Tai awoke late in the night, the nightmares had returned to plague his mind once again, of course these were no mere nightmares, if they were he could ignore them but of course it was a memory of the day when his partner was taken from him. The day when the digital world became a place he could never return to, a place where three young friends had met their deaths and it had been his fault. As he closed his eyes he thought back upon that day but then the alarm went off and he rose from his bed. After pulling on his school uniform, he left his room and passed the photo of Matt. Ever since Matt had disappeared their lives had gotten worse.
Kari sat at the breakfast table as Tai walked through, she had large puffy eyes as if she had been crying, she looked at him, before turning away and he suddenly noticed what she was wearing “Good Morning, Kari….um what’s with the hat?” Kari was wearing a large green beanie hat that clashed with her clothes horribly and he then had a horrible thought “It wasn’t them again was it?”
Kari burst into a fresh wave of tears as she pulled the hat off, her hair had been shaved off, there were a few strands of hair but she then said “They….ambushed me….they held me down and...and….they said…” she cried into her arms “They said if you didn’t give them your digivice….they were going to….oh Tai…I miss Gatomon so much!” Tai wrapped his arms around her, she tried to pull away but with the nightmares from the night before fresh in his mind, he couldn’t stand to see his sister in such a state and she then said “Why?! Why did Matt leave us?”
“I…I don’t know” Tai said as he remembered the last conversation he’d had with Matt, they had agreed to meet up to hang out and then he had never shown up. The police had searched for any signs of Matt but hadn’t found any sign of him “Look, I’ll walk you to school and I’ll walk you home….this stops now! They can’t get away with bullying my little sister!”
If Tai thought this would help, it made Kari punch his chest in frustration “No! They’ll just bully me worse! Don’t you get it, Tai?! You’ll just make things worse!” she ran grabbing her school things and Tai sat alone at the table.
He wasn’t alone for long, the doorbell suddenly rang repentantly, he rose to his feet, walking to the door he opened the door saying in a calm and controlled manner “You don’t need to ring twenty times, I heard you the first time!” he looked at the two people standing at the door, one had bright pink hair and the other had a rainbow colour scheme going “Um can I help you?”
The Pink haired girl said in a hyperactive manner, that Tai could swear wasn’t normal “Hey! My name’s Pinkie Pie and this is Rainbow Dash! We’re here to invite you and Kari to a party!” she looked at Tai hopefully but Tai returned the look with confusion “Oh right! We started at Kari’s school yesterday and we want to invite people to a hello party!”
Tai raised an eyebrow before saying “Sorry, I don’t do parties anymore and I don’t buy your story! Tell me why you shaved my sister’s head and then get lost!” he had never met the bullies that had been picking on Kari but Pinkie Pie seemed way too happy and then there was Rainbow. What was her angle? “Well what are you waiting for!? Go away!” he slammed the door on them but then heard what Rainbow said next.
“I told you, Pinkie, I should have invited them but then what really did we expect….I mean….if Kari’s mood yesterday was anything to go by….they all are pretty depressed. I mean there’s no way…they would want to talk about the digital world” Rainbow said, this was enough for Tai because at that moment Tai slammed the door open “Huh?!”
“What did you say?!” Tai snapped, he looked at Rainbow anger dripping from his eyes and she seemed to pause “Get in!” the two girls walked in and Tai pointed to the couch, he sat across from them but kept quiet “So, you know what Digital world is…..”
“Yeah, a boy called Matt and Gabumon, came to our home!” Pinkie said happily but then Tai punched the table between them “What?!”
Rainbow snapped “Pinkie!” horrified Pinkie had spilled the beans on the fact they knew Matt but Tai raised a finger pointing at them with a certain look on his face.
“There’s no way! Matt died ages ago! You’re lying!” Tai felt tears drip from his eyes, all the pain he’d suffered from the loss of his friend “You cannot know….there’s no way!” he then pulled out his old digivice, the screen was dented, it looked damaged, from all the times he’d gone back to the digital world searching in vain for Agumon’s digiegg. He then added “….Matt is dead…Do you think our feelings are a game?! You….have no right!” he then dropped the device on the floor, the screen shattering and it breaking in two “No!” he dived to his knees desperate to pick up the pieces. He then saw Rainbow and Pinkie doing what they could to pick up the pieces “What are you doing?!” he snarled but then they handed him the pieces they’d gathered.
