Chapter 22

“Davish…Davish, wake up!”

Davis groaned when he felt something poke him. He forced his eyes open but closed them when the sun shined brightly on his face. He gathered up his strength and pushed himself off of the ground into a kneeling position. He looked up to see Veemon standing in front of him.

“We made it, Davish,” Veemon informed him.

“We did?” He asked groggily. “Great.” He looked around. “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re over there,” Veemon said as he pointed towards a cave that was to Davis’ right. Davis pushed himself onto his feet and moved towards the cave where he could hear the voices of his friends drifting to his ears. Once he stepped foot into the cave their heads turned in his direction.

“Ah, Davis, you’re awake,” Sora commented.

“How come you left me out there?” Davis asked, slightly annoyed.

“We were exploring, to make sure there was nothing in here. Anyways, we’ve been lying there for about an hour and nothing happened.”

“I was getting ready to get you, Davis,” Kari spoke up. “I was making a bed for you if you were still sleeping. That’s why it took some time.”

“Oh…thank you, Kari,” he said with a bright smile. She smiled back but it faded slightly when Tai and Matt joined their group with Yolei and Cody by their side along with their respective Digimon. “What’s up?”

“This cave stretches on,” Matt explained. “Who knows where it could lead to? So far we haven’t run into any other Digimon so it’s an ideal place to stay. It has great protection and if something comes our way we can use one of the many tunnels to escape.”

“That’s great.” Davis paused and looked around. “Where’s everybody else?” He quickly glanced around and noticed that half of the group was there.

“We couldn’t find them,” Cody responded. “They must’ve landed somewhere else. We went looking for them for a bit but we gave up after spending ten minutes looking around. We can use our Digivices to find them though.”

“Do you know how large the DigitalWorld is?” Tai asked him. “It’s bigger than you know. We haven’t even covered the entire thing when we first came. If they’re not here, they could be anywhere and it could take days to find them. The best thing we can do is try and defeat whoever comes our way. That way, when we get back together, we have some enemies out of our way.”

“But what if we need their help? Or they need our help? We have to look for them!”

“Davis, did you not hear a word I just said?” Tai demanded. “The DigitalWorld is too big to go look for them! Even if we sent them messages asking where they are there’s like a one in a billion chance that they could be near us.”

“But we can try!”

“Davis, Tai has a point,” Cody told him.

“Yeah, I don’t know about you but I’m not up for walking many miles to find our friends if they try and find us and we pass them along the way without knowing,” Armadillomon agreed.

Davis sighed before sitting down where he was. He drew random pictures in the dirt as Veemon sat down next to him. He knew it was right for them all to be together, but he also knew that they were right in their own way.

“C’mon Veemon,” he muttered, standing up so he could leave.

“Davis, where are you going?” Sora called after him. “We should stick together.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he called bitterly over his shoulder. Veemon rushed to catch up to Davis. Once he was outside of the cave he squeezed his hands into fists and pounded the ground.

“Davis.”

“I’m tired of it, Veemon!” Davis growled between hitting the ground with his fist. “I’m tired of always being treated like I’m stupid or I don’t know what I’m talking about!” He stopped pounding the ground and flexed his fingers, wincing at the pain that spread through them. “I know we have to go and look for them. I just know it.”

“Davis, you have to think of it in the grand scheme of things.” Davis whipped his head around to see Kari and Gatomon. “Think of it this way, if you were in South America, in Argentina for example, and the rest of us were in Venezuela, you’d come looking for us, right?” Davis nodded. “The thing is, if you had to walk the entire time without a map, without a guide, just you alone, you wouldn’t know where to go. And what if you passed us on the way there and we didn’t know it? You’d keep going. If you saw we weren’t there, we’d continue to go around in circles. That’s the same as this situation. We may have communication with each other, but we don’t have a map of the DigitalWorld and our Digimon haven’t seen all of it themselves.”

“When you say it…it makes sense,” Davis sighed, sitting down on the ground. He stared out at the sight in front of him, a large lake with crystal clear blue water. The water lapped up onto the shore by his feet, but he didn’t bother moving.

