Dreams and Reality
Story By Tigertae
Sora looked up at him, laughing at some private joke. She circled her arms around his neck and whispered something in his ear. Then she leaned forward and kissed him.
Tai awoke with a start. The rest of his friends were sleeping peacefully.
Why shouldn't they be? Tai thought. It's not like they're having weird dreams about their best friends. Tai sat up, careful not to disturb Agumon, his digimon friend. He stretched, then looked around again. His gaze fell upon Sora and lingered. The pale moonlight washed over her, making her seem vulnerable somehow. She looks like an angel. My angel. What?! No! Sora's just a friend. Think about something else, Tai. Like figuring out how to defeat Myotismon. This train of thought worked as a distraction, allowing Tai to fall back asleep.
Tai's strong arms held her close. She looked into his deep brown eyes; laughed at something she had thought and circled her arms around his neck. She whispered something into his ear, closed her eyes, leaned forward and kissed him.
"Huh?" Sora sat straight up. Biyomon, her digimon companion, shifted and woke up.
"What is it, Sora?" The small pink digimon asked.
"It was just a bad dream, Biyomon. Go back to sleep." Sora answered, forcing a smile. Actually it wasn't that bad...Stop that! Biyomon snuggled closer to Sora and quickly returned to her slumber. Sora glanced around at her friends to see if any of them had heard her and Biyomon. It would be a shame to wake them up over a meaningless dream. Meaningless...yeah, it was just a dream after all. I've heard that dreams are just really random. Nothing to get excited about. No reason to panic and get everyone up for. Her eyes wandered over to Tai. Especially not him. He's so cute when he's sleeping. Did I just think that? No, that was probably just a remnant from that dream. She lay down and went back to sleep.
Tai thought that he would have forgotten about the dream by morning, but he was wrong. Oh great, just what I need. Now I just act normal, when I shouldn't have to be acting. What was it about that dream? Why am I so...so frightened by it? It was just a dream, after all.
"Hey, Tai, what's the matter?" Agumon interrupted his thoughts. The yellow lizard digimon's brows were furrowed and he looked worried.
"Huh? What?" Tai snapped out of his brooding and looked at his friend. "What do you mean, what's the matter?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes. So what's wrong?" Agumon said.
"Oh, sorry little guy. I was just wondering about the next time we meet up with Myotismon. Four of you have already digivolved up to the ultimate level, but is that enough?" Tai said something that wouldn't embarrass him and that Agumon would believe.
"Don't worry Tai. We'll beat him. After all, you're the Digi-destined."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Tai put on a face of mock disgust. Agumon laughed.
Joe walked over, followed by Gomamon. "So Tai, what do we do today?"
Tai scrunched up his face. "I don't know. I'll ask computer boy over there." he said, gesturing to Izzy. Izzy was doing nothing to prevent such a title, as he was furiously typing away on his laptop. Tentomon hovered nearby, occasionally asking questions. Tai got up and walked over to Izzy. "What are you doing?"
"I am currently attempting to further determine the exact connection between this world and our own." Izzy replied without looking up.
"He's been at it since he got up this morning. Very unhealthy if you ask me." Tentomon added.
"Ok, that made pretty much no sense to me. Well, you're the genius, Izzy. What do you think we should do?"
Izzy actually stopped typing. "Well, since you asked my opinion, I suggest we take the next several days to find a good food source and recover from our battles."
Tai looked down at the younger boy. "Sounds good to me. I think we all need a break. And some decent food."
Tai presented Izzy's idea to the rest of the group, who readily agreed. They set off after a brief breakfast in search of a lake or river, where there was likely to be food. Tai led with Agumon, followed by Matt, Gabumon, T.K., and Patomon. Mimi was next, complaining loudly to Joe, Palmon and Gomamon about how she needed her beauty sleep. Izzy and the hovering Tentomon followed them and Sora and Biyomon brought up the rear. Tai kept looking back over his shoulder until Matt told him to chill.
"What's up with you anyway?" was the delicate way Matt chose to phrase it. "You keep looking back here like you're being followed by Myotismon or something."
"I just have this feeling someone's watching me." Tai lied, praying he didn't blush. He was really looking back to check on Sora. Oh yeah, great job of acting normal, idiot. Why am I looking back to her anyway? She's a friend. That's all.
