Unlikely Friends, Part Two

The Boys' Mistake

 

AN~This is the continuation to Unlikely Friends, in case ya couldn't tell...

This part tells of the voyage over the Seven Pools. I've decided there will be seven parts. The next part will be about the journey through the Seven Pines and over the Seven Peaks, Part Five will be about the Realm of Doom, Part Six will be about the Cave of Destiny, and finally, the last part will be about the final evil, the stone tablet prophesy, and the Chosen Children's return home...

"Do you think they'll ever come back?"...

"Sure they will, I guarantee it!"...

"I hope they'll be okay"...

"Maybe we should get going"...

"Yeah, no reason to stay here"...

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"Hydramon!"

"Yes, my lord?"

"The leaders of the Chosen Children. Make sure they do not cross the Seven Pools."

"They will be Divermon bait before lunch, my lord. I will not fail you."

"You had better not. Now GO!"

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"How much longer,Kat?" Tai whined, sitting on her back in front of me, asking the same question every five minutes.

"We just flew over the fifth Pool, OKAY? Now stop asking me that or you'll be swimming to the Seven Pines!"

This same conversation took place over and over again, and it seemed like I would go out of my mind, until...

"Look! Land!" Tai exclaimed, nearly falling off Kat's back in excitement."We can finally get some sleep!"

I had to agree with him. Once we left the others, we hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for two whole days. There hadn't been any place to land, and we couldn't sleep in the air, for fear of falling off. Tai and I had tried sleeping in shifts, but that didn't work, because Tai fell asleep on his shift and I almost dropped into the Pool, but Kat stopped me just in time.

"Yup",Kat said, not really sharing in our enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, she sounded dead tired. I decided not to say anything, but the ever-so-tactful Tai immediatly took notice.

"You could sound a little happier, ya know!"he shouted sarcastically. If Kat heard him, she gave no notice.

That's when I knew something was wrong. If I knew Kat, she would've came up with some sort of smartass awnser or

pretended to drop Tai off her back.

Then suddenly, we began sidling off a little to the east of the island. Then we started falling.

"Uh, Kat?" I asked, glancing down at her face.

Now I knew something was horribly wrong. Kat was either asleep of unconcious, none of which fared me or Tai well.

"Matt?"came Tai's voice, sounding more than a little scared. "Do you-"

"Yeah, I know", I awnsered, my voice wavering a bit at the end. "Which means-"

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!!!!!!"we yelled in unison.

We were pretty high up, so a crash into either the island or the ocean would almost certainly mean death. I slid off

Kat's back, and so did Tai, so I guess we were goners. But then...

Kat's eyes snapped open and widened as she realized what had happened and why there were no passengers on her back.

She swerved over to us, and Tai grabbed hold of the falling Agumon, and I the falling Gabumon and Gabymon. Although what good it would do I have no idea, because even if Kat caught us in time, there was no way we could avoid a crash landing, as we were falling diagonally at the island, too rapidly.

My breath was sucked out of my lungs as Kat suddenly caught me under one arm, with Tai and Agumon under her other.

We must've looked pretty funny in the air, with me and

Tai held up by Kat, Agumon and Gabumon being held up by me and Tai, and Gabymon being held up by Gabumon.

But this wasn't humorous anymore, I realized as a big set of trees loomed up on us. We were going to crash right into them!

"Hold on!"Kat yelled and flattened herself out, heading straight into the dense forest. She threw her upper torso over us, using herself as a shield while she kept getting hit by braches, needles, and other unpleasant sorts of foliage. I could hear her grunts of pain as more and more things just kept on hitting her.Her head was bent over to the side, buryed in Tai's shoulder, so it wouldn't get hit by anything.

Tai and I were dropped into soft moss just before Kat crash landed, hitting the dirt and rolling head over heels down a grassy slope. We could hear her curses and yells of pain until they finally stopped with a big groan as she reached the bottom of her seemingly painful descent.

I ran to the bottom, reaching Kat in a matter of

seconds.

