Reviews:

ReR0547: Thanks. Like I said before, I cannot make any promises going forward. Enjoy.

Music Chick: You're about to find out what else can go wrong.

Clefeifei: My only question is are you ready to receive it as hard as you can ;-)

Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: Could not have said it better myself. Tai is everything you would want in a leader. Thank you as always for your reviews, Greymon.

Ackbarfan5556: Nah, that would be Tai.

Rowlet10: You bet we did.

Shout out to endlessfun for the follow. Much appreciated.


Well, here we are. We have reached the final stage of our journey. Future is here. Trust me, you guys are not going to want to miss this entire saga. So many things to tie up, and one epic battle scene to come. Hope you all have done well this past week. Now that Tai is gone, let's see how everyone reacts to it.

Enjoy.


Matt's heart stopped beating as the cloud of dust disappeared and showed Tai and Daigo were nowhere to be found. All he saw was the pair of goggles Tai wore around his neck at the foot of the fissure nestled on the ground. The air had become deathly still like the sounds of the world had been turned off. In all the chaos, Alphamon had disappeared, but that was the last thing Matt was worried about.

Their leader was gone.

Tai's last request rang in his ears as he stood firmly in place like a statue. Did he know that this was going to happen? If so, why had it just been him charging forward? Why hadn't he asked him to join? That way they could have covered each other. Matt felt so many emotions rushing through him that he could not narrow one down to feel right now.

His hands tightened into fists and shook. His teeth dug into his bottom lip as an attack of the sniffles ravaged his body.

"He's not dead," someone said in a small, breathless voice. Matt looked over and saw Kari standing in a daze, like a survivor from a plane crash.

TK came forward to wrap his arms around her. "Kari–" he began.

Then the explosion happened.

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" Kari screamed, tears flowing down her face as she fought against TK's grip. Her head thrashed from left to right in denial. "NO! NO! HE'S NOT DEAD! HE'S NOT DEAD!"

Loud sobs erupted from the younger Kamiya's mouth as she mourned the loss of her brother. The sound of them almost made Matt want to cry himself. They were such raw, agonized shrieks that not even a banshee could equal them. They would make even the most hardened soldier run away from a battle and go home to his family. Matt looked back and saw everyone else was trying not to cry. Mimi broke down first before Izzy hugged her, followed by Meiko. Joe and Sora were completely stone faced.

Kari continued repeating "He's not dead! He's not dead!" for a few moments longer before she broke free from TK's grip and ran to the edge of the fissure. She collapsed to her knees, unable to stand up.

"TAI, GET BACK UP HERE!" she shrieked, her face red from all the tears and shouting. "PLEASE! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" Her fist pounded the ground. "THIS! ISN'T! FUNNY!"

Matt had just about heard enough.

"Kari, shut up!" he snapped, taking a step towards her.

The Jedi of Light didn't hear him as she continued her hysterical display of loss. She pounded the ground like a toddler having a meltdown after not getting something they wanted and sobbed loudly into the ground.

"TAI, PLEASE COME BACK! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! PLEASE!"

Matt growled in agitation and picked her up by her shoulders. His face was now beet red with anger and emotion.

"KARI! SHUT UP!" he yelled in her face. But she wouldn't stop crying or calling out Tai's name. In his emotional state, Matt could not stop himself from getting riled up. He shook her hard before repeating what he said before with more power behind it. "SHUT! UP!"

"MATT, STOP! LEAVE HER ALONE!" TK cried as Matt felt his brother try to push him away from Kari.

The older brother glared at the younger one and tossed Kari into his arms. "Then you take care of her," he snarled.

When Matt turned, he saw everyone else had snapped out of their catatonic states and were horrified by what he had done to Kari. He didn't care. Stuff like this was not going to bring Tai back.

Izzy approached first. He spoke in a calm, even-keeled voice. "Matt, come on. She's hysterical," he said. "Beating her up like this is not going to–"

Matt shoved him to the ground. "SHUT UP!" he roared.

"Matt, stop it!" Mimi snapped, shoving him away from Izzy. "Yelling is not helping anything!"

"I'll tell you what's not helping," Matt returned before pointing at Kari, who had collapsed to her knees while still in TK's arms. "That is not helping."

Joe jumped in to say his piece. "Are you serious, Matt? How can you treat Kari like that? She just lost her brother."

"I know that, but there's nothing we can do about it. He's gone!"

