The Kamiya Home, The March After Apocalymon's Defeat
Sora was practically at the point of begging, but the younger girl would not budge. For nearly half an hour, her best friend's little sister hadn't given an inch despite her pleas, and had simply been content to sit on her bed saying "no".
"Come on, Kari. Your brother's too dumb for this to work on..." She tried.
"Hey!" Said brother protested, as his sister giggled.
"Okay, okay, I'll help.... What's this for anyway?" Kari finally conceded.
Sora grinned.
"It's for the Spring talent show at school. I've been trying to get this hypnotism trick to work all week on Tai but he's just not got the imagination to let himself be hypnotised I guess. The book I read said that some people were like that..."
Kari just nodded.
"So... What do you do anyway?"
"Well, the book said I either get you to listen to a tape, or I try to wave something in front of you and get you to go under." Sora said in reply.
"Do you have the book with you?" Tai asked.
Sora pulled it out from her bag.
"Yep. But you can't read it. Not until it works on Kari..."
"Assuming it does work, she's my sister, and she's not exactly a genius..."
A pillow was flung at the goggle-boy for his rudeness.
"You deserved that." Sora noted.
"Yeah, yeah..." Tai grumbled.
"Okay, Kari, what I'm going to do is wave a coin on a string in front of you..."
"Like a pendulum, okay."
"And you try to follow it and relax. I also try to speak softly to help you into a trance, and once you're under I can make suggestions to you."
"Okay... Um, don't make me do anything weird..." Kari worried a little.
"Relax. I was planning on having Tai do the embarrassing stuff but he's not as imaginative as us girls."
"Wait, you planned to make me do the weird stuff?"
Sora ignored Tai's protesting question as she began swinging her coin, Kari sitting on her bed with her back to the wall.
"Okay... Follow the coin with your eyes... Just relax, follow the coin and follow my voice..."
Kari nodded, eyes tracking the coin.
"So, how long does this take?" Tai asked.
"Sush, be quiet. No distractions..." Sora admonished. Kari kept tracking the coin.
"Keep listening, and tracking the coin. Nothing but the coin, nothing but the sound of my voice... You feel relaxed, content. Not tired, but you still want to sleep. Keep following my voice, keep following the coin..."
Kari's eyes swung in tandem with the coin, and she had begun to sway a little.
"Now, in a moment I'm going to count down from five and let you go into the trance slowly. You'll relax your body bit by bit and then let your mind take a rest. Are you feeling relaxed just now?"
"Ye...yeah..." Kari said softly.
"Good. Keep following my voice, keep watching the coin. Five, feeling even more relaxed..."
Kari nodded her head gently.
"Four, feeling loose all over, like you just want to do nothing..."
Kari swayed a little more.
"Three, your body feels loose completely, you're only sitting up because of the wall behind you..."
She had fallen backwards slightly, and her eyes were closing over a little.
"Two, feeling good, feeling relaxed. Following the coin and my voice. You just want to have a little rest..."
Kari's eyes closed over, about a quarter of the way shut, and three quarters open.
"One, you're almost under, just listening and following, you want to go into a waking sleep. You want to follow my voice, and you want to follow my instructions..."
Kari's eyes were almost half closed.
"And zero... You are under the trance. You're hearing my voice, only my voice, and you obey my instructions. Are you hearing my voice, Kari?"
"Yes..." The younger girl said in a soft monotone, eyes half closed.
"Wait... She can only hear you?"
"Yep. Kari, did you hear Tai say anything at all there?"
"No..."
Sora grinned.
"Okay, Kari, now you're under, I'm going to give you some instructions. First, from now on, if I say a word, you will fall into this trance and obey my commands. That word is..."
"Whoa! Hold it, Sora! It has to be something you rarely use." Tai cut in.
"...Prodigious. Repeat that word back to me."
"...Prodigious..." Kari echoed.
"Good. I'm going to tell you another word to come out of that trance, and that word, is sandworm. What is the word that wakes you from the trance?"
"Sandworm..."
Sora grinned.
"Okay, Kari, that's good. Sandworm."
Kari then blinked in confusion and sat up.
"What... Was I asleep?"
"Sort of. Prodigious." Tai said.
Kari stared at him.