She wasn't moving.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

 

"Unnnghhhh", Kat groaned, furrowing her brow and relaxing it, as she opened her eyes. It was the night just after she had fallen, and we didn't think she would make it. Still, Tai and I took shifts watching her while the other one slept. It was my shift now; and finally, she had woken up.

"Where am I?"she asked groggily, sitting up. She propped herself up with her arms as a faint fit overcame her, then rubbed her temples with her fingers."And what happened?"

"You fainted or fell asleep or something. We were all falling when you woke up and caught us. We still crash landed, but you saved us."I paused for a second. "Thanks..."

"How the hell did I save you?"

"Aside from catching us, you mean? Well, we crashed right into that forest back there, and well, you used yourself as a human shield for me and Tai. Then you dropped us on a bunch of moss before hitting the dirt and rolling down this hill. That's about all, I think. Thanks again."

"Hmph",she said and turned away.

I was awestruck. Here I was being, if not polite, but at least civil to her, and she was being the snobby bitch she always was.

"You could at least say 'You're welcome'!"I yelled at her,pissed off. I was pretty shocked to hear her sigh.

"Gomen, Yama-san,"she said softly. "It's just... this is all my fault. If I hadn't fallen asleep in the first place- 'cause that's what I did-we wouldn't have crashed here at all. I'm sorry."

"Why? If this was your fault-and it wasn't-then at least you came through for us and pulled us out of this."

"But that's just it. This was only one time. How many other times will you have to suffer the consequences of my incompetence because I couldn't get us out of a scrape? I was sent to protect you,and I promised Takeru and Hikari I would,so dammit,I will."

"Look, it doesn't matter anymore,okay? If you really insist upon being perfect, then you can swear right here that you won't let it happen again-if it makes you feel any better."

"But it doesn't. I can never make promises I know I can't keep."

"Then you should just be content with not being perfect.

Nobody is. It doesn't matter what happens-as long as we pull through in the end. Tai and I don't expect any more than that,Kat. And we know that no matter what happens, you'll always do your best to protect us; even, if at times, it isn't enough. Ne?"

"Hai, Yama-san. Arigatou."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

A couple minutes after our little talk,Tai woke up, starving as usual.

"I'll go get something", Kat readily volunteered, taking Justin's bow and standing up."I won't be long. You guys stay here and recuperate from your long day, capiche?"

"Hey Kat, try and get some fish if you can, okay?"Tai asked."And maybe some of that purplish fruit I like so much, since you're already going."

"Sure. You want anything, Matt?"

"Nah." Something seemed wrong to me about her going out and being nice enough to catch food for us, and having Tai order her around like that.But still... "Maybe one of

those apple-y looking things Palmon showed us yesterday, if you feel up to it."

"Absolutely. This is my way of repaying you guys for my stupid carelessness that almost killed you, okay? Anything you want, you just ask for it."

"Anything?"asked Tai, a look coming into his face I didn't like.(AN~You pervs! Not like that! Get your minds out of the ghetto, will ya?!)

"You name it."

"Well, how about some trout, and some rice and some..." From here he launched into a long list of things that would be hard enough to find in this deserted place, let alone catch, kill, or pick.

Kat flapped open her wings, ready to fly off, but to her dismay, they were ripped, torn, and obviously unusable.

And I also noticed that she stood gingerly on her left ankle, my guess being she sprained it in the fall.(AN~I know! This is kind of Monster Ranch-y! But after this, the similarities between this and 'My Name Is Pixie' end here, okay?)

"I guess I'll walk", she said, striding away with an obvious limp, the bow grasped firmly in her right hand.

"Don't forget my Coke!"Tai yelled, waving after her. He stopped when I spoke to him.

"Don't you think we should give her a break, Tai?" I asked him, my earlier talk with Kat still lingering in my mind. "She saved our lives you know, and now she's doing all this stuff for us. Don't you think we should just stop while we're ahead?" He turned to face me, a cheesy grin on his face.

"Aw, so has little Mattie found himself a girlfriend?"he said in that irritating voice of his. "How cute!"

"She's not my girlfriend! I just don't think it's fair, what you're doing to her!" He sobered up.

"Listen, Matt, she's the reason we're stranded here in the first place. If anything, she owes us."

