"The Circle of the Digidestined," written by Freedom Fighter

Disclaimer:  None of the characters, human or Digimon, belong to me, the writer.

Author's Warning:  The following fanfic features gruesome character death, both
of the human and Digimon kind, violence of varying levels, some profane language,
and some suggestive situations.  Please do not read this fanfic if you're underage
or feel that you cannot handle any of said features.

******

A young man in his early 20s was taking timeout from his regular studies to change
into a tuxedo for a formal that his friends were throwing.  The occasion was very
special as he glanced at a picture taped to the mirror.

The picture was of Highton View Terrace, where he and the other Digidestined
encountered Digimon for the first time in their lives exactly 15 years ago today.
A page calendar reads August 1st, 2014.  They weren't celebrating that night at
the apartment that changed their lives... they were actually remembering the
day that they first went to the Digital World.

At the time, Takeru Takashi was only seven years of age, close to going on eight.
Now, at 22 and currently in his final semester of freelance reporter school, he
was about to reunite with his friends for the last time before he headed off to
start his life for real as a reporter.

But there was one person he wanted to bring along with her.  That girl was
actually his childhood sweetheart, whom is majoring in primary education at
Tokyo University.  TK didn't get to see his girl much.  In fact, the only other
Digidestined that went to Tokyo U. were Izzy and Joe, but both had already
graduated.

This would be the first time he saw her in months.  After so long as friends, TK
had an item that would show that he was prepared to take the next step.  TK
pocketed a small box and started to head for the door.

As he departs, the camera focuses in on a picture that he had taken with her
and both of their Digimon in New York 12 years ago.

======

Time has passed since that day, and the beautiful teenage girl had grown into
a gorgeous, middle-aged woman who seemed content with her life as an elementary
school teacher in the city.  But there was only one title that TK would ever
think to call her.

That title?  The Digidestined of Light.

Currently, the Digidestined of Light, usually referred to by her maiden name
Kari Kamiya, was walking in the forest with TK.  This wasn't any ordinary
stroll for them, though.  They were on a mission, seeking out a disturbance
that had been reported in the area.  But so far, they had come up with nothing.

"Maybe Izzy got this one wrong," Kari told TK.  "We've walked for quite awhile
now without seeing anything."

TK hadn't heard a single word Kari had said, though.  He was more interested in
admiring Kari's smiling face... a face he hadn't seen in months.

"It's just like that day..." TK thought.

The duo continued their trek through the woods, unaware that a red-shirted man
is watching them from an abandoned treehouse not too far away from their current
position.

"It's her!" Red exclaimed excitedly as he looked through his pair of binoculars.
"It's really her!"

Red's Digimon, Gizamon, shook his head.  "No offense, but how long has it been
since you've seen her?"

"13 years," remembered Red.  "And it's been the longest 13 years ever, especially
after what happened that day..."

======

Red, 13 years younger and now in his mid-20s, gets off of a plane at Narita
International, Tokyo's main airport.  He heads to the luggage conveyor belt and
finds his bag... a giant leather duffel bag.

Red pulls his bag off the conveyor and to the side before opening the bag to
search for something very valuable that he had stored in there.  After a minute
or so of pushing clothes aside, he found it wedged underneath his favorite
handkerchief.

The object of value?  A small ring box, which he quickly placed in his pocket.
Once that was done, Red reached back into the bag and pulled out an invitation.
It had been sent by Izzy to all of the Digidestined, as well as close friends
that were designated by each of the team members themselves.  And Red was one
of Kari's closest friends.

The two had met when Kari spent a semester overseas, studying at the same
college in Venice where Red went to school.  They quickly became best of friends
and even dated once, but nothing more materialized from that relationship.

At the time, Red thought they could go farther.  He was ready to take the next
step, and he wanted to take it at that formal.

======

"I was on Cloud Nine that day, ready to surprise Kari," Red told Gizamon.  "But
she was the one who surprised me."

Gizamon nodded.  "So, why do you still pine for this Kari woman?"

"She's got beauty and brains, and is great athletically too!  She's perfect in
every way!"

"I doubt that's possible, but if you say so."

Red resumed viewing Kari through his binoculars, but he would occasionally
glance at TK... and seeth angrily every time.

"I'll show Kari the man she should have married!" Red announced as he dropped
his binoculars and exited the treehouse via the secret slide.

Gizamon followed afterwards, taking one last glance in the direction of where
TK and Kari were before hopping down the slide.