"...Tai, have you been hanging around with Izzy too much?"
"No, he hasn't, not to a... prodigious level..." Sora said.
Kari instantly halted, her shoulders slumped and she became entranced once more.
"Perfect! It works! Tai, do you still have some of your old clothes?"
"Why? I though we weren't doing anything embarrassing to her..." Tai hesitated.
"Oh come on, wearing your old stuff isn't as bad as what I had planned for you." Sora shrugged.
"...What did you have planned?"
"Take a look in my bag, and then go get your old clothes."
Tai looked in Sora's bag, and gave a strangled cry of horror.
"It's full of... underwear! And a bikini!"
"And a camera." Sora clarified.
Tai stared at his friend in horror.
"You are a sick girl."
"Just get the clothes. Leave them at the door, I'll have Kari change into them..."
Kari blinked, then gasped as she saw the mirror before her.
"What the... Why am I wearing Tai's old soccer gear?!"
"Because it worked. We've hypnotised you and we can put you under any time..." Tai cackled theatrically.
"Actually, that's a lie, only I can do anything. And you're like the little sister I never had so I'm not going to do anything mean to you."
Kari relaxed a little.
"So... How do you put me in a trance?"
"Well, the way I do it is I say a word. But tell me, do you even remember me saying it?" Sora asked.
Kari frowned.
"...Sandworm?"
"That wakes you up. I guess that's why you remember it. But the word is..."
"Aah! Don't say it! I don't wanna know what you'll make me wear next! You had something planned for Tai I bet!" Kari squealed and covered her ears.
"I did but it wouldn't be as funny on you cos you're a girl. Look..." Sora said, holding her bag up. Kari looked.
She giggled.
"It's a pity it never worked on Tai. I think that Bikini would suit him..."
"Yeah. In a most prodigious way..."
Kari's smile faded, and she slumped her shoulders. The girl was now entranced again.
"Hmm... What now..." Sora pondered.
"Nothing too mean, Sora. She is my sister..." Tai warned.
"Relax, I said to her I wasn't going to be mean and I meant it... A little cruel, but not mean..."
"...That doesn't make sense."
"Oh! I know!" Sora grinned.
Kari blinked again, and looked down at herself. Normal clothes. Tai and Sora stood before her, blocking the way out of the shower...
"Wait, why am I in the shower?!" Kari cried out. It wasn't on, but she was putting the two beside the two...
"Oh, simple, Kari. I gave you another little trigger word as an on/off switch. While you stand there, if I say the word, the shower comes on, because you will turn it on. And you will stay perfectly still, even while you get soaked, because that's part of the trigger. You'll want to move, want to get away... but until I say the trigger to let you turn off the shower you're immobile. And that word..."
Kari was wide eyed with fear, and had turned pale. Tai noticed it.
"Sora, I dunno, this seems too much..."
Kari thought fast, as Sora dragged out her torture. She had an idea...
"The word that will make you shower in your clothes..."
She grabbed the detchable shower head just in time. It was pointed right at the two older kids.
"Umbrella...AAAH! You sneaky... Umbrella! Turn it off!" Sora yelped.
Kari smirked, and despite having been blasted himself, Tai smirked.
"Good one, Kari. You turned the tables on us."
"Gha... Now I'm soaked... " Sora moaned.
"Well, you said the subject for hypnosis needed imagination. Kari just proved it."
Sora nodded, then grinned.
"But what she doesn't have is planning. Because she's still stuck in the shower while we stand here..."
Tai promptly moved out of the way, and Kari scampered past him, sticking out her tongue.
"...Tai, you traitor." Sora complained.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll get you a towel to dry off. Maybe you should have wore your bikini..."
Sora sighed. She really wished the hypnosis worked on the goggle-headed idiot she called her friend...
Yolei's Home, About Four Years Later
Sora had just returned with Davis, Takeru, Yolei, and Hikari from a practice of the school talent show, which Sora had been helping organise as part of extra-curricular activities with her own Junior High School. This year's acts had been... amusing, though not intentionally. The group had decided to go to Yolei's place, as it was closest, and also at the moment, empty - Takeru's mother was currently busy with work she had brought home from her office, and none of the five wished to disturb her.
