Hey everyone,

It's Easter, with Chapter Two of my serious story, "Solitary Dreams". A few

people have emailed me with "What's Kari up to, what's she trying to do???"

Well, to be perfectly honest, even I'm not 100% sure. I know her goal, but

I don't know WHY she's trying to reach that goal. I'd better find out soon,

or there goes the plot. ^^

Another important announcement:

In the last few days, a lot of people have emailed me about Digi-Dorks and

other things....and I haven't answered a single letter....and I'm usually so

good about that. I'm so sorry, everyone. Just please read this chapter of

"Solitary Dreams" and you'll know why. What's happening to Izzy in this

story...is happening to a sweet little girl in my life, and everything has

been really difficult for me lately. In fact as it turns out, most of the

issues in this story of mine are taken from my life. But I've been so upset

that I've just been acting terribly to everybody, yelling at them....anyway,

so that's the reason I've been so bad about responding to your letters. But

please keep writing. Your letters cheer me up so much! Easter will do her

very best to pull her little self together and answer all of you A.S.A.P.!!!

My email is: chibi_naoko@hotmail.com

And, because so many people have been asking.....I am 15 years old, and will

be 16 this May 19th.

Now for the story....

Solitary Dreams, Chapter Two

The train had reached its destination, and the Kamiya children were standing

in front of the Izumi household. It was a large, white house, complete with

curtains on the windows and everything. Black trimming framed the garage,

doors, and windows. A new black car sat in the driveway. Kari ran up to

the front door and knocked.

"Kari!" Tai pulled her back, his anxiety obvious in the force he used.

"Just stay by me, okay? Don't get overactive."

Kari lowered her head in meek assent, but jerked it up when Izzy's adoptive

father opened the door. The tall man squinted through his glasses at them,

until his dark eyes widened with astonished realization.

"Tai!" the man remarked. "Well, this is a surprise. Come on in."

"IZZY!" he called, as the children removed their shoes and laid them by the

door. "You have company!"

Tai stood by his sister in the entryway. He looked left, towards the

staircase he expected Izzy would appear at. Tai choked down his feelings of

apprehension and tried to maintain a nonchalant smile. What was taking him

so LONG?!

"Tai," came an amused voice from behind him. It was Koushiro, one hand

clutching a railing and the other gently atop Kari's head. He was thinner,

but not taller, than Tai recalled. He seemed especially pale; even more so

in comparison to the deep red hair that graced his head. The boy seemed to

put all his evergy into a simple smile directed at his long absent friend.

"Iz- Izzy..." Tai felt almost weak with compassion and guilt. "You're sick

again, aren't you?"

"S'nothing..." Izzy murmured. "Let's go up to my room, we can talk

there."

The visitors followed Izzy up to his room. It was a small, white, well-lit

room with few features aside from a window and curtains, a tall closet, and

a desk upon which sat Izzy's dear computer. Izzy placed himself in a chair

beside his computer, and invited Tai and Kari to sit on the bed. Kari soon

begain to wander, unnoticed, through a file of cd's and computer programs.

"I've missed you Tai," Izzy said, in a slightly hoarse voice. "Why didn't

you ever write, or call, or anything?"

Tai didn't know what to say. His cheeks flushed in shame. "I- I'm sorry."

The other boy noticed Tai's discomfort and assured him. "It's all right, I

understand." He refrained from asking what Tai had been doing. He could

guess the answer well enough.

"So, what's going on in your life?" Izzy asked amiably.

"Oh...nothing special." Tai muttered. "But tell me what's happened to

you....?"

Izzy in that moment got a look on his face of more anger than he'd ever

shown in his short lifetime. He stood, walked to the window, and looked at

the still, dreary day outside. His lower lip began to tremble as he spoke

quietly of what had happened.

"I told you that when I had just been born, the doctors at the hospital

diagnosed me with a brand new, virtually unknown form of brain disease.

They said I would never learn to walk, or talk....that I'd have the brain of

a one-year-old, and that I probably wouldn't live beyond my sixth birthday.