"That still doesn't make it right, Tai."

He sighed, shaking his head."Since when have you become so interested in doing what's right? You were always the one not caring about people."

"Not true, and you know it. How would you feel if you were in Kat's place?"

"Look, Matt, she was sent here to help us out, and that's what she's doing. It's her job."

"It's her job to wait on us hand and foot? Since when?"

"That's not what we're making her do. She volunteered to get us this stuff. I'm sure she can handle it. We're just awnsering her question when she asked what we wanted. She's being friendly."

"But when does being friendly turn into taking advantage of someone, Tai? She's not God, you know! She has to take time to eat and sleep and drink and bathe just like the rest of us!"

"Why do you give a damn, Matt?"

I paused. Why did I give a damn what happened to Kat? Yesterday I wouldn't have even glanced her way when she spoke to me. But now...

"She saved our lives,Tai. It's not right. If we hadn't

been pushing her so hard to get across the Pools and stayed on that one island we saw ysterday, she wouldn't have crashed. She does everything we ever ask her to do without complaint."

"Exactly. She just doesn't care,Matt."

"You're wrong,Tai. She does care. About what happens to us. She's hurt pretty bad, you know. Her wings are all messed up, and she's got a sprained ankle. Yet she doesn't say a word to us for fear of looking like she can't do what she was sent here to do."

Tai pondered this for a few seconds, then sighed again.

"You're right, Matt. But I still think that if it's gets that bad she'll say something to us. I say we just awnser truthfully whenever she asks if we need something."

"Fine then," I said, "within reason."

"Deal."

 

~*FLASH*~

 

Kat returned with all the stuff on Tai's list, except for two or three things I'm not even sure existed. We ate in silence, but right before we went to bed, the dreadful question popped up again.

"Anything you guys need before I go to bed?" I glanced at Tai and he glanced at me. Then we proceeded to launch into a long line of things we needed. Amidst it all, I think I heard Kat sigh, but when we finished, she smiled and set off again into the forest. She was still limping.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"You childish fools!"boomed a voice coming from the last Pool below us. It was around seven or eight in the evening, nine hours after we had flown away from the island where we'd spent the night. Kat's wings were still screwed up pretty bad, but she'd told us after breakfast that she could still fly. So we'd set off, although at a much slower rate than yesterday. The Seven Pines and Seven Peaks stood tall against the sky, and at the rate we were going, I predicted we wouldn't get there till midnight. Kat was obviously very worn down, but cheery and uncomplaining as always. Still, she would droop and then shoot back up about every fifteen minutes. And that damn limp was still there.

"No one is allowed to cross here!"the voice continued, and from the bottom of the glistening Pool rose a horrible creature with nine heads, the middle one the largest by far, then each of the surronding heads getting shorter until the two outside ones, which were the smallest. All the heads were snapping and biting at us with horrible shining teeth.

"Hydramon...", Kat whispered in fear. "A Digimon with nine horrible heads like the anchient Hydra monster from Greek mythology."The ninth head is seemingy immortal."

"We'll see!"Gabymon shouted, jumping down.

"GABYMON DIGIVOLVE TO... GARIRIMON!!!"

The giant silver and white wolf leaped forward. "Growling Blaster!" The chrome-colored attack had no effect on the freocious sea monster.

"Hydra Fang!" A black colored snake shot out and hit Garirimon in the chest.

"Garirimon!" Kat shouted.

"GABUMON DIGIVOLVE TO... GARURUMON!!!"Matt's Digimon darted forward, joining the fight.

"Garurumon, get the Chosen Children out of here", Garirimon growled at him. "I'll take care of this freak of nature."

Garurumon nodded and Kat dropped Matt and Tai on his back. "Be careful, Garirimon."

"Hydra Fang!" Garirimon sank under the water.

"Let me Warp-Digivlove,Tai", Agumon pleaded with his buddy. "Wargreymon can take care of this guy, no problem."

"No Agumon,"Tai said forcefully. "Let Kat deal with it. She's the one sent to protect us."

"So'm I,"Agumon argued, but Tai wasn't listening. He was focused on the battle in front of them.