"Okay, Davis, I never though I would say this, but somehow your schoolmates managed to make your keepie-uppie routine look really impressive by comparison. How bad are some of your friends?"
"In fairness, though, Chiaki's original trick was much better but our teachers vetoed her using fake blood when she saws Sasumi in half..." Takeru noted.
"Yeah. That kind of sucked." Yolei agreed.
"Guys, there's going to be younger kids there. How do you think they'd react to seeing gallons of red stuff everywhere?" Kari weighed in.
"Kari has a point." Sora had to admit as she sat down on Yolei's bed.
"You know, I think my last talent show when I was in your school was way better... Matt and his band performed for the first time... Izzy did a hilarious magic trick, and I did a hypnotist act."
"Hypnotist act? Oh, yeah. You made Matt bark like a dog and then had the Principal sing 'I'm a little teapot' didn't you?" Davis recalled.
"Yep. And I practised on someone to get it all perfect..."
"Who? Tai?" Yolei asked.
"Close.... try again..." Sora teased.
"It was me." Kari ruined the joke. Sora hurled one of Yolei's pillows at her. Kari caught it in mid air and threw it gently at Davis, who right away began to treat it like a football and performed his kick-up trick.
"Guys, that's my only pillow. We kind of burst a few when my sisters had a sleepover..." Yolei pointed out. Davis stopped, passed it to Takeru, who threw it perfectly back into place.
"Hmm, maybe we could do that for the talent show..." Kari mused.
"Nah, let's hear about this hypnotism thing. Something about Kari all entranced and open to suggestions sounds good to me..." Davis joked.
"Pervert." The three girls all said in unison.
"But yeah, what I did was put Kari in a trance, and make her have a trigger word. If I said Prodigious, she would slump into a trance, and be open to suggestions from me and me alone. She wouldn't even hear other people at the time..." Sora said.
"Uh... Kind of like that?" Takeru pointed.
Kari had slumped her shoulders, had her eyes half-lidded, and was unresponsive when Davis waved a hand in front of her.
"Kari, go out with me... Hey, she doesn't hear me after all. She'd have said no right away normally..." Davis then said.
"Hey... This could be fun..." Yolei grinned. Sora grinned too.
"Yeah... Kari, bark like a dog!"
On cue, the brunette barked. The other four laughed.
"Okay, that was good... Ooh! I know! I'll take her camera..." Sora then grinned devilishly.
"What's the plan? Make her do a stupid dance?" Davis suggested.
"Oh, better than that.... Kari, give TK a kiss..."
Takeru barely registered it, when she walked over and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Sora took a photo of the act.
"...What?! No fair!" Davis protested.
"Not what I meant, but I guess I have to be even... And now Davis too... The same way..."
Davis did not protest. Takeru was a little too bewildered to even notice it.
"Okay... Now, Kari, a real kiss... Takeru is part french after all..."
"Wait! No! That's not fair on her!" Takeru protested as Kari began to advance.
"Ah, okay, you big wuss.... Kiss Davis instead." Sora instructed.
Davis shook his head.
"No, TK has a point, I don't want to upset her..."
"You guys both suck. Of all the times to develop chivalry..." Yolei groaned, then brightened up.
"I know!"
She leaned in to Sora's ear, and whispered something. Sora frowned.
"Okay, that's too far, Yolei. I'm going to wake... her... Oh."
"Well, how about this for a suggestion- Tell Kari to go out with me?" Davis tried.
Sora however, looked worried.
"Davis, shut up, this is serious..." Sora frowned.
"Why?" He asked, puzzled.
"Because I forgot the word to wake her up."
The other three stared.
"What do you mean? Like, she's stuck like this until you remember it?" Takeru said, alarmed.
"Possibly... I don't know, okay! She should wake up eventually but... I don't know when! I didn't think the trigger would still work after four years!" Sora said, panicking slightly.
"Well, do you even remember the word slightly?" Yolei tried.
"It was... sand something. Sandstorm? Sandwich?" Sora tried.
A few other attempts were made. None worked.
"Crap... What the hell do we do..." Takeru sighed.
"Wait... Kari, act like you were before I put you in the trance!" Sora suddenly tried.
Kari blinked, then looked around.
"...Sora? Why are you in a Junior High uniform? And who are these people?"
