tai straight in the eye. "About DigiWorld," she whispered.
Tai gasped. "How?"
"He has stuff on our battle with Myotismon. I had to tell him other stuff. He thinks he understands. But he doesn't," she said, starting her walk back home again. "He knows absolutely nothing, and with the way I acted he's most definitely going to call Mom and Dad."
"Smooth move sis. Does he know about-"
"-the others? Yes, and I sure hope he doesn't know who they are, or else we're all in big trouble."
"Well, it's not that many people..." Tai trailed off.
"Not that many people?" Kari repeated, an incredulous look on her face. "Tai, we know of at least eleven other Digidestined besides ourselves. Who knows how many more there could be? Like Michael. There is no way he could have saved New York City all by himself. It's huge. He had to have other people with him. Plus, if there's kids like us in America, there's bound to be more in other countries. Tai, this is serious."
"Okay," he said. "you're right. We should meet with the others as soon as possible."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~