"I'll handle it, Agumon,"Kat reassured him, flying overhead. "No problem."

"Growling Blaster!"

"Hydra Fang!"

"I'm coming Garirimon, hold on!"

"Ah, so another pitiful excuse for a fighter I can toy with, hmmm?"

"Well I'm tired of playing around!"(AN~"Hey Digimon" music plays.)

"Hydra Fang!"

"Flaming Dart!"

The attacks canceled each other out, exploding with a force that nearly knocked the boy's right off Garurumon.

"That's the way you do it,Kat!" Tai shouted.

"All right!" I cheered along with him.

"Venom Fang!" "Hydra Fang!"

"Aaaaaaaaaggghhhh!!!!"With a painstaking, heartwrenching scream, Kat was shot out of the sky.

"Kat, no!" I yelled, and Garurumon got over there as quick as he could. We found her being held up by Gabymon, who had de-Digivolved. But something was wrong with Kat. Something we had never deemed possible.

She had de-transformed.

Plus not to mention the fact that all the color was gone from her body, leaving her a gray lump. And the fact that she was covered with a million cuts and scratches.

"Did we win?..."she asked feebly, lifting her head just a little bit. I shook my head solemnly.

"It doesn't matter," I told her firmly. "As long as you come out of this okay."

"Yes, it does,"she said weakly. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not being there for you. For not doing what I was sent here to do. And for being a lousy friend..."

"Kat..."I whispered, unbelieving that our strongest ally could fall.

"Thanks for all your help... and thank you for believing in me. I'm just sorry that I couldn't win..."Here she trailed off, her eyes closing and her head falling back on Garurumon's furry back, completely still.

"Oh my God... Kat..." I could hear Tai whisper beside me, his voice filled with pain and remorse. He looked in my face, his eyes shining. "It's all my fault,"he whispered guiltily. "The only reason I told her to fight anyway was because I was scared of this monster. I don't deserve the Crest of Courage. I've let a good ally fall because I didn't have the guts to fight myself."

"Don't blame yourself, Tai," I told him, trying to be a voice of sympathy, altough in all truths, I was grieving horribly on the inside. "I think we're both to blame. Even though I knew it wasn't right, I still went along with it anyway, because I didn't think Kat was my friend. I thought she would've done the same thing to me."

"How touching,"Hydramon hissed, rearing up high. "The Digidestined miss their Guardian friend. How I wish I had

a picture to remember this joyous event. Two Digidestined and their Guardian destroyed? I'll go down in history!"

Tai was shaking next to me, and I could tell he was really scared of this guy. I kinda was too, but mostly because I knew I was all alone. I didn't have any friends now that Kat was gone. The one person who I thought understood me I had treated like crap anyway, just like all the rest. I didn't have anyone now. And I had to admit it, I hadn't been sure Kat wouldn't have done the same thing to me.

"Gabymon Digivolve to... GARIRIMON!!!" Garirimon was back for Round Two. Tai, Agumon and I jumped on her back as she swam past, holding on while Garurumon swam behind the Hydramon and tried to get Kat to shore.

"Hydra Fa-" His attack was cut short by-

"Arrrrggghhh!"Something flew from out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the Hydramon's largest head. The Hydra Fang swerved above and to the left of us. But what was that wrestling with the immortal head?

"KAT?!"What was she doing here? I thought she was dead, if not hurt pretty bad. Then the truth hit me. She was

hurt real bad-but still fighting on our side anyway.

"So you're back for more,eh?"Hydramon hissed as he and Kat stared eye to eye for the first time.

"You can never keep a good Guardian down,"she told him, smiling grimly, despite the pain she was in.

"Then I'm suprised you weren't born in a hole! Venom Fang!" The attack had so much force that Kat was blasted off the giant head and onto Garurumon's back. And this time, I don't think she was going to get back up.

"Man oh man,"Tai said, shaking more than ever. "We're doomed now."

"No we're not," I told him firmly."It's not over 'till it's over! Kat would say the same thing."

"But she's not here, is she?"

That's right, I thought despairingly, dropping my head.

