An Insider's Guide to the Digital World

💾 Chapter Ten 💾

The next three days came and went without any trouble. While the others had spent their time trying to relax, you stayed wide awake studying your tag.

You were able to read some forms of digicode, but the odd text that was sprawled along the sides of the tag was like nothing you had ever seen before. You were hoping to find out what your crest would be...

At some point during your childhood, Gennia had explained to you that each crest was a symbolic representation of the traits that each digidestined embodied.

At the time, you had no idea what the old man was babbling about and to this day you still had no clue.

Glancing to the side, you could see Tai sitting up and looking around with his binoculars. He must have just woken up.

"Couldn't sleep?"

You chuckled as Tai practically jumped out of his skin. The goggle headed boy looked back at you with an unamused expression.

"I should be asking you the same thing."

You slowly got up as to not disturb Impmon, who was loudly snoring next to you, and walked over to sit beside of Tai.

Tai stayed silent for a long while, just staring out at the expansive horizon.

"I've just been thinking..."

You cocked your head to the side in a questioning manner and allowed Tai to continue speaking.

"I've been thinking a lot about my family recently... I can't help but wonder how my parents are holding up without me... or if my little sister is okay..."

Tai wore a bitter sweet smile for a moment before looking at you.

"Can you keep a secret?"

You nodded you head 'yes' and continued to listen.

"There are times when I get really jealous of Matt. He gets to spend everyday in the digital world with T.K. and sometimes I wish that Kari was here instead..."

Tai held his hands up in defense and quickly attempted to explain himself.

"Don't get me wrong! It's not that I don't like T.K. or anything... and... I know the two of them don't get to see each other very often in the real world... but... I just really miss having my sister around."

Tai looked up at the sunrise and let out a heavy sigh.

The two of you sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the peaceful sounds of the ocean.

" I wish I still remembered what my family was like..."

Tai looked at you out of the corner of his eye.

"You don't remember them?"

You shook your head 'no' and did your best to explain your current situation.

"I've been here so long... I don't remember anything about the real world... including my family. I don't even remember what they looked like."

The two of you sat in contemplation as the sun continued to rise. The sky flourished with shades of pink, purple, yellow and orange as you two of you became lost in thought.

Tai brought his knees up closer to his chest and rested his head upon them.

"Sometimes... I wonder if we'll ever see our families again."

You looked over at Tai, watching him for a moment. This was the first time you had ever seen anyone look so... defeated. It was as though all his energy had simply faded away, leaving him an empty shell of his former self.