My parents - my real parents, I mean - were absolutely distraught and in

their desperation they asked for any way to prevent it. At that time the

medical staff introduced them to an operation-and-injection method of curing

certain forms of neurological disease. They said they'd love to have me as

a test subject. They said they would pay us, and that it was the only

chance I stood of being cured. Despite the risks and the minute probability

of a full cure, my parents seized the opportunity, and allowed me to become

one of the first test subjects of the new operation. I remember falling

asleep, and waking with bandages wrapped around my head. For three or four

days I couldn't see. When the bandages were removed, and I was finally

allowed to leave the hospital and go home, I was scheduled for monthly

progress meetings, and a series of injections every three months..."

Tai gazed at his fragile friend, anguish filling his chest and mind. He

wanted to tell Izzy to stop, for fear of actually hearing what he knew was

going to come.

"When I was still very young, my parents were killed, and I began to live

with the parents I have now. At that point, my intellectual capabilities

rose as a direct result of the operation and injections. The knowledge I

rapidly gained brought me not only to my age level, but beyond that. It was

a huge relief to everyone; they all thought I was cured. And so did I,

until I had a bad case of pneumonia. It occured right after that night of

the incident outside Heighton View Terrace. When I was admitted to the

hospital, I began to fade in and out of consciousness, and my mental

capacity slipped back to what it had been before the operation. As soon as

the pneomonia left, the doctors performed a second operation, to restore my

intelligence, and that operation appeared to be a success. Things went

smoothly for years. Nothing had ever seemed unusual about it until now.

But soon after we returned from the Digital World, I started sleepwalking,

and losing weight at a tremendous rate. My grades when I re-entered school

slipped, and I couldn't keep up with my classes. My parents figured I was

just tired....but when it didn't go away, we went back to the hospital..."

Tai choked.

"Turns out they knew all along that something like this might happen... the

operation had somehow reversed itself, and the knowledge I'd gained is now

dissappearing at a rate proportionate to the rate I aquired it. They knew

that the effects of the operation wouldn't last. I'm losing everything.

They said it's happened to others before me. My mind will, sort

of...deprogram itself and revert back the condition of the brain disease I

had at birth. Tai, they KNEW it would happen!!!!!"

Izzy slammed his fist against the wall and dropped to the floor. He

trembled in frustration.

"...and there's nothing they can do. Another operation would be useless, it

would only delay the deterioration...Tai....I have....six months more to

live...."

Tai turned and punched Izzy's pillow. Izzy looked up, face hopeless and a

painful red color.

"First, I'll start to forget little things....like my address or my

homework assignments. Then my speech and writing will deteriorate, followed

by an unstable disposition and childish behavior patterns....a loss of

coordination....finally I'll lose it all. No more walking or talking; I

won't even recognize anyone. And soon after that...it's all over."

"NO!" Tai cried. "No. How could this happen? Izzy, you're smart.

Smarter than all the rest of us...your crest is KNOWLEDGE!"

Izzy nodded helplessly. "Well, it's all for nothing." he said bitterly.

"It'll all be gone...in six months..."

Kari looked up solemnly from her search in the corner. Suddenly a glow

shone in Kari's eye, and she cupped the source tightly in her hands to

stifle it. The boys didn't notice.

"It's because I'm not needed anymore..." Izzy said in anguish.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Why would my crest die if I was needed? Why would I lose all my knowledge

if I were going to fight again in the Digital World? It's all over, Tai.

I'm no longer needed. It's time for me to go..."

"That's crazy, Izzy! We need you here!" Tai shouted. "Don't give up hope!

Something will happen!! You're only 11, you can't- nothing bad can

happen!"

Izzy looked hard at Tai. "Tai, have you been blind? Bad things happen all

the time. 11-year-olds can die. And if I was needed, I wouldn't be

going...but Tai?" Izzy whispered the last part. "I don't want to die."

Tai sat quietly, not knowing what he could say to make things better, or if

anything could make things better. Then he recalled his dream...

"Izzy," he murmured. "I have something important to tell you..."

