I haven't written anything in a few years but Digimon is still close to my heart. Therefore, here's a little something I've been working on. And like everyone else, I don't own Digimon. - Xanpluto

Chapter 1: Declining

When he thought of various tortures that could be inflicted this did not come to mind. The word torture evokes some type of inflicting force whether it be knives, stretching, or implied drowning. However, his pain was nothing of that sort. Nothing touched him but he was in agony.

It started gradually many months ago. When he'd first gotten out of bed on a Monday morning his room spun in circles; he had to steady himself against the wall. After nearly a minute everything returned to normal with the exception of his pounding head. Each pump of blood thrashed so hard that he prayed his heart would just stop beating.

"Tk, are you up yet?" Nancy said with a knock on his door.

"Yeah mum." He answered and opened the door himself. "I'm up."

"Good, I'm off to work. Have a good day at school." He nodded and watched her figure disappear down the hallway. After she'd closed the front door Tk tried to return to his morning routine. He took a cold shower, ate a banana, and collected his books for school. Within forty-five minutes he was ready but still clutching his head in pain. He tried to put his happiest smiling face on so he wouldn't worry others and walked to a bus stop nearly a mile away. As usual, Kari was waiting for him.

"Hey Tk, guess who finished Professor Wrighten's midterm essay two days early?" She said with a huge grin.

"Um, let me think." He said putting his arms around her waist. "That ginger leprechaun that sits a top his pile of gold in the back of the class whistling Over the Rainbow?" he said with a kiss at her neck. She giggled. "Or is it the caveman who grunts continuously while roasting a boar over an open fire during class." He kissed her neck again.

"You're being silly." She said while trying to hold back her giggles.

"You're right, how stupid could I be. The leprechaun only likes economics and the caveman is illiterate. Dumb, dumb, dumb." He said with a tap of his forehead against hers.

"One more guess." She said happily.

Tk let go of her waist and took a thoughtful stance, "Maybe," he stroked his chin, "it's that beautiful chocolate eyed brunette with the adorable smile." Kari gave him a playful hit on the arm. "What? Did I guess wrong?"

"Oh shushhhh." She said with a blush.

"So I was right." He said proudly. "Maybe Christine will let me copy it."

Kari punched him harder in the arm. "Tk." She said with an eye roll.

"Alright, alright. Christine has dirty blond hair. I'm sorry I got confused." Kari punched him harder still and then peered onto the street for the bus. "I kid, I kid. Of course you're the adorable one." He said grabbing her wrist. She swung around swiftly and brought her face close to his.

"I know, I just wanted the chance to do this." She said with a smile and pecked her lips on his. "I think the bus is running late." She peered down the street again.

"Nope, I see it coming now shorty." He said with his innocent smile.

After boarding the bus they talked cheerfully and Tk was too distracted to remember his pounding head. It finally occurred to him that something was wrong when he sat down in his Ancient Literature class. The stillness and particularly dry lecture made him focus on nothing but the pain. When class ended he had to stand up especially slow to prevent dizziness. This continued for the rest of the week increasing gradually in pain. He still did not want to bother anyone but it didn't take long for Kari to notice something was up.

"Hey, Tk." Kari said as they sat studying at her parents' house.

"Hey, honey bunches of oats." He replied sweetly but without lifting his head out of his book.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why?" He said with a glance in her direction, "Are you okay?" He asked at the worrisome expression on her face.

"I'm fine, but I'm worried about you. I don't think you've turned a page in the last ten minutes."

Tk flicked his eyes to the book and then back up again, "I've just got a headache. It's taking me longer to process this dense material."

"Are you sure?" She said getting up from her desk chair and walking to where he sat on her sofa. She put a hand to his forehead and found it a normal temperature. "Do you want an aspirin or something?"

"Nah, it's fine. I already took something."

"Ok," she said sitting next to him, "how about a rest then?" She indicated her lap.

"That sounds perfect." He said happily and laid his head on her lap. Her hands ran through his silky hair and despite his head pain he was lulled into sleep.

Moments like this were fleeting: four months later the headaches were still getting worse. Some nights Tk awoke on fire but without a high temperature. He had to quit basketball because the motion made him dizzy and sick almost to the point of retching. Everyone who knew him was getting extremely worried. His mother had taken him to neurological experts and initially they blamed migraines but none of the medications worked. Soon no one had an answer.

Despite the pain Tk always seemed more or less happy. He kept a brave face on in front of his friends and family and tried to continue his normal life. Yet, after being dragged several times to his university's medical center he soon stopped showing up to class altogether.

"Hey Teeks, how you feeling today?" Tk's overly protective brother said while entering his dark lit room.

