Just a little story I thought of while watching the Mardi Gras Parade here in New Orleans. The Digidestine are stuck in New Orleans for Mardi Gras! Yay! Now just so all my readers know, this fic is going to show a lot of Louisiana culture and traditions, the good...and the bad. If you don't know anything about Mardi Gras, its basically a holiday that we celebrate here in Louisiana. Its so big, the kids get a whole week off from school for it. We eat King Cake, go to parades, and just pretty party! I hope ya'll enjoy the story!
"Dudes! We've been stuck in this airport for hours!" Davis shouted for like the fifteenth time to everyone's annoyance.
"Okay Davis, we get it." T.K. Said wearily.
"Let's just try to stay relax." Kari put a hand on Davis shoulder and gave a sweet smile. "Besides before you know we'll be in New York City!"
The whole gang were on their way to spend their spring break in New York City. After think about how to spend their week long vacation, Mimi had joyfully suggested visiting her old home in New York. It would be perfect, since they could all just stay with some of Mimi's relatives who still lived in the city (Mimi herself had moved back to Japan to finish her senior year with her friends). Mimi had fascinated all of them with her tales of New York's grandeur. The shopping, the Broadways...well really... she fascinated the girls of the group, who then bullied..I mean convinced... the boys into going.
"Oh Ken, isn't New York City suppose to be one of the most romantic cities in the world?" Yolei asked flirtatiously, holding Ken's arm. Behind her, Hawkmon shook gave a frustrated sigh, shaking his head wearily.
Ken, looking quite flustered and red in the face, stuttered, "oh..umm..I don't think...that's New York." Behind him, Wormon could be seen watching Ken nervously.
Seeing his best friend's distress, Davis decided to butt in. "Yolei no offense but New York City sounds like a bore. It may be loads of fun for you girls but what are us guys suppose to do? Cause I ain't' holding no one's shopping bag!"
"Me either!" Veemon piped up, imitating his partner.
Yolei let go of Ken's arm and marched up to Davis, fuming. "Where else are we going to find a free place to stay! Do you know how expensive hotel rooms are! Well I do! My uncle runs a hotel down in Kyoto! And I can tell you he would never in a million years even think about renting a room to a bunch of..." Davis had grudgingly covered Yolei's mouth with his hand.
"Okay. Okay. You convinced us. Can you shut up now?" A comment that left Davis smack across his head
"Don't worry Davis I'm sure you boys will find something fun to do." Kari laughed, watching Davis rub his egg sized bump. Davis felt a blush from and mumbled a "Yeah I guess" in reply.
"Oh yes! I know plenty of Broadway shows that are to die for!" Mimi exclaimed with stars in her eyes.
"Please Mimi I don't think any of us guys want to be dragged to a see a bunch of people singing and playing dress up." Matt said, arms crossed behind his head.
"Really?" Mimi asked in confusion. "Isn't that what you do in your band?" This statement caused Matt to fall flat on his face and a round of laughter to ensue.
"You know maybe I would like to see one of those Broadway plays." Tai snickered, " Who knows, maybe they will change "Cats" into "Wolves" and Matt could star in it."
This caused another round of laughter from all except the group of digimon watching the scene. "I don't get it." Agumon whispered to Gabumon.
"Me either." Gabumon replied. The rest of the digimon nodded in agreement.
"Come on guys, me and Kari went to New York and it was pretty fun." T.K. Said.
"Yeah the cheesecake was great." Patamon added from on top of T.K.'s hat.
"If you say it's a nice place, I believe you." Cody said, smiling up at T.K. T.K. gave Cody a brotherly.
"Well there is the American Museum of Natural History to visit. That's always a must see." Izzy said as he researched New York attractions on his computer. He looked up to see everyone giving him a dead pan look. "What?"
"Yeah Izzy, everyone here wants to go to a MUSEUM on their Spring Break." Tai shook his head in amazement.
"Hey! That museum is extremely famous! People from all around the world know about it!"
"You mean that museum from 'Night at the Museum'?" Davis asked.
Izzy turned back to his computer, muttering something along the lines of "I'm surrounded by idiots."
At this point, Joe thought it was his duty to say his piece. " Well I personally think this trip sounds..."
"Joe, you think we should go right?" Sora looked up at Joe with pleading eyes. Behind her back, Sora waved her hand to the other girls to follow her lead.
"Oh yes Joe, don't you think we would have so much fun?" Yolei grabbed on of Joe's arms, eyes sparkling
"Joe I know we'll be save with you. You are the oldest and ever so responsible." Kari complimented, holding Joe's other arm. Joe was looking back and forth between Kari and Yolei, sweating nervously. It was not every day he was complimented by girls.
"Well...you..eh..see...I thought.." Joe stuttered. The guys around the room knew what was happening and tried to back Joe up.
"Don't give up Joe!"
"They're just sneaky witches!"
"Let your testosterone take over!"
"Get out of there while you can man!"
"He's a goner..."
"Joe, why are you so red and sweaty?" The last comment came from Gomamon, who was tilting his head in confusion at his partner.
Finally the ultimate weapon was pulled. "Oh Joe..." Joe turned around to see Mimi with the most sexy, pouty, beautiful expression, looking at Joe with those big, brown, eyes. "Won't you please let us go. It would mean so much to me. I know WE'LL" She gave him a flirty wink. "have fun together."
All they saw was a blue blur as Joe ran out of the room and returned with a suitcase in one hand and wearing a "I Love New York" T-shirt. "It's vacation time!" Joe declared brightly. The boys all fell to the ground, anime style.