When Tai told Matt he felt someone staring at him, Sora quickly lowered her head and acted very interested in the pebbles she was kicking so that no one would see her blushing. Oh geez. Why was I staring at him so intently anyway? I guess that dream affected me more than I thought. But Tai is just a friend, NOTHING more. But a small voice in the back of her mind told her otherwise. She pushed the small voice even farther back and moved forward to defend Tai. "Break it up, you two. Can you really blame Tai for being paranoid after everything that's happened?"
Tai turned away so that he wouldn't have to look at Sora. Matt shrugged at Sora's comment. "I guess not. But he's making me paranoid too."
"Sorry, can't help it." Tai mumbled, still not looking at Sora. Sora returned to the back of the line and the procession started once more. Sora was lost in thought as she numbly moved forward. Tai. He wouldn't look at me. Why? Am I projecting something left over from that dream? No, that can't be it. He's probably just embarrassed that a girl had to stick up for him. Yeah, that's probably it. I hurt his fragile male ego. Oh, pain from my heart? Why, because I might have hurt Tai's ego? Argh! This is not happening to me; Tai is just a good friend!
Tai walked forward automatically as he thought about what had happened. Why did it have to be Sora to break up the argument? Yeah, I mean, it's normally her, but why couldn't it have been Izzy, or Joe, or even Mimi this time? She had to notice that I didn't look at her. She probably thinks I'm a jerk for not even looking at her when she was trying to help me.
"Hey, Tai?" A small voice from behind caused Tai to break away from his thoughts and turn around.
"Yeah, T.K.?"
"Can we take a break? I'm a little tired." He admitted, although he looked more to the point of exhaustion.
Tai nodded. "Sure. Okay guys, take five." Appreciative sounds came from the rest of the group. Tai sat down on a large rock, more than ready to give his feet a break. A twig snapped behind him. He turned to see who it was. Sora stood there, like a little kid caught doing something wrong.
"Uh, Tai? Don't worry, I know what's going on."
Tai's mind froze. She knows? She knows? Oh man!
"I know you were embarrassed that a girl had to stand up for you, but you didn't seem to be able to get what you were thinking out." Geez, this sounds really lame. Please, whatever powers that be, don't let me blush or do something stupid like that, because that would signal that I like him as more than a friend. Which I don't. He is just a friend.
That's the reason she thinks I couldn't look at her? A wave of relief washed over Tai. That's good. I don't want her to think I like her or anything, just because some dream is throwing me off. I should probably say something to acknowledge her. "Thanks, I'm glad you didn't hold it against me."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Sora raised her head, a genuine smile on her face. It caught Tai off guard. Oh, wow, she's really beautiful when she smiles like that.
Sora stared at Tai. Whoa, I never noticed Tai is actually kind of cute.
"Yeah, what are friends for?" Tai said with nervous laughter after a moment. Friends,just friends. Sora is just a friend. Of course I'm going to notice when she looks good; I'm not a guy for no reason.
"I just wanted to let you know I understood. I'm going to go see if Mimi has stopped complaining yet." Sora turned around and left the way she had come. What was with me? Did the dream throw me off that much?
In a few minutes, everyone was moving again, in his or her previous positions. Tai and Sora were both wrapped up in their own thoughts. Biyomon and Agumon were beginning to worry. Around noon on the second day of travel, Tentomon claimed that he detected water. He was right, and they soon found a large stream. Joe, Izzy, Matt and T.K. started looking for food, while Mimi sat down and began to complain immediately. The digimon had collapsed in an undignified heap and were snoring loudly. "Some help you are." Sora muttered.
Joe pointed out. "Someone needs to collect firewood and start a fire."
"I'll do it." Tai and Sora said simultaneously. They stared at each other, both trying to hide the panic. Oh, come on Tai, you're just going to go get firewood.
"Um, split up, or stick together?" Sora asked nervously. Oh man, I want to stay away, so I don't embarrass myself, but.. "Might as well stay together. That way there will be two of us if trouble comes up." That sounds logical. I hope. Maybe I should have just said we should stay separate. Well, too late now.
"Yeah, okay."
Except for the fact that neither could so much as look at the other for more than half a second, nothing particularly interesting happened during the firewood excursion. What is this? Sora thought. I've known Tai longer than anyone here, but I can't talk to him? All because of a silly dream?
Agumon had finally woken up, so Tai got him to start the fire with a Pepper Breath. Everyone crowded around the fire, trying to cook the food.
"FOOLISH DIGI-DESTINED." A voice boomed. Myotismon appeared, flanked by two unknown digimon. One resembled Ogremon, but was purple and covered in quills. The other was a vague, boxy shape with eyes.