“Tai has had a lot of experience with this stuff, you should trust him,” Kari said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off as if he had gotten burnt by her hand.

“I’m worried,” Davis muttered.

“I know you are Davis, and we–”

“No, I’m worried about you…Hikari.”

Kari’s breath caught in her throat. That was the first time Davis has ever called her by her full name, and she had to admit it had a certain ring to it when it rolled off of his tongue. She stared at his profile, willing for him to continue himself. He kept his dark eyes on the water, not looking at her. He was aware of Gatomon and Veemon leaving the two to talk in peace. Veemon was probably just following Gatomon around to find out if he had any chance with her. But it would be like his chance with Kari: zero to none.

“Why are you worried about me?” Kari finally asked him.

“Because you’re special Kari, and I’m not just saying that,” Davis responded. “There’s something about you that makes you the target. I don’t even fully understand it, but you’re not afraid of what’s going to happen at all. You just take it all in stride.” A faint smile formed on his face. “It wouldn’t surprise me if TK was going out of his mind with worry.”

“TK? Wha…?” Kari’s voice trailed off.

“I see the way he looks at you, Kari.” Davis finally turned to look at her; a sad look was in his eyes that rivaled with acceptance. “To him, you’re…an angle. You don’t even have to see the look on his face for you to know it. You can tell by the way he talks to you, is always there for you, and wants to make everything all right for you. I’m worried that you won’t realize this until the last possible moment, and that won’t do you any good.” He sighed. “I do love you Kari, but not as much as TK does.”

“What’s he doing?” Gatomon whispered from the top of the cave where she and Veemon were crouched down.

“He’s finally letting her go,” Veemon responded.

“What?”

“Mhm. He decided a long time ago. He’s going to give Kari and TK their space.” Veemon paused. “He does love her, that’s why he’s letting her go.” Gatomon stared at the scene in shock. She has never heard Davis do anything so…so…so mature. It was so unlike him that it made Gatomon uncomfortable to watch, when she usually liked watching human interaction.

“Davis...I don’t know what to say,” Kari muttered as she looked down at the ground.

“You don’t have to say anything, Kari,” Davis said as he ran a hand thought his dark hair. “As long as you still consider me your friend I’ll be fine.”

“Davis–“

She was cut off by a rumbling sound. She and Davis jumped to their feet as they looked around. A few ways down dirt gave way before a large Digimon came to the surface.

“What’s that?” Davis asked.

“It’s Scorpiomon!” Kari gasped. Something clicked in her mind. “Oh no.”

“What?” Davis asked.

“If Scorpiomon is here…than there’s a good chance that MetalSeadramon is here too!”

-----

“How much longer do we have to walk?” Terriermon asked. He was trailing behind the group, his ears dragging behind him.

“Until we find a safe place to rest,” Ken responded.

“At least we have some shade, right?” Lopmon asked his brother with a small smile. Terriermon nodded in agreement, thankful that they had landed in the jungle where the trees gave them a lot of shade from the hot stun.

“Mimi has more shade,” Terriermon grumbled.

“That’s because this was the only hat that went with my outfit,” Mimi said as she smiled down at her clothes, lightly touching the brim of her bright pink that rested on her hair.

“Same ol’ Mimi,” Joe muttered to Izzy, whose eyes were glued on his laptop. Izzy nodded in agreement. He managed to connect the map on his D-Terminal to transfer onto his computer, that way he had a wider range displayed on it.

“Speaking of, Izzy, have you ever told Mimi that you liked her?” Gomamon spoke up as he climbed onto Joe’s shoulder.

Izzy’s eyes widened and, in shock, almost dropped his computer. Tentomon flew around Izzy, making sure he had a firm hold on his computer. “I don’t like Mimi,” Izzy said, looking at Joe before looking over his shoulder where Mimi was talking to Crystal about shoes. Crystal had a bored look on her face. Behind them Willis was walking with Ken and TK and they were having a quiet conversation, their Digimon in their arms. “I mean, I do like her, but I’m not infatuated with her.” He frowned. “Why the sudden interest in my life?”