“We’re helping” Rainbow said simply as she smiled at him “Matt told me….once….you were brave but a little too hot headed for your own good” she then looked at the largest piece of the digivice and picked it up “Please….you have to believe us…we want to help”
Tai felt his heart warm up as he heard those words, help, he said but not very well “Why?” he choked back a sob as Pinkie and Rainbow both reached forward taking his hand in their hands “Why would you help me….I'm broken!” he looked into the eyes of what he now knew were eyes of friendliness “I broke long ago”
Pinkie then said “Let us help you and your friends to be fixed then!” she then smiled and added with a happy jump to her feet “Super-duper wonder glue may not work but we’ll find a way”
Tai looked a little taken aback but smiled and then laughed, he kept laughing, his heart felt lighter, his concerns suddenly disappearing as if the shadow over him was passing by and he said in a happier tone “Well I guess we’ll need to go see TK then” he looked into their face, they both looked slightly confused “TK still has Patamon but whatever Matt has told you….you best prepare for a bit of a shock”
Rainbow cast her mind back as Tai spoke and said “Isn’t TK, Matt’s brother?” to which Tai nodded and Rainbow smiled “So how was TK able to save his digimon?”
Tai frowned and then said “I suppose…that’s a fair question but to explain the how, I’d better tell you of what happened, when we lost Davis, Yolei, Cody and our Digimon. You see….” But before Tai could breathe another word there was a knock on the door and Tai went to answer it “Oh hello, Joe. Joe what happened?!” Tai question seemed to be mixed with some form of panic but then Tai brought through a very thin older boy, with blue messy, overgrown hair, he had cuts, bruises and his clothes were messy. Rainbow and Pinkie remembered from what Matt had told them that Joe, was well not what stood before them and Tai clearly knew what they were thinking “Joe, please…this has to stop, you’re killing yourself”
Joe looked up through the mess of hair, his eyes were puffy, he’d clearly not been sleeping and he looked like a boy aged well into his forties but one thing was clear above all other things, Joe was scared “NO! I can’t sleep….the screaming Tai….it won’t stop…we let them die Tai….I let them die!” he suddenly screamed jumping into a corner collapsing as he shivered and then said “I still see his face….Cody as he died in my arms, Tai….I can’t…face it!” Joe looked at his hands as he spoke, as if there was something on them but he then let two tears splash onto them.
“Joe! You did what you could…Cody’s death was all our faults!” Tai said as his voice broke admitting to the death “You are not the only one who sees…their faces in their nightmares!”
Pinkie walked forward and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder but her face shared the look of terror “I know your pain…I saw my friends, the cakes killed recently” she let tears leak from her eyes “It was all my fault….I should have ran over to protect them but….they’re gone! All the friends I lost” she hugged Joe close as the two shared in each other’s pain.
“The cakes?” Tai asked clearly confused but Rainbow shook her head, clearly Tai not to ask and tears splashed Rainbow’s knees as she too expressed her pain but for different ponies of course. Rainbow looked at the wall as she considered, the Wonderbolts who’d died at Canterlot, scared, helpless before the might of Serpentera and the ponies killed at Cloudsdale as it crashed to the ground. She then considered Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity all the friends, family who, they had lost as Equestria was destroyed but how were they coping with that fact.
Joe sniffed as he held Pinkie close and said “Thank you” he seemed to calm down as he fell to sleep, Rainbow and Tai helped Joe to Tai’s bed.
When they returned Tai turned to his room “If Joe hears me telling you what happened to Cody…it’ll destroy him. Come on, I know a place” they followed Tai to a small café where Pinkie and Rainbow pulled out the allowance Tamera had given them and they bought themselves some breakfast “Alright before I begin, there’s something you need to know….I don’t know all the details. TK was the one who got us through the portal before we were all killed and I was out cold for that” Tai then took a sip of his drink before he began “You see……”
Flashback
“Come on guys! The Digital world is waiting!” Davis called out as he ran down the corridor for the computer lab, the sun outside was shining bright on the glorious Saturday but the air had an unnoticed chill. Tai explained that the Digimon Emperor had just been defeated, the new digidestined were working on the rebuilding of the digital world and things were looking well. As Davis, Yolei, TK and Kari ran in they saw Cody “Hey come on, Cody! What’s the hold up?!”