"Agumon digivolve to: Greymon!"
"Gabumon digivolve to: Garurumon!"
"Tentomon digivolve to: Kabuterimon!"
"Biyomon digivolve to: Birdramon!"
"Gomamon digivolve to: Ikkakumon!"
"Palmon digivolve to: Togemon!"
"Nova Blast!"
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
"Howling Blaster!"
"Needle Spray!"
"Meteor Wing!"
"Electro-Shocker!"
"Boom Bubble! POW!"
It was no use. While the attacks hit dead on, they did practically nothing to Myotismon. He laughed evilly. "Crimson Lightning!"
The red whip of electricity arced down and knocked away most of the digimon.
"Electro-Shocker!"
"Meteor Wing!"
The red arc struck again, bringing Kabuterimon and Birdramon down to earth. The kids ran toward their injured friends.
Tai reached Greymon and noticed a slight burn on his side. "C'mon Greymon, get up! We can't lose, we're the Digi-destined, remember?"
"I can't move, Tai." Greymon said in a strained voice.
The purple quilled thing stepped forward at some voiceless command. "Quill Missiles Launch!"
Tai followed the path the quills would take. Who's he aiming at? The quills are headed straight…for…"Sora!"
Without stopping to think, he raced towards Sora and shoved her out of the way. The missiles intended for her struck him instead. Tai was knocked back about thirty feet, slamming into a boulder. "Tai! No!" Sora yelled, and ran back towards him.
"GREYMON DIGIVOLVE TO: METAL GREYMON!"
"BIRDRAMON DIGIVOLVE TO: GARUDAMON!"
"Wing Blade!"
"Giga Blaster!"
The attacks destroyed Myotismon's flunkies and wounded Myotismon. Wrapping his cloak around him, Myotismon disappeared with the chilling words. "Next time, Digi-destined. And then I shall have to deal with only six of you."
"Tai!" Sora knelt by his unconscious body and searched desperately for a pulse. There, weak, but steady. After making sure he was breathing, Sora tried to pull the quills out. Fortunately, they were not barbed, so the quills did no more damage exiting his body than they had entering it. Sora had cleaned and bandaged all the major wounds and was starting on the minor ones when her friends arrived.
"Is he gonna be okay?" T.K. asked worriedly.
Matt flashed him a confident smile. "Of course he is, little bro."
I hope so. I really hope so.
"I suggest that no one touch the points of those quills, since we do not know if they have poison or venom on them." Izzy pointed out.
"Yeah, that would be bad." Joe affirmed. "How do we, ah, dispose of them?"
"I say we burn the vile things." Sora said. Izzy shrugged.
"I suppose that would be the best way." He and Joe dragged the pile that Sora had made away from the camp and set it ablaze.
No one said much that night, or for the next week. Yokomon and Koromon digivolved back to Biyomon and Agumon. Sora and Agumon kept watch over Tai, taking turns during the night so that one would be getting some sleep. Finally, Tai regained consciousness one night during Sora's shift. His eyes recognized the blurry shape in front of him. "Sora?" he asked weakly. Sora took one of his hands.
"I'm here, Tai." Tai struggled to get into a sitting position, which helped his eyes clear up.
"Sora…are you all right?"
"Tai, you're the one who has been unconscious for a week, and you're asking me if I'm okay? But thanks for asking. I'm much better now that you're awake." Did I really just say that? He's going to know that I like him just like I finally realized. I have to know "Tai?"
"Yes?"
I can't go through with it! But I already have his attention. "You must be in tremendous pain. Is there anything I can do to help?"
I can't let her find out how much it really hurts. She'll only worry and probably lose sleep. Of course, I could be a better actor if it didn't feel as though a volcano had just erupted inside my blood. The burning…I can't let her know. "It hurts some, but it's nothing I can't handle." He flashed her a confident smile.
I can't take it. I have to know. "Why did-why did you save me?"
Does she suspect? "Because you're a friend." She's more than that, but how can I tell her?
Is that all I am to you? Sora thought, somewhat hurt.
I've always been blunt,the worst that could happen is that she'll think I'm joking. "And because…I love you." Tai closed his eyes and felt the blush creeping across his face as he waited for her reaction.
He loves me? "You-you love me?" Sora stuttered, happily shocked.
Tai nodded his head. Oh, no, she hates me now.
Digimon Fan Fiction
Dreams and Reality Part 2