***** Episode Ten - The Key to Kari's Heart (06.19.03) *****

Meanwhile, half a mile away, Davis was observing Patamon, Gatomon, and Veemon.
The trio of Digimon were helping some Floramon who had been trapped underneath
a bunch of fallen trees.  The trees had fallen in such a way that a small
safety pocket was formed, just large enough to save the Floramon from deletion.

"On the count of three!" Patamon told Gatomon and Veemon, all three positioned
in order to push another one of the tree trunks out of the way.  "One!  Two!
Three!"

With all their might, the three Digimon pushed their legs forward.  Slowly but
surely the trunk began to budge.  With one last burst of power, the group jarred
the fallen tree trunk out of the pile and out of harm's way.  Finally, there was
enough room to get the Floramon out.

"Allow me!" Veemon exclaimed, the first to reach in and grab a Floramon's arms.
"Hang on tight!"

Veemon started pulling as hard as he could, trying to get the Floramon out.  At
first, it didn't seem that Veemon was making any process.  That changed when the
Digimon began to work together.  Gatomon wrapped her paws around Veemon's waist,
and Patamon put his around Gatomon's.  On the other hand, the three Floramon
inside used their shoulders to try and force their fellow Floramon through the
hole.

"Heave!  Ho!  Heave!  Ho!" the Digimon yelled.

After several tugs, they succeeded in freeing the first Floramon.

"Yeah, I'm free!" the giddy Floramon shouted happily.

"Now get us out of here!" exclaimed the other three Floramon.

Davis continued to look on as Veemon, Gatomon, and Patamon got ready to pull out
another one of the Floramon.  He sighed dreamily, obviously thinking about
something... or someone else.

"I run the best instant noodle company in the world, live in a large house, and
have a great family... so why does it feel like my life's not right?"

Davis reached into his back pocket and pulled out a picture from many years ago.
He was in it, dressed in a tuxedo, and his left arm was linked with Kari's right.
Kari was dolled up in a gorgeous, stunning peach-colored gown.

======

Flashback 13 years, right after the picture was taken.  Kari unliked herself
from Davis as she went over to the photographer, who in this case, was Mimi,
dressed in a sparkling sky blue dress that made her look like Cinderella.

"Tee hee... this oughta make him so jealous," giggled Mimi as she took out the
photograph and waited to develop.

"This is just for fun," Kari told Mimi.  "I didn't do it to make him jealous!"

As the two young women waited patiently for the photo, they didn't seem to notice
that Davis was still standing in the same pose he had taken the picture in.

But Kari's older brother, Tai, wearing a gray shirt and black slacks, did notice.

"What'cha doing standin' around like a statue?" the elder goggle boy asked the
younger one as he gave him a hard pat on the back, knocking Davis out of his pose.

"Sorry," Davis apologized.  "I guess I still see Kari as my dream girl."

"You waited too long.  She's already spoken for."

Davis lowered his head, as a waterfall of tears fell from his eyes.  "Why did I
have to go on that five-month trip around the world to promote my company?"

"Davis... are you okay?"

Davis stopped crying and quickly regained his composure when he looked up and
saw that the person asking him that question was Kari.

"Oh, it's nothing!" recovered Davis.  "Just had something in my eye, that's all."

Kari dismissed it as just that and handed the now-finished photo to Davis.

"Here you go.  You finally have one good pic of us together.  Well, at least one
that's serious."

Davis glanced at the photo, it of course being the same one we saw a minute ago.

"Thanks Kari!" Davis yelled, moving as if he was going to wrap his arms around
Kari.  Unfortunately, his arms ended up around Tai, who wasn't impressed in the
least.

"I don't know what your sister keeps telling you, but I don't swing that way!"

"Oops!" Davis quickly panicked as he let go and quickly ran off to safety... and
to find Kari and talk to her.

======

"It was that day that I found out Kari was engaged," remembered Davis, as a
single tear streaked down from his left eye and down his left cheek.

"Davis!" Veemon yelled in-between grunts as he and the other Digimon struggled
to get the second Floramon out, since she was a bit plumper than normal.

"I'm coming!" Davis exclaimed as he ran over to help the Digimon.

======

TK and Kari had made their way to a downward sloping hill hidden in the trees.
It was very steep, and neither looked as if they were willing to go down that
way.

"We'd better find another way down," Kari suggested.  "We might hurt ourselves
if we go down the hill here."

"I think I saw a path heading down there a minute ago," TK said.  "Let's
backtrack."