Cody was staring out the window, a distant look on his face; he slowly turned and said “I’m not sure, Davis. Maybe we shouldn’t go today?” Cody looked down at his shoes as he finished his thought and mumbled “I’ve got a really bad feeling”
Kari walked forward and put a hand on Cody’s shoulder “Come on, Cody, everything will be fine…I know you’re worried we won’t make it back in time for your Grandfather’s birthday but I promise you we will be back before 7pm okay?” it was at that moment the doors opened, the other Digidestined had managed on that day to get some time to go to the digital world. Tai said he remembered he’d been able to talk the coach out of football practise for that day but he couldn’t remember how he’d managed to talk to the coach round. As for the others, Tai didn’t know and continued “Hey, guys! Ready to go?” with a collected nod and murmur of yeah, they held up their digivices to the computer. With a bright flash, they were drawn into the digital world and what had promised to be a good day.
The old digidestined’s digimon were waiting by the Tv set, they’d be waiting for a few hours since they were so eager but finally the TV sprung to life and the Digidestined appeared.
“Hmmm what a beautiful day!” Yolei declared as she gave a stretch as she looked around they were in the middle of a forest which was quite a bit overgrown and cancelled the fact they were near a town “So let’s get to work on rebuilding the walls of this town” however as they walked out, they’re eyes fell on a town completely destroyed “What happened?!”
“Up there!!” Hawkmon declared pointing his talon towards a figure in the sky. The figure seemed to be a tall digimon who seemed to be gloating over the destruction. The fires burning through the town were mixed with the sound of Digimon screaming for mercy. Then the digimon fired a blast towards the screams and the silence followed “No! Savage!”
“Yeah, partners that’s just wrong!” Armadillomon yelled as he turned to Cody “We gotta do something, ya with me, Cody?” to which Cody nodded and readied his digivice “Armadillomon armour digivolve to Digmon the drill of Knowledge!” All the other digimon followed suit.
“Agumon digivolve to Greymon!” Agumon declared as he changed into the massive dinosaur.
“Biyomon digivole to Birdramon!” Biyomon declared as she changed into the giant fire bird.
“Tentomon digivole to Kabuterimon!” Tentomon declared as he became the horned beetle.
“Gomamon digivole to Ikkakumon!” Gomanmon declared as he became the massive seal.
“Patamon Armour digivole to Pegausmon flying hope!” Patamon declared as he became the armoured Pegasus.
“Gatomon Armour digivole to Nefertimon the angel of light!” Gatomon declared as she too became the flying cat digimon.
“Veemon Armour digivole to Flamedramon the fire of Courage!” Veemon delared as he became the fiery lizard digimon.
“Hawkmon Armour digivole to Shurimon the samurai of sincerity!” Hawkmon declared as he became the samurai digimon.
Suddenly Rainbow interrupted the story “Wait what about the other one? Matt said to us you had another friend?” she couldn’t remember the name.
“Mimi? Well she and Michael turned up a bit later but…it didn’t change a damn thing!” Tai said bitterly “We were horribly outclassed….we didn’t have access to any mega digimon and the digimon above was….Chaosdromon! We didn’t know he was a mega digimon”
Chaosdromon looked at assembled digimon then with a cold laugh yelled “So the digidestied have come to face me?! With champion digimon…this had better be a joke?!” he then takes two attacks from Ikkakumon and Kauterimon but he then begins to laugh “Oh….this is fun…let me know when you’re ready to play for real!”