So now the gang were waiting in the terminal of the New Orleans International Airport. The plane had originally announced that the layover in New Orleans, Louisiana would only last an hour. However, the digidestines had been waiting for over four hours and to say that they were getting a little cranky and moody, would be the understatement of the year.
"What state are we in?"
"We're in Louisiana, Davis." Izzy replied from his computer
"Where's that at?"Demiveemon asked.
" The middle of no where." Mimi answered in a bored tone.
"It's in the deep south part of the U.S." Izzy answered correctly. There was a complete minute of silence, which broken once again by...
"I'm hungry." Davis complained.
"Well go get you something to eat!" Yolei growled in annoyance. She was sitting in the chair behind Davis.
"How am I suppose to pay for food? I left all my money in my suitcase and who knows where that is?" Davis yelled, turning over to look behind his chair at Yolei.
" What kind of idiot doesn't bring cash in his pocket?" Yolei remarked angrily.
"The kind that wants all his money in a safe place!"
"You are so annoying!" Yolie shrieked, lunging forward to try and strangle Davis. Luckily Ken was there to grab Yolei around the waist. Yolei turned blushing at Ken. "Hehe, sorry about that." Yolei apologized sheepishly. Ken just gave her kind smile and pulled her to sit with him across the terminal.
Davis was also grabbed by someone. He expected it to be either T.K or Cody, but turned to see Kari. Kari smiled and held up a debit card. "How about we go eat some lunch? It's on me." Davis smiled back sheepishly and was about to get up when he felt something grab his leg. Looking down, he saw demiveemon holding on to him from under the seat.
"What about me I'm hungry too!" Demiveemon cried. Before Kari could answer, gatomon popped her head out of her book sack.
"Your welcome to come. I have a can of tuna we can share." Gatomon purred.
Demiveemon jumped into Davis' arms with a "Yipee!"
"Remember! Your..." Sora called out.
"Dolls!" Yokomon finished, her head popping out from under Sora's seat.
"Geesh, you humans are like broken records!" Gomamon teased.
"Why can't we just be ourselves for once?" Patamon questioned.
"Because ya'll just can't!" Joe said, in a demanding tone. After being overtaken by the girls and his manhood pretty much stripped away from him, Joe was determined to regain his dignity.
The digimon all groaned sadly. Sora tried to reason with them in softer manner. "Look, we just don't want to draw more attention to ourselves than we have too. And no offense to ya''ll..." Sora looked down at the tiny digimon looking at her expectantly. "but ya'll attract a lot of attention." She finished wearily.
The in-training digimon looked down sadly. Before Sora could say anything else, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Tai and Matt.
"Okay we have good news!" Tai chirped happily.
"And we have bad news..." Matt added.
"Well what's the bad news?" Izzy asked.
"The airplane isn't going to leave until tomorrow morning!"Matt quickly covered Tsunomon's mouth with his hand.
"Shh! I told you to stay quiet!" Matt hissed, glancing nervously around to make sure no one in the crowded terminal had heard Tsunomon speak.
"Sorry." Tsunomon whispered sadly.
"Well what's the good news?" Mimi asked.
"There's a big party going on called Mardi..." Tai covered Koromon's mouth, who had practically shouted the news.
"Could you be any louder!"
"Sorry..."
"What's Mardi Gras?" Kari asked. She and Davis had just gotten back from the terminal's McDonald's. Each was holding a bag full of food.
"I'm not exactly sure. But according to the guy, it's the greatest thing in the world and he said we should be thanking our lucky stars we got here in time for it." Tai explained.
"Well I never heard it." Davis muttered, taking a bite of his burger.
"There's lots of things you've never heard of Davis." Izzy replied. He opened up his laptop and started typing. "Here let me look it up." The others watched as Izzy typed in Mardi Gras on his search bar. Suddenly they saw Izzy's face turn bright red and him quickly shut his computer top down.
"What is it Izzy?" Tai asked, nudging Izzy over so he could sit next to him. However, Izzy quickly tried to stuff his computer back in his backpack.
"Oh it's nothing! Nothing at all! Mardi Gras sounds pretty boring..."
"Oh really? Well you wouldn't mind if we look then." Matt grabbed Izzy, while Tai grabbed the laptop. Tai opened up the computer and clicked on the tab that Izzy had opened.
"Now lets see..." Tai said searching, "Oh here it is! Mardi WAAAHH!"
Davis looked up from his burger to see both Tai and Matt looking at the computer screen, slack jawed and speechless. "Hey what's wrong?"
Both Koromon and Tsunomon were looking up at their partner's with worried expressions.
"Tai, are you alright?"
"Matt, what's up?"
"Wah?" was Tai's reply
"Yeah?" was Matt's.
"Hey! What you guy's looking at?" Davis said pushing his way through Tai and Matt to see the computer screen. What he saw made his jaw drop. On the screen were pictures of various parades and floats of the various southern culture and traditions of New Orleans. However, some of the pictures also showed one of New Orleans...richest traditions...which is for a women to show off her breast so someone will throw her a pair of nice beads from the float. The boys were so engrossed in this...tradition...that they failed to notice Kari come up to them.
"Tai...Davis...what are ya'll looking at?" She asked curiously
The four boys quickly jumped in front of the computer screen, cutting off Kari's view. "NOTHING!" Davis, Tai, and Matt said together. Izzy quickly stashed the computer back into his bag.