The two of them proceed forward, with TK leading the way.  He reached back and
grabbed one of Kari's hands with his, intending to keep her close.  Kari didn't
seem to mind as they quickly found the path TK had mentioned.

"Follow me!" TK exclaimed as he continued to lead.

The path sloped downward, and although it was not as steep as the hill they had
seen earlier, it was steep enough that they had to take care to watch their
footing.  Numerous tree roots that were sticking out of the ground didn't
help either.

"Watch your step, Kari."

"I can see in front of me, TK!" Kari snapped.  "I'll be fine."

"Sorry," TK apologized.

They continued forward, unaware that someone was following them, being kept
hidden by running through the bushes.  But a quick rustle of some branches
grabbed their attention.

"What was that?" Kari asked, turning her head to glance around.

That turned out to be a mistake, as the lapse of concentration made her trip over
a root that she hadn't seen.  TK, seeing Kari about to fall, reacts instantly,
sticking his arms out to catch her.

"I gotcha!" TK exclaimed.

Kari safely fell into a pair of waiting arms.  Surprisingly, the arms didn't
belong to TK, as he was standing just to Kari's left.

Kari glanced upwards, ready to thank TK... but was shocked to find herself in
the arms of another guy.  A guy that she had known in the past.

"Honda?" Kari blurted out, remembering his name.

"Kari," Honda smiled as he helped Kari stand upright.

"I haven't seen you in years!" Kari exclaimed as she beamed a smile that matched
Honda's in brightness.  She then turned to look at TK.  "TK, you remember Honda,
right?"

"I think so..." TK replied, scratching his head.

"He's my friend from Venice?  You know, the one that I was with when I was in
Italy for the student exchange program?"

"Oh, him?"

"Nice to see you again," greeted Honda, sticking his hand out in order to shake
hands with TK.

"Likewise," returned TK as the two shook hands.

"What do you say we go some place where's the room to sit down?" Kari cut in as
she started walking again.

TK and Honda followed Kari down the hill without objection.

======

TK walked through the crowd of partygoers at the formal, as he searched high and
low for Kari.  But so far, he was having no luck.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere," TK commented as he patted the right side
of his pants, right by the side pocket.

Suddenly, somebody tapped TK on the shoulder.  He turned around and found Yolei,
dressed in a strapless purple form-fitting dress and high heels.

"Hello... uh, Yolei," TK tugged at his shirt collar, as he was getting warm for
some odd reason.  "Nice dress."

"Wanna dance?"

"No offense, but wouldn't Ken be upset if he saw you dancing with someone?"

"One little dance won't hurt," Yolei smirked slyly.  "Besides, I tuckered him out
after all the dancing we did the past hour!"

"Well... okay..."

Yolei pulled TK to the dance floor as fast as humanly possible.

======

Honda was in the restroom, breathing heavily as he stared at himself in the
mirror.  He was nervous to the point where he was going to hyperventilate.

"Calm down," he told himself in-between breaths.  "You can do this."

Honda then began to feel something coming up his throat.  He quickly rushed over
to the toilet and started spitting in it.  He continued hanging over it, pretty
sure that in a minute, he'd be doing more than just plain old spitting.

======

Meanwhile, Davis was getting his groove on... over by the tables full of food.
He was holding a plate full of rice, beef stroganoff, and, of course, pasta
noodles.  And it didn't look like he was done yet, as he made his way over to
the snack and beverage table, which Joe, in a business suit minus the blazer,
was tending to.

"Davis, maybe you should come back after you've eaten all that," Joe suggested,
pointing to Davis's full plate.

"I've got to get everything while there's still some to get!" Davis exclaimed
as he stopped in front of a tray of brownies.

Joe sighed.  "Suit yourself... how many?"

"Two's good!"

Using a pair of tweezers, Joe transferred two brownies to Davis's plate, squeezing
them in on the side.

"Thanks!" Davis waved back as he walked away.

"Look out!"

Before Davis knew it, he had bumped into someone.  Just by normal reaction, he
accidentally launched the plate right into that person's clothing.

"You ruined my dress!" yelled the bumpee, a beautiful blue-haired girl in a
white knee-length dress... who in reality was actually Dora, whom Davis would
eventually end up marrying.

"Sorry about that," Davis apologized as he saw Dora's dress now decorated with
beef sauce, alredo sauce, rice grains, and brownie particles.

"This is a rental!" Dora screamed, attracting the attention of everyone in the
immediate vicinity.  "Do you know how much this is going to cost me?"