"Wait... what?" Yolei asked.
Sora froze.
"Kari... How old are you?"
Kari frowned.
"I'm nine now... Why?"
Sora blinked.
"...Nine? No, that's not right, Kari, you're thirteen!"
Kari blinked, then giggled.
"Don't be crazy, Sora! Is that why you have the uniform? You got someone to loan you it to try play a weird joke?"
Kari then realised something.
"Wait. I was in my house... Oh. That hypnosis trick worked? You used it to play this prank?"
She frowned.
"That's kind of weird, Sora. My mom doesn't like me going to strangers houses. I mean, I know they're your friends..."
"Kari.. We're your friends too!" Takeru then said. Kari looked at him.
"Wait... I know you..."
She then laughed.
"Oh, Matt. Sorry, I though Sora had took me somewhere herself. I guess it's not so bad. Is Tai around?"
Sora put her head in her hands.
"He's going to murder me... I just turned his kid sister back into an eight year old..."
"Nine." Davis corrected.
"That isn't helpful you moron!" Yolei yelled.
"Okay, um... Prodigious!" Sora said. Kari slumped again.
"What are you trying now?" Yolei asked.
"Shut up, let me think... Um... Kari, can you tell me the word to wake you up?"
She was silent.
"...She might not know it. You told her to go back to before she was entranced." Takeru realised.
"But she she shouldn't even know the Trigger word then... wait, no, she wouldn't have remembered the trigger word as happening at all, so she wouldn't forget it. I think... I remember she did remember the word when she came out of..."
Sora groaned.
"It was Sandworm."
Kari did not stir.
"...And that didn't work." Yolei pointed out.
"I can see that!" Sora almost shrieked, feeling very freaked out.
"We have to be able to fix this... Or maybe she'll snap out of it?" Takeru hoped.
"No... We need to fix it now. Waiting might not work... And if we can't fix it..." Sora gulped.
The other three were silent as the implication set in. Kari would be mentally regressed by three years...
"Maybe I can fix it the way I broke it... Kari, act the way you did when you were twelve. And awaken from the trance when I next say Sandworm."
Kari nodded slightly.
"Sandworm." She tried.
Kari blinked.
"...Huh? Did I fall asleep?"
She stared at her friends.
"...Oh crap, you guys drew on my face didn't you?"
Sora whooped for joy, and hugged the very confused younger girl.
"Kari! You're back!"
"Uh, yeah... Where was I?"
Sora released her.
"Remember I hypnotised you?"
Kari frowned.
"Yeah... But that was years ago."
"Well, um... The trigger word still worked, and I kinda... Well, I almost deleted the last three years of your life... Wait, you know who he is, right?" Sora suddenly realised, pointing at Davis.
"Davis? Yeah. Of course. Wait, did you say you nearly deleted my mind?!" Kari suddenly gasped.
"Um, yeah. And I'm sorry. I promise I won't do it again..."
Kari blinked a few times.
"So... What happened to me?"
"You thought you were eight, and that I was Matt."
"Nine." Davis corrected. Yolei grabbed her pillow and hit him.
"Huh. I don't remember that at all."
Sora breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah... And I'm not going to forget it in a hurry... I thought I was going to wet myself I was so frightened..."
She then blinked.
"Uh, Yolei, speaking of that, can I borrow your bathroom? I think I got a little too scared..."
Yolei blinked.
"...You're washing my bed sheets."
Sora sighed.
"No, you idiot, I didn't actually do it. I just need to go now."
"Oh, okay. It's the second door on the right down the hall."
Sora thanked her host, and left. Yolei inspected where she had been sitting in precaution.
Kari then grinned.
"Okay, did you guys fall for it too?"
"Wait, you two were joking?" Takeru asked.
"Nope. I feel kinda bad, but... I was never in a trance there. I was playing around to mess with Sora. I didn't think she was going to panic that much though..."
Yolei stared at her.
"You almost made her ruin my bedsheets."
"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Like I said, didn't think she'd get that freaked out..."
"But you kept going with the prank..." Davis noted.
Kari merely shrugged. Yolei then frowned.
"Wait... So you kissed the guys on your own free will?"
"...Uh..." Kari hesitated, unsure of how to actually answer that one...