Before Kari could ask any more questions, Sora and Mimi walked up to them. "Hey we were talking to those two cute boys over there." Mimi pointed to a couple of cute southern boys across the terminal. One of them noticed Mimi pointing and nodded his head at her, giving her a charming southern smile. Mimi then became too giggly to continue rational speech, much to the group's annoyance. Sora decided to take over.
"They explained what this whole Mardi Gras thing is. In Louisiana, it's like a national holiday to them. Schools and businesses close down, and for four days, people go to parades and party. At the parades are big, colorful floats where people throw goodies out to the crowd. It's sounds really fun!" Sora said clapping her hands together. The digimon below her were all listening with shining eyes.
Davis, Matt, Tai, and Izzy looked at each other and back at Sora. "HELL NO!"
"Wha?" Before Sora could argue, Matt had grabbed her hand and was pulling her away.
"Come on Sora! We have better things to than go to some silly parades." Matt said hurriedly, pushing Sora away fromt Izzy's computer and the two guys she had been talking to about Mardi Gras.
"Like what?" Sora said annoyingly. "We're stuck in a airplane terminal until tomorrow morning."
"Like finding a nice bench to sleep on! If we're going to have to wait till the morning to get on the plane, we better find a good place to sleep!" Matt said in a overly cheerfully voice.
"WHAT?" Mimi had snapped out of her giggling fit. She had heard what Matt had said and was staring at Matt like he had grown wings. "I am not sleeping on some airport bench! Come on!" Mimi demanded, stomping out of the terminal.
The group hurriedly ran after her. "Mimi where are you going?" Tai asked.
"I am going to find a hotel room!"
"But Mimi we don't have money for a hotel room for all of us!" Joe said exasperatedly.
"Oh really? Let's just see! I may not have be good at soccer or computers, but I know my number one talent is shopping and finding a bargain. Just you wait, I'll find us a hotel room. There has to be a cheap hotel somewhere in this city!"
Unfortunely, Mimi had no idea how hard it was to find a hotel room in New Orleans during Mardi Gras week.
The group had taken a bus to the actually city of New Orleans. The New Orleans airport was actually located several miles away from the actually city, so they had been forced to take a 30 minute bus ride to the heart of New Orleans, the French Quarter. The driver had said that this was the place to find a great hotel room. However, it was apparent after a hour of calling hotels, Mimi was not going to find a hotel room anytime soon.
"WELL THANKS FOR NOTHING!" Mimi yelled, pushing the end button on her cell phone.
"No luck?" Joe asked.
"Hmph!" Mimi pouted.
"I guess that's a no." Yolei sighed.
Tanemon nudged Mimi's leg gently. "It's okay Mimi. We can just sleep at the airport. You can even use me as a pillow."
"Yeah come on Mimi! Let's just go back to the airport. It's not that bad." Tai said. The others nodded in agreement.
Mimi sighed heavily. "I guess your right."
"Hey Tai, are we going to take the bus back to the airport?" Koromon asked.
"Yeah why?"
"Because I think our bus is already leaving." Koromon said, pointing with his antannea at the bus driving away from the bus stop.
"WHAT!" Tai yelled, dropping Koromon in the process. Tai and the others began running after the bus, pushing through the crowd of people bordering the sidewalk. With in minutes, the kids had lost sight of the bus and where bending over panting in heavily.
"Well that's just great!" Matt muttered angrily.
"Yeah, we missed the bus and now we're lost with no idea where we're at..." Tai stopped his speech, gazing at his surroundings.
The group stood in the middle of a street that looked like it came out of a time machine. The buildings were all of an old French, Spanish design. Down the street, they could see a horse pulling an old fashioned carriage. The canopies of the old buildings were decorated in the Mardi Gras colors gold, green, and royal purple. The streets were crowded with people laughing and dancing. Interesting Cajun music could be heard floating through the air. The aroma of delicious smelling foods drifted in the wind. In all, the street was...amazing.
"Wow." the group breathed.
"I don't think we're in Japan anymore." Tai stated looking around.
Only one person in the group wasn't looking at the scenery. Davis noticed Kari was looking around nervously. "Hey what's wrong?" He asked.
Kari eyes widened with fear. "Davis...where are the digimon?"
Bourbon Street:
"Wait up Tai!" Koromon yelled, hopping as fast as he could after his partner. It was proving rather difficult with all the people walking the streets of New Orleans. Koromon was trying his best not get stepped on. "TAI!" Suddenly Tsunomon rammed into Koromon knocking him into a building. Koromon glared at Tsunomon. "Hey what was that for!"
"Don't you remember what Matt and Tai said? We're suppose to keep quiet!" Tsunomon growled.
"Well how are we suppose to catch up with them then?" Koromon asked in frustration.
"Easy." Tsunomon said, puffing up his fur. "We'll get poromon to fly up and find them for us!"
"Uhh, Where is Poromon?" Koromon asked looking around.
"Well...uh..." Tsunomon's eyes darted around. All they could see were a sea of legs walking the streets.
Royal Street
"Yokomon do you see them?"
"No! I don't see anyone!"
"What are we going to do?" Tanemon wailed tearfully. Yokomon set a gentle tentacle on Tanemon.
"It's okay Tanemon." Yokomon reassured "We'll find Sora and Mimi. At least we're somewhere pretty."
"That's true." Tanemon said, looking up at all the brightly colored shops of Royal Street. The street was bustling with people shopping and having a great time. "Your right Yokomon! With this many shops, Mimi shouldn't be far at all!"