"Show a little consideration!" Mimi shouted.

"BE QUIET! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Matt and everyone else that had been yelling instantly shut up. Kari's sobs were the only thing that could be heard, but nobody cared all of a sudden.

Sora breathed heavily, giving away that she was the one who let that demanding cry out. Matt was so surprised to hear that kind of volume in her voice. He had never heard it before, so he didn't know what to think. There wasn't much room to do that anyway since Sora walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a hug. He went silent.

"What do we do now?" she asked at a normal volume.

Past her in-control fa?ade, Matt knew she was just barely hanging on emotionally. But as was her nature, Sora put everyone else before herself in that moment in order to keep them all together. It was one of the best things about her, but as Matt had learned recently, it was also a destructive quality about her. Luckily, it seemed the former was taking place. They all needed it to be honest. Even so, Sora was right.

What were they going to do now?


TK stroked the back of Kari's head as she continued sobbing into his chest. He could not imagine the pain and anguish she was going through right now. It was understandable though. If it had been Matt that fell instead of Tai, he probably would be doing the same thing she was doing right now. The Jedi of Hope did not know what to say, so he just held her and allowed her to pour everything out.

"Tai!" she wailed, repeating his name as if saying it enough times would bring him back like nothing happened. "Tai!"

TK buried his face in the crown of her head. His heart broke hearing her in such a state. If only there was something he could do to help. At least things seemingly could not get much worse than they already were.

A loud scream erupted from Kari's mouth, nearly making TK jump two feet in the air. What startled him was not the scream itself, but the way it sounded. This wasn't in mourning of her brother, but something else. Like she was in pain.

"Kari?" he asked with a quiver in his voice, unsure of what to do. "What's wrong?"

The Jedi of Light did not answer as she slumped out of his arms and curled into a fetal position, still screaming in pain. Her body spasmed and thrashed uncontrollably. Whatever was happening to her, it did not seem natural. TK felt so helpless. The girl he loved was in such unbearable pain and there was nothing he could do about it.

"JOE!" he shouted while hyperventilating. He felt like he was going to be sick. "Help me, Joe!"

The oldest Jedi appeared at his side in a second.

"Stay back," he ordered. "Give her some space."

"Why?" TK balked. "She's in pain, Joe!"

"Stay back," Joe repeated with a snarl. "Touching her now could hurt her even more."

Despite his instincts screaming at him to do something, TK obeyed the elder Jedi's instructions and stayed put as Kari continued thrashing on the ground. The girl rolled over on the side facing him as the jerky movements slowed down, but not completely. Her eyes shot open as she let out one last scream before passing out a second later.

TK's blood went cold. Before Kari had passed out, he got a glimpse at her eyes. They were not the warm, reddish brown ones that he could lose himself in for hours. Instead, they reminded him of Meiko whenever the infection took over. The same yellow and red eyes he saw in Meiko and Oikawa. He gasped. That same thing must have happened to her too.

"She's..." he breathed, unable to bring himself to say it.

"She's infected," Izzy finished. "But how?"

The Jedi of Hope felt like his guts had been ripped out of his body. Kari was infected? How could that be? He didn't remember anything happening that could have precipitated that. TK desperately wanted to help Kari, but he didn't know the cause of what infected her. He felt so useless.

"Kari," he breathed, his voice shaking with emotion. He had promised Tai that he would keep Kari safe, but it looked like he had broken that promise. Tears pricked his eyes as he tenderly stroked her cheek.

A dark, cold laugh sent a chill through TK. He slowly looked up and saw Meiko staring at them with an evil sneer. The infection had taken over her again. Was it for the last time before it became permanent?

"It is time," she chuckled. "The corruption of Light has now begun."

"What do you mean 'the corruption of Light'?" Sora asked. "What did you do to her, Meiko?"

Dark Meiko laughed. "This was not my doing. You should have been paying better attention to your friends, Jedi of Love." A distortion appeared behind her, sending a cold chill through TK's body. She then looked to the unconscious Kari. "Rise, Light."

On cue, Dark Kari's eyes snapped open. Like a zombie, she slowly rose into a seated position before climbing to her feet. The hints of an evil smirk on her face became clear.

"Come with me, Light, and we shall prepare the real world for King Drasil's coming," Dark Meiko said.

Dark Kari bowed her head and walked wordlessly toward Dark Meiko. TK wanted to stop her from going anywhere, but he was too stunned to do anything. Looking around he saw everyone else was too. That is, until Joe stepped out in front of her, his arms wide to block her from moving further.