“Because I want to see you happy,” Joe responded.

“I am happy.”

“I mean happy in the only way a girl can make you happy. There has to be someone that you like.”

Izzy shifted his gaze as a light blush formed on his cheeks. “There’s a place over here where we can rest,” he called out, changing the subject. He closed his laptop and placed it in the bag that was rhythmically tapping against his side with every step that he took.

“How much further, Izzy? I’m starting to sweat,” Mimi called, taking off her hat to fan her forehead.

“Not that much further. It’s right…” Izzy stepped off the path and pushed away two large bushes. “Here!” He exclaimed. Everyone rushed over to his side and peered at a house that was in the middle of the clearing.

“Uh, Izzy, can we trust it?” TK asked. “We’ve had some bad luck with houses in the DigitalWorld. I mean..." he held up his fingers to list off places as he spoke. "Devimon’s mansion, Puppetmon’s house, the cruise ship, ShogunGekomon's palace, that house with Arukenimon. I’ve decided to stay away from Digi Houses from now on.”

“My map would’ve said anything about a Digimon hiding in there, its fine,” Izzy said with confidence as he walked towards it.

“Should we trust it?” Wormmon asked Ken.

“Izzy would never lie,” Tentomon announced before flying after his partner. It seemed to convince them all because they followed Izzy across the emerald green lawn and into the house.

“Hmm, not one hint of dust or dirt in sight,” Mimi commented. “Palmon, you know what this means?” She asked, her eyes wide in delight.

“We can take a nice warm bath?” Palmon guessed.

“Right! Let’s go!” Mimi ran up the stairs, Palmon close behind her. The two giggled the entire way up the stairs.

“There are a lot of bedrooms upstairs,” Patamon announced as he came flying back downstairs. “The sheets are clean too, as if they had been freshly washed.” Terriermon jumped down from the railing of the landing over the foyer of the house. A challenging look gleamed in Patamon’s eye as he flew after Terriermon, starting a game of tag along with Lopmon and Icemon.

“Joe, look at this. They have plenty of human medicine,” Gomamon called, looking into a cabinet that he had opened.

“This is great. Now we don’t have to worry about running out of supplies or anyone falling ill,” he said excitedly as he looked over every jar, box, and container that lined the shelves.

“What’s wrong?” Willis asked, noticing the look on Crystal’s face.

“I find this too good to be true,” Crystal responded, crossing her arms over her chest. “Medicine? Beds? Baths? No Digimon living in this place and it just so happens to be in the middle of a shady forest? There’s something fishy about it.”

“You worry too much,” Willis said as he shook his head. “Relax. Izzy’s right, if there were a Digimon near here, we would’ve known.” He draped his arm around her shoulders and grinned at her. “Let’s go take a walk if you’re that worried.”

She pushed his arm off of him and glared at him. “I’d rather not,” she muttered before moving into the kitchen.

“For someone who claims to be your friends she’s very…pugnacious,” Izzy commented suddenly causing Willis to jump. “Are you two in a fight?”

“Nah, she’s always been like that towards me,” Willis replied, shaking his head and chuckling.

“May I inquire why?”

“Honestly, I never could figure that out for how long I’ve known her,” he admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know whether it’s because I get better grades than her or if it’s because of something else entirely. I just grew up having her as my only friend so I embraced that about her. I like it personally, it shows that she doesn’t fall for anything easily and she takes time to think things through before she does it.”

“But there has to be something in her past that lead to that behavior.”

“Now that you mention it,” Willis muttered, rubbing his chin. “She has been acting out more since her mother died.”

Izzy’s eyes widened. “Her mom died?”

“Yeah. When we were…about seven, I think. She keeps blaming herself. Apparently she was supposed to be picked up from this summer camp we go to every year. Crystal had called asking why she was late and her Mom said that she was getting there as fast as she could. Apparently, right after the two hung up, someone crashed into her Mom’s car. She was killed instantly.”

“If she acted out so much…why does she hang out with you? No offense.”

