Shadows of Darkness, Flames of Courage

by SuperPinkBrony12

First Night in the Digital World

(Digital World)

Gennai was waiting for the digidestined when they arrived. "I'm glad to see you're all okay. I have not been able to find any leads on Tai's whereabouts." he said.

"Then perhaps he's in Equestria." Yolei said.

"If he is there's no way to reach him. Contact with Equestria has been lost." Gennai said "The last thing I heard from that place made it sound as if though everything was okay."

"Well that's just great." Matt said sarcastically.

"Then there's only one thing we can do." Kari said "We'll have to search every square inch of this place."

"And then what?" Gatomon asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Kari said "Now let's split up. That way we'll be able to cover more ground."

"How are we going to split up?" Joe asked "How do we decide who's going with who?"

"We'll draw straws." Kari said "Or in this case, sticks."

"I don't get it." Mimi said.

"You will in a second." Kari said "Gatomon, think you can trim some of those branches on that nearby tree?"

"Of course." Gatomon said. She raced over to the tree, and attacked it. A few seconds later a pile of sticks fell to the ground.

"Now then, we'll partner up into groups of three based on who shares the same sticks." Kari said "And do not under any circumstances separate from your assigned group!"

"Okay then, allow me to go first." Davis said, and pulled out a stick. One by one each of the digidestined did the same.

Just as the last stick was being drawn a familar voice called out "Did you guys forget about me?" A moment later a young man wih shaggy blond hair and blue eyes appeared. Next to him stood a small light green rabbit with green patches on the sides, and a small horn sticking out on top.

"Willis? Terriermon? What are you two doing here?" T.K. asked.

"Mimi contacted me and told me what happened about Tai." Willis explained.

"And you know the old saying. A friend in need is a friend in deed." Terriermon said.

"I hope I'm not too late to join in." Willis said hopefully.

"You're not." Kari said "Why don't you go join Matt and Sora?"

"Sure thing, Come on Terriermon." Willis said. And he and Terriermon joined Matt, Sora, Gabumon, and Biyomon.

The groups were now set. Group 1 (the shortest sticks) consisted of Izzy, Joe, and Mimi. And their digimon parnters, Tentomon, Gomamon, and Palmon. Group 2 (the second shortest sticks) consisted of Davis, Ken, and Yolei. And their digimon partners, Veemon, Wormmon, and Hawkmon. Group 3 (the second tallest sticks) consisted of Kari, T.K., and Cody. And their digimon partners, Gatomon, Patamon, and Armadillomon. They also decided to bring Agumon into their group. And Group 4 (the tallest sticks) consisted of Matt and Sora, as well as Willis who had been added in. And their digimon partners, Gabumon, Biyomon, and Terriermon.

"Well, no point in standing around here." Izzy said "Let's get to work. The sooner we begin this search the better." And each of the groups set off to search various areas of the Digital World. Group 1 rode on Kabuterimon down to the beach area. Group 2 rode on Aquilamon up to the mountain area. Group 4 rode on Birdramon to the industrial area near the dessert. And Group 3 rode on Angemon to comb through the forest and grassland area. Gennai promised to contact them at any point if he established contact with Equestria. And warned the digidestined to be careful.

Each of the groups made sure to keep in frequent contact through their D-Terminals and Digivices, and filled each other in on anything they found out while combing through the digital world.

Hours passed but noone managed to find any leads at all. The search was postponed at sundown, simply because the groups all agreed that they could not afford to overexert themselves in their search for Tai.

All four of the groups were able to find a suitable place to spend the night. And as luck would have it each of the groups had one member who had remembered to pack a tent (Mimi for Group 1, Yolei for Group 2, Cody for Group 3, and Willis for Group 4), and everyone had also brought along sleeping bags.

Sleep came pretty easily for Groups 1, 2, 4, and most of 3. But Kari couldn't sleep, she was still extremly worried about Tai. She had come to learn that her big brother wasn't perfect, and that she shouldn't always measure her worth in comparison to his. But she still looked up to him quite a bit. She knew he was strong, and that he was more then capable of fending for himself. But she just couldn't help but worry. What if they never managed to find him? What if something happened to him before they could reach him? What if they were unknowingly walking into a trap? What if Tai didn't want to leave? What if they lost someone else while searching for him? All those what ifs, and the fear of them coming true made Kari feel uneasy.

T.K., Agumon, Patamon, Gatomon, and Armadillomon were all sound asleep and Kari didn't want to wake them up. That left only one option, Cody. Kari didn't really Cody that much on a personal level, she only knew that he was an only child, and that his father, a policeman, had been killed in the line of duty when Cody was very young. She knew he was wise beyond his years, but she also knew he could have a bit of a short temper if provoked. Often because he kept his feelings to himself until he couldn't hold them in any longer.

As if though Cody could sense how Kari was feeling he rose up and looked at her. "Couldn't sleep huh?" he asked.

"No." Kari said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cody asked.

Kari couldn't believe what she was hearing. Cody usually didn't like getting involved in other people's problems, so the fact that he was outright willing to let Kari tell him why she couldn't sleep seemed weird. All the same Kari couldn't afford to look this gift horse in the mouth. She sighed and explained "It's about Tai. I just can't help but wonder if he's okay. I know it probably seems selfish of me to be so worried about him, but he's my big brother and we've always been there for each other when we need support. What if we don't find him? Or what if something bad happens to him, or to us?"

Cody was silent for a long time. His face, which usually showed how he was feeling, was impossible to read. Kari was worried about he would say. At long last he spoke up. "I know it's hard to lose someone you hold so dearly. Even if in this case it's not forever. And I know it can be hard to think about life without that someone. But you have to ask yourself 'What would that someone want me to do with my life?'. Chances are the answer will be 'That someone would want me to move on and be happy.'. I'm not saying you should embrace the fact that we may never find Tai, or to forget about him altogether. But try not to worry so much about him, because that's not what he would want. If you do that, and never give up hope then you'll probably feel a lot better."

"Thank you Cody." Kari said "I needed that, more then you may ever know."

"Think nothing of it." Cody said "Now let's try to get some shuteye. After all tomorrow is another day." And with that both he and Kari drifted off peacefully to sleep.

Author's Note:

Yes Willis will be included in this story, but that does not make the movie canon. The way I see it even without the movie Willis would still be known as a member of the American digidestined, albeit the lone wolf of the gang. But he would still be in contact with Mimi, Izzy, and Gennai.

Also unless I'm mistaken there was never any sort of interaction between Kari and Cody onscreen during all of 02. The closest thing we've gotten to that was the third and final part of the movie when Kari said that Cody was "A real sensitive little kid."

Comments

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

"And do not under any circumstances seperate from your assinged group!"

Separate and assigned.

"DId you guys forget about me?"

Did you accidentally keep holding down the Shift key while typing that? Because it happens to everyone.

Kari didn't really know Cody that much on a personal level