Yokomon laughed at Tanemon's logic, knowing that she was probably correct. " How about we digivolve so I can fly up and look from above."
"No!" Tanemon shrieked, holding Yokomon down like she was going to fly away. "Sora said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves!"
"Thats true...but" Yokomon looked at the people walking the streets. Some of them wore brightly colored outfits and masks similar to the mask piedmon wore. Heck, some even had feathers poking out of their hair and sticking out their costumes. These people didn't look like they cared what people thought of them. It looked like they wanted people to look at them and notice them. "I know what Sora said...but look at all these people! They stick out like a sore thumb! Why can't we do that too?"
"I guess..." Tanemon thought. Suddenly she saw a bright light and biyomon was standing there in the middle of the street. "Biyomon!"
"Yay I digivolved!" Biyomon chirped gleefully, twirling in the air.
" You go girl!" An Cajun woman yelled from the street corner.
"Thank you!" Biyomon said blushing. She landed next to the woman and gave a polite bow. She saw the woman was rather dark-skinned and wore a long dress, with an African design on it. Above the women was a sign that said Erzulie's Voodoo Shop.
"What cha doin that for? You go head and get on with ya bad selve. Ya hear?" The woman laughed shooing biyomon off good-naturely.
Biyomon cocked her head in confusion. "Ooookay, thank you!" As she was about to fly to off to walk with the newly evolved Palmon, she turned back to the woman. "Umm excuse me but don't you think me and my friend are kind of...strange?"
Erzulie looked at Biyomon and smiled. "Child, New Orleans is a city full of mysteries. You and your friend are just one out of many."
Biyomon frowned. "Don't you want to solve our mystery?" she asked
Erzulie chuckled. "Life would be no fun if we knew everything...no I'll just let ya'll be on ya'lls way."
Biyomon smiled and nodded her head. She flew off and landed next to Palmon, who had a worried look on her face. "Are you okay? That women isn't going to experiment on you, is she?" Palmon asked, remembering some of the things Mimi said would happen if a stranger ever saw them.
Biyomon smiled and shook her head. "No she was actually really nice! She said we were mysteries that didn't need solving!"
"What does that mean?"
Biyomon thought for a moment. " I guess it means were special!"
Palmon clapped her claws together. "Really?"
Biyomon nodded her head and started walking up the street. "Come on, we should start searching."
"Right." Palmon said, leading the way.
"Gatomon!"
"Veemon!"
"Tentomon!"
"Any mon!"
"This is getting us no where!" Tai kicked at a nearby beer can and watched as it bounced along the street. It was soon lost in the crowd of people. Finding twelve in-training digimon in a city they didn't know anything about was going to be like finding a needle in a hay stack. It didn't help that the city was even more crowded due to all the parades and Mardi Gras celebrations going on.
The group were now sitting on benches in what looked like some kind of court yard. Everyone looked exhausted and totally confused about theire surroundings. Everyone except Izzy. He was busy typing on his computer.
"Relax Tai. I'm downloading a map of the city. This should show us at least where we are and the surrounding areas that we should start looking."
"Hey Izzy, do you think you can download some of the attractions and hot spots too?" Yolei asked brightly, watching Izzy type. She received agitated looks from many of the group members. "What? If we're going to be searching the city, we might as well look at the sights! We're only going to be here for a day."
"I seriously do not get you sometimes." Davis muttered
"Okay I'll list the attractions too." Izzy said quickly before a fight could start. After typing a couple more keys, Izzy had finished. "Okay guys, according to my computers GPS system, the area we're in is known as the French Quarter. Its one of the most historical parts of New Orleans."
"Well that explains the old looking building." Sora remarked.
"Now to start off, we should start searching the surrounding streets." Izzy continued. "First there's Bourbon Street. According to my info, Bourbon is nortorious for being a party street. The whole street is filled with bars, shops, dance clubs..." At this point Izzy face was becoming quite red, " and it's also known for it's...strip clubs." Tai, Matt, and Davis, gave each other mischievous smirks.
"Don't even think about it Tai!" Kari reproached, noticing the boy's smirks.
"I wasn't thinking of anything!"
"Anyway!" Izzy coughed. "The next street is Royal Street. This street has plenty of antique shops and art galleries." Izzy paused from his reading "Hmmm, that's interesting."
"What?" the group asked together.
"Well at the end of Royal Street is an old house called the LaLaurie Mansion. It's suppose to be one of the most haunted houses in New Orleans. According to legend, the mistress of the house Miss Laurie tortured her slaves in the attic. There have been numerous reports of seeing the ghost of one of the slave girls jumping off the building. So many people have seen her over the years jumping off the roof, police have quit answering calls from that area."
"Creepy!" Mimi shuddered.
"I don't think I want to go down that street." Kari added.
"Please its all just legends and superstition." Izzy scoffed.
"I don't know, my dad is a professor who studies legends and mythology and he's always going off about how New Orleans is 'a place of spiritual energy'." Sora remarked. "Whatever that means."
"Okay guys, enough with the ghost stories! Can we get on with more important things like finding our digimon!" Matt yelled.
"Okay! Okay! Let's see...the next is Jackson Square. Fortune tellers, tarot card readers, live bands, and painters usually inhabit this area. This seems to be the center of lots of events. Located there is also the St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest running Cathedral in North America."
"Oh I want to get my fortune told!" Mimi shrieked. "I want to see who I'm going to marry!"
"Me too!" Yolie agreed
"Oh please! You girls are so gullible." Davis sneered.
"Watch it Davis!" Yolei growled.