“Nova Blast!” Greymon roared as he fired his attack at Chaosdromon but the attack is easily deflected “NO! He must be a mega level! We have to retreat Tai”
Tai then shutters as he says the next chilling words “We turned to run for the forest but he…destroyed the forest behind us with a single blast!” he sniffs as he continues “What followed was a massacre which lasted a full five hours! I’ll spare you the details, only how each digimon and…digidestined were killed but he first took out Greymon…we couldn’t get to his digiegg as we fled” he took a deep chocking breath “Then Flamdramon, both the digimon and digiegg of courage were destroyed but Davis…tried to save Veemon’s egg and….and…”
Pinkie kindly said “Was it quick?” Tai nodded.
Rainbow murmured “Couldn’t you access any mega digimon?” to which Tai shook his head and Rainbow remembered that Gabumon had only been able to digivolve to mega with their help “You…didn’t stand a chance”
“Then Mimi and Michael did show up….Seadramon and Togemon were destroyed in the same blast…” Tai cried into his arms “In the same blast Cody got caught by mistake…he survived but we knew if we couldn’t get him home and onto a hospital…he’d die!”
Digmon yelled “Cody! NO! Please, partner! Ya have to get up!” Digmon looked to his partner the injuries as Mimi cried over the loss of her partner “You creep! Gold rush!” Digmon fired off his drills up at the mega level! “Ya oversized rusty can! I’ll make you pay for Cody!”
“Fool! Hyper Attack!” Chaosdromon said with glee as his cannons pointed at Digmon, the attack fired out and anything in its path was destined for destruction.
“Nefertimon!” Kari suddenly screamed who had flown down to try to get Digmon out of the way but she was too slow and both were destroyed. Kari watched on in horror as her dear friend was destroyed completely “NOOOOO!” Kari screamed holding her head as tears splashed from her eyes.
Chaosdromon laughed as Birdramon, Ikkakumon and Kauterimon all yelled “Meteor Wing!” “Harpoon Torpedo!” and “Electro shocker!” but another blast from his twin cannons destroyed all three “oooo first two for the price of one and now it’s three for the price of one!” he then turned to the remaining two digimon “Now! It’s your turn!”
Tai said “He didn’t get the chance Yolei, ordered the rest of us to run, we wanted to stay but she and Shurimon said we'd only get in the way” he took one final shuttering breath “We ran, Pegasusmon covering us, the only surviving digimon. Then we spotted the TV in a small clearing, it was at that moment, we heard Yolei’s scream…” he let more tears splash into his drink “It was also at that moment…Cody’s condition took it’s toll and he died in Joe’s arms. We took the portal back to our world and…then the news broke…”
“What happened?” Rainbow asked afraid to find out but it was important to find out.
“You’ve seen what became of Joe and Kari. Sora, she won’t talk to any of us so I don’t know, I’ve heard rumours Adagio forced her into their gang but I really don’t know. Izzy, keeps trying to find out news from the digital world, it’s turned into an obsession, his grades have gone downhill and he's seeking a theory to bring back our digimon, it's pointless. TK, his grades have suffered too but he keeps trying to help the digimon from Chaosdromon and his fellow dark digimon, he says he’s called it the Digimon Rebellion Movement” he smiled at that but then looked even more depressed “Mimi and Michael both won’t speak to us so I haven’t a clue. Davis, Cody and Yolei’s families were all hit hard. Davis’s family has broken apart, Yolei’s family’s business has collapsed and Cody’s Grandfather…” he paused taking a shuttering breath “Blamed himself for his Cody’s death and…killed himself. Cody’s mother has since been in a mental hospital” he then stood up “So that’s our story…I need to go, I’m sorry but here” he handed them a phone number “TK is your best hope…don’t waste your time on me and the others…we’re beyond hope. I’m going to check on Joe” with that Tai turned and walked away.
After a few moments of quiet Pinkie turned to Dash “Well….what do you think?”
Rainbow looked at her hands, as she thought it over and then said sadly “Until we get our own digimon…we won’t be much use to anyone. TK is our best bet” the two stood up but what they didn’t notice was a shadowy figure watching them from the darkest shadows of a nearby tree, smiling within their shadow and then disappeared.
TK stood by his bedroom window as he looked at the café where Rainbow and Pinkie sat chatting “So what were they talking about?” he asked the figure who appeared kneeling before him “Patamon said your eager to prove yourself…well?”
The figure responded in a calm female voice “They want to help us”