"Stop, Kari!" he ordered. "I'm not letting you go. Tai would stop you too. Think of your brother."

Dark Kari was having none of it. "Get out of my way or I shall have to kill you," she said in a reptilian voice. Her hand rose, seemingly to launch a Force attack at Joe.

Sora then stepped out next to the oldest Destined Jedi and pointed her unsheathed blue lightsaber toward Dark Kari. "Then you'll have to kill the rest of us too, Kari," she said. "We're not letting you go anywhere."

"So be it, Jedi."

TK watched in horror as the air around Dark Kari suddenly stopped and switched direction. It was now sweeping from under her as a dark aura surrounded the Jedi of Light. Without warning, images of Tai's last moments flashed before the blonde teenager's eyes accompanied by a searing pain that stabbed into him like spikes in the back of his skull. He cried out in pain as he grabbed his head, his eyes squeezed shut. Around him, he heard Mimi and Izzy scream from the intensity, along with Sora.

"Tai!" Matt yelled in agony.

TK found the strength to squint his eyes open to see what was going on. The dark aura completely engulfed Dark Kari until she was no more than a shadow in the desert landscape. Wind shot out from either side, creating a large sand tornado that blew the small tan particles in every direction. He guarded his eyes to keep the sand from flying into them.

"Stop it, Kari!" he screamed, worried he would be driven to insanity if this torture kept up.

For some reason, the images came to a halt. The wind stopped gusting around him too. TK wondered if she had listened to him, but when he removed his arm from his eyes, he saw a purple vortex surround him on all sides. The cause of this proved to be Joe. He was using his special ability––creating protective barriers––to stem Kari's mental assault.

"Stay close to me, TK, or I can't protect you," the oldest Destined Jedi advised.

TK nodded as Kari screamed in anger, looking at the two of them with hatred. She must have figured out she wasn't affecting them and was frustrated by it. As he stared at her, TK felt what was going on inside of Kari.

"She's in pain," he said. Without another thought, he rushed out of the protective circle.

"TK, come back!" Joe cried, but the young blonde teenager had made up his mind.

The Jedi of Hope fought against the image of Tai falling as he reached Kari and wrapped his arms around her. If anything could help bring her back, this had to be it. He had to break through somehow. The promise he made to Tai to protect Kari echoed in his ears as he held on as tight as he could.

"Let go of me, you despicable reason for existence!" Dark Kari snarled as she tried to break free from his hold. "How could you actually think my skin wouldn't crawl at your touch?"

TK did not respond as he tightened his hold around her waist. If he had to endure some verbal abuse to bring her back, it was more than worth it. One thing was for sure: He was not letting go until the real Kari Kamiya, the one he knew and loved with every beat of his heart, was back.

"I SAID LET ME GO!" Dark Kari screeched, but he still did not.

"TK, look out!" he heard Matt cry. The younger blonde opened his eyes and saw his brother hold another saber in his hands. Then it slowly dawned on him: Dark Kari tried to kill him just now by stabbing her lightsaber into his back, but Matt stopped it. Dark Kari then blasted Matt away with a Force blast.

"Come on, Kari," he urged. "You've got to fight it."

The girl thrashed some more in his grip, but it grew steadily weaker with each passing second. Her growls and screams died down until she finally became quiet. TK hoped that meant it was finally over, but he could not be too sure. Once he felt it was safe enough to let go, he backed off two steps to check on the Destined Jedi of Light. Her eyes were back to their normal reddish brown.

"What happened?" she said as she shook her head out. Their eyes then made contact. "TK? Did I black out or something?"

A wide smile spread along TK's face. He sighed in relief. "Kari, you're back," he said as he hugged her tightly. "Thank goodness."

As she buried her face in his neck, TK heard the soft sounds of her crying, which made him tighten his hold on her.

Dark Meiko's dark, cold laugh came yet again. TK gritted his teeth and glared at her. If this was truly the new Meiko––the once and for all one––then he was going to make damn sure that Kari did not meet that same fate. It didn't matter what his brother thought. She was a danger to them in this form.

"You held it off for now, Light," she said, taunting Kari. "But Mistress will be waiting for you. Eventually, you'll be just like me. You're only prolonging the inevitable."

"You won't do anything to her!" TK growled, holding Kari protectively against him. "You hear me? This isn't over."