"Next is the French Market. This is where produce is sold. You can find all kinds of New Orleans cuisine here."
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Tai exclaimed. "I'm starving!"
"You know that might be a good place to start looking. I'm sure the digimon are hungry too." Cody reasoned.
"No way! Veemon already ate, he wouldn't be there!" Davis argued.
"Look lets just split up into groups, so we can cover more ground." T.K suggested.
"And make us get lost too? Sora shook her head. "I think we should all stay together. I heard New Orleans could be a really rough city."
"The people seem friendly enough." Kari said as a couple walked by and waved.
"What do you say Izzy? Your the one with the laptop." Tai asked.
Izzy pondered for a second and then said, "Well within reason we have to remember, were not just in New Orleans, we're in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. We don't know anything about this holiday or the traditions they have..."
"We know one." Davis whispered to Tai, snickering.
"I say we just stay together and explore each street one at a time. That way if we run into any trouble we'll all be together." Izzy suggested. The group nodded in agreement. "We'll start off with the places I called out and then try Chartres Street and Lower Decatur Street."
"Umm, Izzy what kind of trouble do you think we'll find?" Kari asked nervously.
"I'm not sure, but according to one website I looked at, it said some of the things we should avoid doing in New Orleans are...
"dissing the saints"
"pissing off a voodoo queen"
not paying your stripper
walking the streets after dark.
"Okay, I get the last one, but the other three..." Tai trailed off.
"New Orleans is a weird place." Davis sighed.
Oh, they had no idea...
Other Part of Royal Street
"Hey Joe! Where you at?" Gomamon yelled ,waving his flippers around. Tentomon flew down next to Gomamon.
"Do you really thing its a good idea to be yelling like that?" Tentomon asked. Gomamon waved a flipper absently at him.
"Relax. There's not that many people around here." Which was true in way. This part of Royal Street had less people walking about. Those who were out, hurried as fast as they could to get past a pinkish building at the corner of the street.
"I wonder what's up with this place?" Gomamon thought out loud, looking around the street. "Earlier we could hardly walk with all the people around, but this place is a ghost town."
"I say we not worry about that and start worrying about finding our friends!" Tentomon reminded Gomamon. Gomamon gave Tentomon a playful smile.
"Come on Tentomon, lighten up! I already have deal with Joe's worrying, don't tell me your going to be a worry wart too."
"Well I..." Tentomon stuttered
"Look around! It's not everyday that we get to roam around by ourselves. I'm personally kind of happy to have a little freedom." Gomamon screwed up his face and started imitating Mimi and Sora's voice.
"Now remember your suppose to be tooooyyyysss! Be quiet or people will hear you! Come on Gomamon, it's time to be stuffed in the book sack!"
Tentomon landed in front of crossed his arms. " I know it can be annoying Gomamon, but we are in their world and we need to follow their rules."
"So! When they were in our world, we didn't stuff them in bags."
Tentomon shook his head at the digimon's stubborness. He was about to reply to Gomamon, but saw Gomamon was at the pinkish building across the street from them. "Hey Gomamon what's up?"
"There's...a girl." he said not taking his eyes away from the building.
"Really?" Tentomon stared at the building. "Where?"
"Up on the roof." Gomamon said pointing to the very top of the building. Suddenly he started running full pelt through the street.
"Gomamon what are you doing?" Tentomon shrieked.
"The girl on the roof!" Gomamon yelled back. "I think she's going to fa...AHHHH!" Gomamon screamed as he saw the little black girl jump off the ceiling. "TENTOMON!"
"I'M COMING!" Tentomon flew full pelt to where they saw the girl fall. Tentomon hovered over the ground, looking back and forth. "Where did she go?"
"She has to be somewhere..." Gomamon said scouring the ground for any sign of the girl. Suddenly Gomamon felt a person trip over him as they came around the corner of the house. "Ahh! Ouch!"
"WHAT THE F#%$!"
Gomamon turned to see an African American guy with dread locks lying on the ground. The man jump up and hovered angrily him. "Hehehe Oops!" Gomamon laughed nervously.
"WHAT THE HELL NIGGA, YOU JUMP ME? NO ONE JUMPS J-CEE!" J-Cee started pumping his fists up. Gomamon held up a friendly flipper.
"Hey! Hey! Buddy it was just an accident..." Suddenly two more boys came out from behind J-Cee. Both of them were tough and muscular looking, with tattoos running up their sleeves.
"Yo boss, these guys giving you trouble?" One of them asked.
"Yeah this here scrawny ass white boy is talking shit and got his crew to jump me!" J-Cee accused, pointing a finger at Gomamon and Tentomon.
"Now see here! We were just..." Gomamon held up a flipper to silence Tentomon. "Huh?"
"Relax Tent. I know how to handle this." Gomamon replied. Gomamon gave the three men a friendly smile, opened his mouth and...
"Fuck. You." Gomamon chirped, still smiling. There remained a stunned silence from the group. All three boys were staring at Gomamon, with bulging angry eyes and mouths wide open in surprise.
"Okay lets go!" Gomamon said, waving a flipper to Tentomon. The two began to walk away when J-Cee jumped in there path.
"WHA YOU SAY TO ME WHITE BOY?"
Gomamon's smile faltered for a second. "Umm Fuck you?"
"NO WHITE BOY TALKS SHIT TO ME! WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" The group surrounded Gomamon and Tentomon, pushing them against the building. The two digimon huddled together in fear.
"What does 'fuck you' mean Gomamon!" Tentomon wailed.