“None taken.” Willis shrugged. “We both needed a friend. After her mother’s desk and that Diaboromon incident we just…clicked. Because we were both alone and we needed someone. Our Digimon kind of filled that void but…in the end we just need someone that’ll listen.” Suddenly there was a loud crash. Willis didn’t even have to look towards the stairs to know that it had something to do with Terriermon. He could hear Terriermon’s panicked whispering and Lopmon’s soothing voice. “Gosh, he can’t stay out of trouble for one minute?” He muttered under his breath before turning to run up the stairs.

“Uh, Willis, before you go. Could you help me with something on my computer later?” Izzy called.

“Sure,” Willis shouted over his shoulder.

Izzy turned around to see Joe looking at him, deep in thought. “What?” Izzy asked, growing uncomfortable underneath Joe’s gaze.

“Why the sudden interest in her life?” Joe asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I…I just…uh, well…you see,” Izzy stuttered.

“Go talk to her,” he said with a knowing grin. “Who knows, this may the only time we get a chance to relax for a while. You’d want to jump on the opportunity while it’s in front of you.”

Izzy made up his mind before going into the kitchen. Crystal was sitting at the island eating a fruity desert. Icemon had joined her and was eating it with her. The two looked up when Izzy entered.

“What?” Crystal asked, noticing the look on his face.

“Um, I just, uh…did you make that?” he asked lamely, nodding towards the desert as he mentally kicked himself.

Crystal gave him an odd look. “Yeah,” she responded slowly. “Do you want some?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Tentomon replied as he flew forward. Crystal pushed the desert towards him and laughed a little as he gobbled it up. “Sorry. I guess I was hungrier than I thought.”

“It’s no big deal. I can make another one,” Crystal said as she moved to the refrigerator.

“Tentomon, I need you to help me,” Icemon said suddenly. “I need you to help me…find Patamon. We’re in the middle of a game of Hide and Seek.’

“No problem. We’ll be able to find him faster than two shakes of a Digi tail,” Tentomon replied before flying out of the room.

“So what’d you want to ask me?” Crystal asked suddenly, causing Izzy to blink.

“What makes you think I want to ask you something?” He questioned.

“I can tell by the way you’re looking at me. It’s either that or you have some sort of fascination with me, which would be kind of creepy,” she responded, putting some fruit in a dish. “So what is it that you want to know? Probably my whole life story since I haven’t really opened up to any of you.”

“Uh, I just wanted you to know, that…uh,” Izzy stammered, looking at his hands. “That if you ever, uh, want to talk to someone…I-I’m here.” He squeezed his eyes shut. ‘What’s wrong with me? I’m an excellent public speaker and I can’t even talk to her without stuttering.’

“Thanks, but there’s nothing I want to talk about,” she said in a dismissive tone.

“Not even about your Mom?”

Crystal froze where she was standing. She glared at the fruit in the container, the spoon she was using to dump cream onto it stalled in mid air. “You talked to Willis?” It was more of a statement than a question. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” she muttered, continuing what she was doing. She only stopped when Izzy reached over the island and grabbed her wrist.

“You can’t keep your emotions bottled up like that, you’d eventually combust.”

“My Mom’s dead, I’m over it. I’ve moved on.”

“No you haven’t,” Izzy shook his head. He let her wrist go as he stood and moved to her side, looking down at her to try and read her facial expression. “If you have, you wouldn’t keep blaming yourself and you wouldn’t lash out at people.” He sighed. “I know how you feel. My parents died in a car crash when I was young and then I was adopted. At least you still have your Dad, so you should be happy about that. I didn’t know I was adopted until I couldn’t sleep one night. Then I distanced myself from my parents and I didn’t know I was hurting them. That’s what you’re doing; you’re distancing yourself from people and hurting them. It may not be intentional, but you’re doing it.”

She gripped the edge of the island so hard that her knuckles were turning white and they were shaking. Her breath came out in short gasps as if she was keeping herself from crying. “Oh. I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–” He stopped when she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, burying her face in his chest.

“It’s not fair!” She sobbed.

“Uh…” Izzy’s face flamed red as he hesitantly brought his arms up to hug her back. He held her for about a second when everything started shaking.

“What’s happening?”