Dark Meiko laughed again as she backed up toward the distortion. "You fools, it is already over. King Drasil will take over your world soon enough. I must go and usher in the new era." Her body entered the distortion and it started to close around her. Before it did, she said one last thing.

"All hail King Drasil."

"Meiko!" Matt cried. TK saw he wanted to make a move, but couldn't. Maybe it was the shock of the moment, or perhaps he knew there was nothing he could do to stop her.

The distortion was gone, along with her.

TK felt himself be pushed away as Kari stomped towards where the distortion had been. Her blue lightsaber shot out of its metal casing.

"Coward!" she screamed, angry tears dripping down her face. "Come back here! My brother is dead because of you!"

The Jedi of Hope stepped forward to grab her, but his brother beat him to it. A reflection of light hit TK's face from something in his brother's hand. When he adjusted his position to get a look, he saw that Matt had Tai's goggles in his grasp.

"Kari. We'll stop her later," he heard Matt say. "Right now, we need to calm down and think of a plan."

Kari sniffled. "He's gone," he whimpered. "Tai's gone. And I'm…the same monster."

TK went up and hugged her against him, softly shushing her as she resumed crying.

"No you're not, Kari," he whispered. "We will not let anything happen to you." To Matt, he said, "Looks like we know now what Homeostasis meant when it said that Kari's emotions would destroy her."

Matt nodded wordlessly.

The whole informal circle then went silent. TK noticed everyone looking at Matt, knowing that he was now in command with Tai's absence. TK followed their line of sight, curious to what Matt was going to say.

"Everyone," he began, "we have to go back. We still have a job to do." He paused as he turned his head around to look at everyone before his eyes settled on TK. The Jedi of Hope felt a jolt surge through him. "We're all strung out. I know that. We lost Tai. We lost Mr. Nishijima."

TK watched as Matt blanked, then looked towards where the distortion was. He had a feeling Matt was mourning over Meiko in his own way. The new leader turned back to them rubbing his eyes in frustrated, quick wipes before standing tall again. Was his own brother trying to hold back from crying?

"But if we shut down now and not fight, we will have dishonored everything they fought for. We're still the Destined Jedi with or without them."

In the most symbolic act he could commit, Matt raised the goggles above his head and brought them down to around his neck. To TK, it felt weird seeing the goggles on someone else. It conjured up images of when he held the goggles three years ago and failed to live up to them. He hoped Matt could do better than he did. Even so, he felt a calming wave of confidence wash over him. He knew Matt could do it.

"For Tai," said Sora as she wiped her tears and stood up.

Joe followed and put his hand on her shoulder. "For Tai."

"For Tai," Izzy echoed, wrapping his arm around Mimi, who echoed his statement.

Matt stood silently for a few moments, and then said, "Then let's go home. We need to make a plan for what to do. I have a feeling this is going to be the last time we face Meiko."

TK smiled. "Lead the way, brother."

Matt smiled back and walked away from the fissure. TK started to follow along with the others before he noticed Kari was not among them. He looked behind him and saw her staring down into the split earth, a sad look in her eyes.

"Kari?" he said.

She didn't answer him. Kari appeared as though she were in a daze, not acknowledging his presence.

"I will always love you, Tai," she said quietly to herself. "Always."

Kari finally turned to look at him. TK knew there was nothing he could say or do that would give her any comfort or bring Tai back to them. He was gone. But they could not stay here any longer. He went over to wrap his arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, Kari," he politely urged. "Let's go."

She didn't fight him as he led her to catch up with the others.

xXx

"Matt, where are we going to go once we get back?" Joe asked. "We can't go home, and we can't go back to the school because the whole city's going to be looking for us. They'll burn us at the stake for what happened a little while ago."

"We can't go to my office either," added Izzy. "My feelings tell me the agency has marked down all of our frequent meeting places and have people waiting for us at each of them. They'll turn us over to the Self-Defense Forces if we show our faces in one."

"I know," said Matt. Both of them were right. They were screwed either way. Even so, he intended to honor Tai's promise and take care of everyone. "We're gonna have to get creative here. Any ideas?"

A silence spread across everyone for two measures of a heartbeat. He gazed at each and every one of them, hoping that an idea would come out. Izzy was right that it wasn't safe at his office. They couldn't go home either, nor the bridge probably. It seemed nowhere was safe for them.

"The warehouse," TK said.