"I don't know! While Joe is studying I like to watch a lot of late night T.V. and they seem to say that line a lot! I just always wanted to try it out!"
"AND YOU PICKED A TIME LIKE THIS BECAUSE?"
"Well the people who said it on the show, kind of looked like them."
"HIS THAT A RACIST JOKE?"
"I don't know even know what racist means!" Gomamon wailed. The two digimon closed their eyes in terror as the three boys advanced towards them. However, they never felt the impact of a punch or kick come. Instead they heard the terrified wailing of the three men as they ran away.
"What happened?" Gomamon wondered, opening his eyes.
"Maybe saying 'fuck you' really worked?" Tentomon suggested.
"You really shouldn't be using fowl language." a voice from behind them said.
"WAH!" the two digimon turned around to see the little black girl that they had saw fall off the building earlier. However, she looked perfectly fine. She didn't look hurt at all. She gave them a friendly smile and held a finger to her lips.
"Don't worry. I won't tell." She then giggled and disappeared in thin air.
Gomamon and Tentomon starred at the spot the girl was just standing a second ago, glanced at each other, and then back at the spot...
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!GHOOOOOOOOSTTTTTTT!" Gomamon and Tentomon screamed as they ran away as fast as they could.
French Market
"Oh T.K. Where are you?" Patamon called out. At the moment, he was sitting on top of a very large tent. All around him, Patamon could see white tents being put up. The tents were filled with people shopping for clothes and other interesting objects that were being sold. People were hustling about looking at jewelery, purses, knifes, more things than Patamon knew about. And the food! Patamon couldn't see all the food in the tents, but he sure could smell them! The spicy aroma made his mouth water and his stomach growl. He wasn't the only one.
"Patamon do you see them" Armadillomon asked with his country accent. He was poking his head out from under one of the tables. Patamon flew down and hid under the table with him.
"No not a thing." he answered glumly.
The two bowed their heads sadly at the news. Armadillomon lifted his head. "Well what should we do? We can't just hide underneath this table forever. No way will they be able to find us."
"Your right but we're suppose to stay out of sight." Patamon said.
"Yeah but hiding takes a lot of energy and I'm plum pooped. Let's go out and see what that delicious smell is coming from!"
"Well I guess so. I am hungry!" Patamon agreed.
"Heeya! Let's go then!"
The two digimon poked their heads out of from the table. They could see tables lined up with purses on one side of them and dresses on the other side. From the looks of it, this side of the tent was mostly clothes. They would have to go farther down the tent to get to the spot were the food was.
"How are we going to get across without being seen?" Patamon asked.
"Hmmmmm..." Armadillomon thought. "I know!"
"Are you sure we're invisible?"
"We sure are partner!"
The two digimon were now making their way to the other end of the long tent. Armadillomon was now walking with an box that had once carried potatoes (which the digimon had left so thoughtfully in all the purses that were on sale) on top of him, with only his tail and his legs showing. Patamon was walking on two legs, with a very large Mardi Gras jesters hat over his body. The bells of the jester's hat could be heard jingling every time Patamon took a step. In all, they were far from invisible and people stared at them the whole way.
Finally the smell of the food was so powerful, Armadillomon and Patamon lifted up their "disguises" and sniffed the air.
"YUMMY!" They both yelled. Abandoning their box and hat, the two ran up to a wooden table where a pot-belly, dark-skinned man was setting up a tray of King Cake. The King Cake was the mascot of Mardi Gras. All across the world there are many types of king cakes. Here in Louisiana, the King Cake's are a cinnamon-roll shaped cake, topped with sugary icing with traditional Mardi Gras green, purple, and gold colored sprinkles on top. Strawberry-creamed cheese filling could be seen dripping from the sides. It was a cake made for a god, or at least that's what Armadillomon and Patamon thought as they stared at it in wonder.
The man starred at the two creatures drooling and staring wide-eyed at the King Cake. A wide smile crept across his face. "Yo ho, ye little buggers look like ya'll got an ahnvee for some here King Cake!"
"King Cake?" Patamon asked.
"Is that what this is?" Armadillomon added. "Is it made for Kings or something?"
The man gave a booming laugh. "YOOOHOOYOOHHAAHAH! Chooh Coooh! You boys from out of town?"
The two digimon glanced at each other "You can say that..."
"I'm a figuring, it being Mardi Gras and all. We get a lotta strangers around these parts." The man bend down closer to them and winked. "But we Orleans people don't mind. We love to share our city. Here! Ya'll have a piece of here ole King Cake!" The man cut two pieces of King Cake and set it down for them. Armadillomon and Patamon gaped opened mouth at him.
"Are you sure? We hate to be rude." Armadillomon asked.
"Mais, it nuttin." the man said waving a dismissive hand.
"Well thank you!" With that Patamon and Armadillomon took a great big bite from their pieces.
As the two munched on their king cake, the man stared at their appearance. "So ye boys liked to dress up for Mardi Gras? That's thee spirit! I remember when we all used to dress up for the celebrations. Those were fun times...it sure made it harder to see who we were kissing though." Armadillomon and Patamon looked at him strangely. The man waved his arms in dismissively. "Hoho Anywho! Wha ya boys think?"
The two digimon stood with stars in there eyes. "Its the most delicious thing I've ever tasted." Armadillomon sighed.
Patamon took another bite of his cake before replying. However, he felt something hard in his cake and quickly spit it out. Out of his mouth popped out a little plastic baby, no bigger than his hand. "What's this?"