Dora grabbed the goggles, which Davis had forgotten not to wear to the formal,
and started whacking him on the head with them.

"Ow!  Okay, I get the idea!"

"Oh, you'll get the idea... once I pound it into that thick skull of yours!"

Davis pushed through the crowd and tried to get out of the room.  Dora followed
closely, still wanting to get a few more licks in to subside her rage.

======

Back in present time, we see that all four Floramon have been freed, as they are
now dancing around happily.  Patamon, Gatomon, and Veemon congratulate each other
on a job well done as they head over to Davis.

"We're done, Davish!" Veemon shouted.

"Mission accomplished!" Gatomon announced.

"Can we go find TK and Kari now?" Patomon asked, worried about the duo.

"That's right... there's something we need to check out!" Davis said excitedly,
immediately running off down a nearby path.

"Hey... wait for us!" cried the three Digimon.

======

TK, Kari, and Honda had found a small clearing where there were logs to sit on.
It was there that they spent some time catching up.  Okay, well, Kari and Honda
were catching up.  TK was just sitting off to the side, not saying anything at
all.

"So, what have you been up to?" asked a curious Kari.

"I currently work for a construction company," Honda replied.  "We're trying to
build larger floodgates so that Venice doesn't end up sinking into the sea in a
few years.  And you, Kari?"

"I'm a grade school teacher in Tokyo."

"That must be rough... having to deal with rowdy kids."

"It's not so bad once you show them how education can be fun!"

"That always seemed to be your style, Kari... always making things fun!  You
want everyone around you to be happy and have a good time!"

"I live under the philosophy that if you're happy, you can make everyone around
you happy as well!"

"That's for sure... you've made me happy!"

Kari and Honda were enjoying each other's company... but TK didn't look to be
enjoying Honda's at all.

"What is he doing here?" TK thought.  "Wasn't he made aware of all of the Digimon
attacks in the Western Quadrant two hours ago?  Or the one that supposedly is
here?"

Without warning, a orange and yellow Digimon with a shark's fin for a horn
hopped into the area.  Honda smiled as he got up from his seat and ran over to
pet the Digimon, Gizamon.

"Hello there, pal!" Honda said as he petted his Digimon.

"Do you know this Digimon?" TK asked, making his presence known again to Honda.

"TK and Kari, this is my Gizamon!"

"Hi!" shouted Gizamon.  "Pleased to meet you!"

"Isn't he cute?" Kari remarked as she knelt down to pet Gizamon as well.

"Yeah..." TK said, unimpressed.  "Cute."

TK got up and walked away, heading down the path where Gizamon had come from.

"What's wrong with him?" questioned Honda.

"I don't know," Kari replied, shaking her head.  "He's acting rather strange."

======

TK mumbled incoherently as he made his way through some shrubbery that was
covering the path.

"I still think's there something wrong with Honda," he said out loud.  "Something
doesn't fit... but what?"

After he pushed a low tree branch out of the way, TK came into another clearing.
This one was on a hill overlooking a valley.  And in the valley... were the
remnants of a Digimon village, practically burned and demolished.  TK could tell
instantly... he saw the few still standing huts covered with flames.

"This is awful!  Who could do such a thing, and how could we have not seen it?"

"The answer is that you were not meant to see it!" stated a voice from behind.

TK turned around and found himself face-to-face with Honda and his Gizamon.

"I put a special forcefield at the center of the village," explained Honda,
"which extends a full mile in all directions!  The only way to get in or out is
to have a special device that allows such digital travel."

"And this forcefield keeps anyone on the outside from seeing or smelling the
fires in the village!  That explains why Izzy's calculations were off!"

"Heh... remind me to meet this Izzy person.  Oh wait, that's right... I did at
that social all those years ago, right?"

"Cut the small talk!  Why have you destroyed this village?"

"To attract flies such as yourself... Digidestined!"

******

Author's Notes:
And now, we get into the story of who Kari fell in love with and how TK and
Davis missed out.  Let's not forget Honda, who also had affections for her.

Yes, it is intentional that Red is referred to as Honda instead of Red.  That's
because of the necessity to know his real name for the backstory.

***** Next Episode - Convergence in Osaka *****
TK discovers Red's, or rather Honda's, connection to all of the recent attacks.  But when Kari
finds out about all of this, she may find it all too much to swallow.  Meanwhile, an enraged
Dora arrives at the research lab, searching for her missing husband.  And Matt and Gabumon try
to find a way back to Earth... with the help of a certain child genius facsimile.