Matt turned his eyes to his younger brother. "Huh?" he replied. "Say that again?"

"The warehouse," TK repeated. "That's the only place we know of that they don't. Remember? That was our unofficial headquarters during the events of three years ago. It should be safe for us there."

A wide smile spread across Izzy's face. "Prodigious!" he exclaimed. "You're right, TK." Then his face fell. "Is it even still there though? I lost track of it after we abandoned it two years ago. I don't even know if it's still abandoned."

"It's worth a try though," said Matt. "It's all we have left. The warehouse it is."

Sora reached her hand out and a portal appeared a second later. "Then let's go," she said.

One by one, everyone walked into the portal until Matt and Sora were the only ones still left in the Digital World. He saw her face fall now that they were alone. There was something weighing heavily on her mind. He needed to get to the bottom of it.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

Sora didn't respond.

"What's wrong? Want to talk about it?"

The Jedi of Love brushed it off with that dismissive smile of hers. "Let's stay focused," she said. "Everyone else needs us, especially Kari."

She walked to the portal, but Matt stopped her by softly grabbing her wrist.

"Sora, come on. Let's be honest with each other," he said firmly. "Something about Tai seemed off when he asked me to take care of you before he…" Gulp. "…died. Did something happen last night?"

Sora shook her head fiercely. Her face was red in the way one makes when trying to hold back tears. Matt knew the only way to get through to her was to assist in breaking her walls down.

"I-I can't do this," she sniffled. "You and I need to be strong for them."

He hugged her and simply said, "Sora."

Her walls came crumbling down. Sora balled her hands into fists as they squeezed the material of his tunic. Her heartbroken wails cut through Matt's heart, but he stayed strong. He promised Tai he'd take care of Sora and he had every intention of following through with that promise. It didn't matter if he no longer had feelings for her, he was going to do everything possible to protect her because she was his friend.

"Shh, shh," he said softly, patting her head as she continued to cry. "It's okay. We're going to get through this."

"I said some things I shouldn't have said," Sora wailed. "Now he's gone. I didn't mean any of it either. I royally messed up, and I will never get a chance to fix it. I'm a horrible person, Matt."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!"

It took a few moments before Sora finally calmed down. When she was done crying, she lifted her head from Matt's chest to look up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and some snot ran down her nose. Matt pulled up his sleeve until it covered his hand and used it to wipe Sora's nose.

"You can tell me all about it when we get back," he said with an assuring smile before turning his gaze to the portal. "The portal is closing. We better hurry up."

Sora nodded and took his hand in her own. A few months ago, this would have sent a jolt through Matt's whole body and made his face turn scarlet. Now, it was just like walking along with a friend.

Matt tightened his grip on Sora's hand and led her through the portal.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake that she did. He was going to get Meiko back. That sweet, childlike, future veterinarian, with all her smiles she hid from the world, was going to come back to him no matter what it took.

Besides, he still wanted to learn what that one last smile meant. It was silly to think it was meant only for him. It was silly to be so obsessed finding out about all these smiles that radiated from her when that protective guard of hers was down, but at this point it didn't matter.

To Matt Ishida, Meiko wasn't whatever title everyone was giving her: The Alternative Chosen One. The abused, poor, helpless child now turned over to foster care. The Host. The dangerous monster that must be killed. A useless vessel that could be manipulated for light or darkness.

To Matt Ishida, Meiko Mochizuki was that shy, beautiful girl that wanted to experience life just like any normal teenage girl, and he was going to help her do just that––even if he was pretty sure she'd never feel the same way for him.

One thing he was certain of, life was short. When this was all over, he wouldn't make the same mistake as Sora in waiting to speak up until after it was too late.


With Tai gone, what awaits the Destined Jedi next as they prepare for the battle to end all battles? Find out next time on Revenge of the Infected.

Was I the only one extremely disappointed in how they handled Kari taking Tai's supposed death? Too much internalization and control than I would have liked. I was expecting her to completely lose it at some point, hence what happened here. That whole part was a mix of moments from Return of the King (Pippin saying that Faramir wasn't dead) and Jaws 2 (the argument). Just about how you would imagine real people reacting in real life.

I'm sure you guys figured it out long before this, but yes, Kari was infected too. As if things could not get any worse.

I'll be back next week with the start of the battle to end all battles. I hope you all enjoy it. As always, leave a review and subscribe before we reach the end of the story. We are almost there.

See you guys next weekend.