"Ga Lee! You lucky dawg you! That there is the lucky baby we put in the King Cakes. Who ever finds it is going to be the next person to have a baby!"
Patamon looked at the baby in his hand and smiled. "So I'm going to have a baby!"
"Yes sirree!"
Armadillomon patted Patamon on the back. "Congratulations partner! I always wondered where human babies come from. Who knew they came from cakes? Humans are so lucky!"
The man looked at the two strangely and then gave another booming laugh. "HAHAHAHAA! You two are something else! Ma name's Big Al and I'm mighty glad to meet ya'll" Big Al said has he extended his hand to them.
Armadillomon lifted his paw and shook Big Al's hand. "Howdy partner, I'm Armadillomon and this here is Patamon."
Big Al stood up and stretched. "Well Armadillomon and Patamon. Today is going to be your lucky day because I'm introducing you to the finest cuisine you've ever tasted!"
"ALRIGHT!" Patamon and Armadillomon cheered.
Jackson Square
"Do you see anything?" Wormmon called out, from the bottom of the Andrew Jackson statue. He was watching Hawkmon wearily as Hawkmon watched from the top of the statue. The statue was located in the middle of Jackson Square and so was the perfect perch to look around.
Hawkmon flew down next to Wormmon and shook his head. "Not a thing I'm afraid."
"Oh I hope Ken is alright." Wormmon fretted. Hawkmon patted his head.
"Never fear, with Yolei there to protect him, nothing will happen to Ken." Hawkmon said confidently. Wormmon shuffled his feet awkwardly.
"Umm, yeah. Your right I guess..." Wormmon muttered. In reality, she was one of the reasons Wormmon had been worried about Ken. Lately whenever Ken was near Yolei his face would get red and he would start acting funny, like he was sick or something. Wormmon wished his partner would talk to him about it, but every time he mentioned it, Ken would quickly change the subject. Wormmon just wished he knew what was wrong with his friend.
"Wormmon are you okay?"
Wormmon opened his eyes quickly and saw that Hawkmon was a good distance away and staring at him with a worried expression.
"Didn't you hear me when I said we should check that building out?" Hawkmon said pointing to the St. Louis Cathedral. "That building is huge and from up there we can both get a bird's eye view of the city."
"Oh coming!" Wormon called, shuffling as fast as he could to Hawkmon. They began walking together toward the cathedral. Wormmon glanced up at Hawkmon. "Hawkmon why can't you just fly up there by yourself? It would be a lot quicker."
Hawkmon ruffled his feathers in embarrassment. "Well my wings kind of get tired, its best if I have something to perch on. You know, my wings haven't had much exercise lately...with no evil digimon to battle anymore. Plus I could use your help looking. Four eyes are better than two!"
"Oh okay." Wormmon said brightly.
They walked up to the door and pushed it open. Inside, they felt a chill run through their bodies. This had to be the quietest place they've ever been in. The room was enormous, with a high, arching ceiling. Light flooded through stain glass windows. Wooden benches lined a long aisle that lead to a preacher's alter. A giant portrait of a man on a cross hung in the front of the room. The aura of the room made the digimon shuffle nervously. Something about the place was powerful. Hawkmon and Wormmon glanced nervously at each other.
"Maybe we should go." Wormmon whispered.
Hawkmon shook his head. "Poppycock. Let's find some stairs and get climbing." With that, Hawkmon determinedly started walking up the aisle, past the wooden benches. Wormmon followed, flinching as their foot steps made a noise on the stone floor. When the two digimon got to the front, they noticed a couple of people kneeling on the floor with their hand's clasped together.
"What are they doing?" Wormmon asked.
"They seem to be in some sort of trance." Hawkmon observed.
"They are praying." came a voice from behind them.
"Eep!" The two digimon jumped up in surprise and looked behind them to see an old man dressed in black. The man was looking down at them smiling.
"Hello children, are you two lost?" the preacher asked.
"How did you know?" Wormon asked astonished.
The preacher shook his head sadly. " By the looks of your costumes, you must of just came from one of the parades. Sadly, this happens all the time to children during this time of year. The parades, the alcohol...it all seems to cause the Devil to lead their parents astray and the kids are left to wander the streets. " He then looked lovingly at the man in the portrait. " Luckily many of them are lead here by our great lord."
Hawkmon and Wormmon glanced at the portrait and then looked back at the preacher. "Uh, pardon me, but I'm afraid we don't know who that man is your talking about." Hawkmon stated. The Preacher's smile faded.
"He looks very pretty though!" Wormmon quickly added.
"My poor children." The preacher sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. "Thank goodness you have come today." He knelt down on the ground, in front of the portrait. Hawkmon and Wormmon glanced at each other and then got on their knees too. "That, my children, is our savior Jesus Christ."
"Why are those people praying to him?" Hawkmon asked inquisitively, pointing to the kneeling people.
"Well you see, people pray to Jesus for many different reasons. Some to ask for guidance, others to ask for forgiveness."
"Forgiveness?" Wormmon asked, tilting his head. "Why do they want Jesus to forgive them. Did they do something bad to him?"
"Well, you see. Jesus died to protect their lives and to make sure they go to heaven. So Jesus doesn't like it when people waste the life that he gave them to do bad things. When people know they did something bad, they go and ask for Jesus' forgiveness so that they could join him in heaven." The preacher explained patiently.
"Where's heaven at?" Wormmon asked.
"Why it's up in the sky and the clouds!"