Tai recounted his nightmare to Izzy, leaving nothing out. Izzy appeared

interested, confused, nervous, then almost hopeful.

"Tai...your dream makes me recall something....." Izzy whispered. "Why

don't you go home and let me handle things for awhile? I'll call you

tomorrow, I promise."

"Are you sure?" Tai asked, reluctant to leave Izzy alone anymore. He had

wanted to be of help himself.

"Yes. This might mean something major for all of us..." He caught Tai's

concerned glance. "I'll be fine. It won't deteriorate much by

tomorrow...." he turned to his computer and connected to the internet.

Tai nudged Kari toward the door. "All right, Izzy. I'll wait for you to

call tomorrow...." Izzy was already absorbed in his computer, so Tai and

his sister quietly left.

They were walking down the stairs and had reached the bottom when they heard

Izzy's parents around the corner.

"All we can do," his father was saying. "Is make his last months worth it.

Please, darling, don't cry in front of him."

"I know," Izzy's mother sniffed. "But he's only a child. It isn't fair-

he's done nothing wrong!" she broke down, and there was no more talking.

Tai pushed Kari gently out the front door and onto a Tokyo street. A girl

in a blue helmet glided toward them on her bicycle.

"Sora." Tai acknowledged, with a half-hearted smile. "Hey."

The kind girl appeared anxious. "You've been to see Izzy, haven't you? And

he's told you all about it..."

"Yeah."

"I don't know what to do. Now that he's about to die...it's almost like he

WANTS to die. He doesn't feel like he's wanted or needed anymore."

"I know." Tai hung his head.

"Tai...what was Izzy doing when you left?"

"He had just gotten onto his computer. Why?"

"I need to see him. I've got a huge favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Well..." Sora's face fell in a painful expression. "I was going to ask

him...if I could stay at his house overnight."

Tai was astonished. "Huh? Do you...like him or something?"

"Oh no! Nothing like that at all! It's...Tai, I really can't tell you.

I'm sorry." She gazed at the pavement.

Tai felt helpless once again.

"Well....is there anything I can do? You can always come to our house, if

you need to."

Sora looked up, surprised. "You mean that? Really, Tai? Can I stay at

your house tonight?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Does your mom know you're-"

"Wait-" Sora was sullen again. "No, never mind....I've gotta go, Tai.

I'll see you later, okay?"

"O-okay." Tai watched as she rode out of sight. Kari looked after her,

eyebrows knitted. "Well," said Tai. "That was something strange."

The siblings walked to the subway station and hopped a bus back to their

home. The rest of the day passed in anxious solitude for Tai, as he

pondered the day's events over and over in his mind. At 9:35 that night the

phone rang. It was a call from Matt.

"Did you see Izzy?" Matt asked in an excited voice.

"Yeah! He acted really strange...." Tai decided to let Izzy tell Matt about

his disease. "I think he might know something. He said he would call me

tomorrow. How did it go with Joe?"

"It was strange. He didn't seem a bit surprised when I told him about my

weird feelings. He said I should let it sit, and that I should talk to

somebody else. I'm thinking of seeing Izzy myself tomorrow."

"As long as you and I are both getting in contact with him, why don't we all

meet."

"You mean-"

"I mean ALL of us; all eight."

Matt chuckled. "We haven't all been together since the Digital World.

It'll sure be nice to see everyone again."

"I think we've got some important things to discuss." said Tai seriously.

"Tai, really, is there something you're not saying?"

"I'll talk to you tomorrow Matt."

"All right. Bye."

"Bye." Tai hung up the phone and went to sleep. Their first meeting since

the Digital World. It was sure to be a complicated one.

He shut off the light.

TO BE CONTINUED....

So, what does everyone think? This one was kinda sad, and I know I got more

than a bit melodramatic, but the issues I'm dealing with here are more than

a bit melodramatic. Send all comments to : chibi_naoko@hotmail.com

and I'll try hard to write back to all of you despite my chaos-filled life.

Thanks for reading!

`eastera