"Matt? Mom didn't say you were stopping by." Tk said excitedly.

"Do I really need to announce when I'm coming over to visit my favorite brother?" he said with a hint of play.

"I might've cleaned up a little." Tk moved to get out of bed and clear things off his desk so Matt could sit but was stopped.

"I'm used to mess, I live with dad remember." Matt gave Tk a push back into bed. "So, what's up?"

"Same old, same old." Tk said with a forced smile. "It's not that interesting here. What about you? Mom said there was an article about your band in the newspaper the day before yesterday. I plan to read it soon."

"Yeah, it was really good for publicity. Our agent booked us some nice venues."

"That's great." Tk said with an unintentional wince. "How's the gang? How's Patamon?"

Matt didn't answer immediately. He didn't want Tk to get more upset about missing a trip to the digital world. "Everyone's good. Worried about you. Patamon wants to come to the human world but Genni doesn't think it's a good idea. Something about electrical surges of digital data in the human world."

"That's too bad." Tk said simply but Matt could tell he was upset. "I'm glad you had a good time though."

"Yeah. I almost forgot, Elecmon told me to tell you that a baby digimon asked for you after being hatched."

"Really? That's weird."

"Yeah, he had to rush back to Toy town before I could get anything else out of him."

"Oh." Tk said curiously.

"I'll ask him more next time."

"Yes, next time!" Tk responded excitedly, almost as if he expected to go.

"Woah," Matt said while raising his hands, "cool your jets. You're not going anywhere until you get better."

Tk's smile slipped into a frown, "I know."

"But that'll be real soon." A sweet voice said from the doorway, "Right, Tk?" Kari walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before sitting beside him on the bed.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you guys cute." Matt said in a teasing voice. "But, I'm going to have to tell Tai about that kiss."

Kari gave a smile as well, "He's walked in on worse." Matt's found himself speechless but Kari continued undisturbed, "How are feeling?" She ran her fingers lightly through Tk blond locks.

"The same." He said while closing his eyes at her touch. "Always the same." Both Kari and Matt gave sympathizing looks.

"Oh are we having a party in here?" Nancy said while opening the door.

"Yup, we're living it up, mom." Matt answered sarcastically.

"That's nice. Tk, have you taken that new medication yet?" Tk gave a groan.

"You need to take it every six hours."

"It makes me sleepy," Tk said unhappily, "I don't want to sleep I want to go for a run." All three looked at Tk and he embarrassedly shifted his eyes away. "Fine, where is it?"

Nancy motioned to a bottle at his desk and Matt unscrewed the cap before handing Tk a single pill.

"Cheers," he said while raising a glass of water enthusiastically, "and goodnight." The effect was almost instant and he was fast asleep.

Tk's life didn't change much for the next few months. He was confined to bed with his presence shrinking everyday. Sometimes a digidestined would visit and he'd just stare at the wall the whole time. Other times he'd make short, incoherent conversation. Neurologists from all around the country had taken an interest in him; neither a CAT scan or MRI showed any neurological damage and his biological signs were fine. Eventually, Tk spent most of his time at the hospital so they could all individually poke and prod him.

"Hey TZ, I brought my latest soccer game for us to watch." Davis said while opening Tk's hospital door. The DVD dropped to the floor with a clash as Davis's mouth dropped in shocked from what he saw. Tk lay sprawled across the floor with small drops of blood surrounding him. It looked like he'd tried to run out of the room and pulled the IV out along the way. "HEY! I need help in here!" Davis shouted in the hallway and several nurses ran towards him. They moved Tk back into the bed and fixed his IV. He was asleep but looked unhappy.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Davis asked rhetorically.

An hour or so later Tai and Kari entered the room. They talked for awhile then Tai offered to drive Davis home so he wouldn't have to catch the bus. Tai was a kind friend but he also wanted to give his sister some time alone with her boyfriend. She was one of the ones taking his situation the hardest.

Tk only opened his eyes four more times after Davis had found him and each of those times he didn't speak or show any other signs of consciousness. He was in a catatonic state which, once again, no one could explain. Tears were shed over and away from his bedside.

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In the midst of the throbbing Tk felt someone talking to him. He was so weak that it took all his efforts to concentrate on the words.

"Hope? Hope. Can you hear me?" Tk heard but couldn't reply. "Perfect, he's weak enough Pseudomon."

"Good. Enter and don't cause suspicion." A deeper voice replied. Within a few seconds Tk felt a mental kick in the balls. His mind spun for several minutes and when he was finally able to focus he saw things that he couldn't control. His mouth also moved without his command. He tried to get a grip on his surroundings but his head pounded fiercely and he recoiled.

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