She's not here. And it's all my fault. If I hadn't been such a jerk, Kat wouldn't be the way she was now. But still, if I knew Kat, she would've been a jerk to me, too. At least that's what I'd thought then.

But that doesn't make it right, I told myself firmly. There's no excuse for what I did.

"Kat was really trying to be our friend,"I told Tai. "Even after we were mean to her and bossed her around, she still gave up her life to protect us. And she still fought on our side because she cares. We do have a friend in her after all!"

"She was the bravest person I ever knew,"Tai confided in me. "I was only brave because you guys gave me the courage I needed. But Kat didn't need anyone's support to be brave. She always was."

We sat in silence for a while, mourning the loss of our Guardian.

"She was a brave fighter," Tai said finally, like this was her funeral and we had to say something good about her.

He looked at me expectantly.

"And a good friend," I sighed, meaning it with all my heart. She was a good friend-even when I was not. My eyes filled with tears, even though I had vowed long ago to never let anyone see me cry. I just didn't care anymore.

I looked over at Tai, and his eyes were shining once again.

Splash. Two single solitary tears fell onto Garirimon's back-one from me and one from Tai. And then suddenly, our crests began to glow...

With a noise not unike the one from when we defeated Venommyotismon, the crests shot two diagonal beams at Hydramon, a orange one and a blue one. They combined together to form a giant silver one, which hit the monster right in the center of it's body, cutting a big hole which revealed Garurumon carrying Kat on the other side. The silver light hit Kat, and she began floating upwards into the sky. Her wings were now back, all holey and cut up, but they were back. She looked like an angel who had just been through hell.

I guessed she was still dead, because her head was bowed and it seemed as if this light were holding her up.

Then suddenly, light shone out from the holes in her wings and the cuts all over her body, making a wierd shining kind of noise. Then a great burst of light came over us, and we were temporarily blinded. When I could finally see again, Kat was still there, but...

All her cuts and wounds were gone, and her wings were back to normal. She lifted her head and stared the Hydramon straight in the eye, her face wearing an almost sadistic grin on her face.

"WHAT?! This cannot be! The Guardian lives! The Guardian lives!"

"You damn right. I'm... back!"

"But not for long! Venom-" He was cut short by Kat.

"Flaming Dart!" The scarlet attack widened the already giagantic hole, and the Hydramon screamed in pain as it sank below the waves. It's immortal head still fought, but two beams from the Crest of Courage and the Crest of Friendship took care of that no problem.

Kat floated down gently from the air and landed on Garirimon's back. She said nothing, merely stared us hard in the eye and flew away.

 

~*FLASH*~

 

"The Seven Pines,"Tai whispered next to me in awe. It

was two hours after our adventure at sea, and Kat hadn't spoken a word to us since then, except to fly down from her place in the sky and tell the sleeping Tai on Garirimon

and the sleeping me on Garurumon that we were at the brink of the first Pine.

"Ready to go?" Kat asked us, staring into the darkness that was the forest.

"Kat," I said to her softly. "I'm sorry."

"Me too,"added Tai. "We just thought it would be a funny joke."

"But did you realize it wasn't that funny?" Kat asked us quietly.

"Yeah," said Tai and I in unison.

"What you did could not have led to just my destruction, but your own as well. You endangered the lives' of yourselves and your Digimon alike. You should be apologizing to them."

"That's okay,"Gabumon said. "We understand that you were just trying to have a little fun."

"We forgive you completely,"said Agumon.

"We don't hold it against you,"added Gabymon.

"So that's settled,"announced Kat. "Now let's get going!"

"It's not settled, though,"I protested. "Kat, we all but killed you out there. If we hadn't realized our mistake in time, then you would have been lost forever!"

Kat smiled at us. "But you did realize your mistake. I would have been lost forever if you hadn't saved me."

"We owe you our lives'," Tai said to her.

"And I owe you mine,"Kat repied. "I'd say we are simply... even."

 

AN~So whaddaya think? I know that last line was stolen from Beast Wars(go Dinobot!), but I liked it and I'm acknowledging that fact here, so no flames, please. Part Three is about the Seven Pines and Peaks, and the leaders of the Chosen Children overcoming their worst fears from the past.

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