"Excuse me sir, but I've been in the clouds many times and I've never seen no humans up there." Hawkmon said shaking his head.
"Besides, why do humans want to go to heaven in the first place? Earth seems like a nice place!" Wormmon demanded. Wormmon was really thinking on how he didn't want Ken to go to Heaven. He wanted Ken to stay right here where he could be with him. He glared enviously at Hawkmon. "I wish I had wings so I could go to Heaven." Wormmon said.
"Well I don't believe there is a Heaven." Hawkmon said defiantly. " I've been up in the sky and I've never seen it!"
The preacher shook his head somberly. "My dear child, you can not see heaven with your mortal eyes. Only your spirit can see Heaven."
"Spirit?" Hawkmon said.
"Yes, your souls."
Wormmon and Hawkmon glanced at each other nervously. They had never heard of a soul before. What if they didn't have one? If Ken and Yolei went to Heaven, would they be able to go with them? Life without their partners was too horrible to even think about. Wormmon looked up at the preacher with sad eyes.
"Sir...will we go to Heaven?"
The preacher looked down at the two children in front of him. They both had an aura of sadness around them. Like they were dreading the answer he would give them. He gave a them a warm smile.
"As long as you believe in Jesus and have a pure heart, then yes you will go to Heaven."
Hawkmon and Wormmon ran up to the portrait of Jesus. They bowed their heads and both said. "WE BELIEVE! WE BELIEVE!"
The preacher ran up to them, holding his hands up for silence. "Shhhh! My children, we don't want to disturb other people's prayers." The two looked to see the people who were kneeling were now glaring at them.
"Oops."
"Is there any other questions, you would like to know about Jesus?" the preacher asked kindly.
"Why is he nailed to that stick? It looks quite painful." Hawkmon asked.
"That stick is called a cross. Why he's nailed to it is a very long story. To make it short, Jesus is on the cross because he died to save us from evil." the preacher answered.
"So when Jesus died, his soul went to Heaven?" Hawkmon concluded. "Humans have to die to go to heaven?"
"That's correct."
While Hawkmon pondered this information, Wormmon asked another question.
"So Jesus fought an evil monster?" Wormmon asked. The preacher chuckled at this.
"Ahh the innocence of a child. Yes you can say he died saving us from an evil monster."
"That's so sad." Wormmon said sadly.
"He must have been very brave." Hawkmon stated, glancing at Jesus in a new light.
"Yes, Jesus was very brave. But he did what he had to do to save his loved ones." the preacher continued.
Wormmon stared at Jesus. "I can understand that feeling." he whispered
"Do not fret my friends. Jesus may be gone now, but he will be reborn again." The Preacher reassured the digimon. The stared at him in confusion.
" But I thought humans can't be reborn again?" Hawkmon asked.
The Preacher wondered about his strange choice of words but decided to ignore it. "Well Jesus is a special king of human..."
"He must be a digimon!" Wormmon interrupted.
"Of course, that makes sense! No human would be able do defeat an evil monster by himself. Jesus must be an ultimate...no a mega level digimon! That's reason why he can be reborn and other humans can't!" Hawkmon flew up to get closer to Jesus's face. "Jesusmon, someday I hope to be just as powerful as you someday!"
"I wonder who his partner was? He must be so lonely waiting for Jesusmon to hatch from his digiegg. I bet he died trying to save him." Wormmon pondered.
"You can relate to him then." Hawkmon pointed out. "You did risk your life to save Ken from his evil self."
Wormmon perked up his antennas happily. "Your right! Maybe I'll digivolve to Jesusmon one day!" Wormmon looked at the preacher, who was now wondering if the people who raised these kids were Satan worshipers. "Do you think I could be like Jesusmon?"
He shook his head in anger. No, he thought. Do not blame the children. God will show them the way! At least they seem interested in learning. He smiled at the two. "Well no one can truly be as great as Jesus...mon, but I as long as your good, he will look at you with kindness."
"Yay! Jesusmon! Jesusmon!" Hawkmon and Wormmon cheered.
"Yes, Yes, now children can I ask you who your parents are?" the Preacher asked.
Hawkmon and Wormmon tilted their heads in confusion. "Parents?"
"You know, the people who take care of you."
"OH!" They both said. "We don't know."
The preacher tried a different approach. "What was the last thing they were doing before ya'll were separated?" If they were at the parades, he would know which streets to send the children to.
"Well..." Wormmon shuffled his feet nervously. "Ken was walking with Yolei." Wormmon narrowed his eyes angrily. "He's always walking with her, even though she makes him sweat and turn red and act funny! I wish he would just leave her alone and we could be close like we used to be!" Wormmon yelled. "I WANT MY OLD KEN BACK!"
Hawkmon narrowed his eyes at Wormmon angrily and stuck his beak in his face. "YOU WANT THE OLD KEN BACK? It's Ken that's making Yolie act like a totally giggling, unresponsive bimbo! She doesn't even notice me anymore!" Hawkmon was close to tears. "All she talks about is Ken this and Ken that! I bet she doesn't even notice I'm missing! But if Ken went missing, she would have everyone looking for him. I used to be her hero and now that's Ken! WAAAAAHHHHH!" Hawkmon and Wormmon were now opening crying.
The Preacher turned his head up to God and send a prayer. "These poor kids!" He thought. "Its obvious what has happened here." The young boy in the worm costume's father, Ken, must of started dating the boy in the bird costume's mother, Yolei. So lost in their sexual desires, the parents must of stopped giving the children any attention. No wonder these kids didn't know anything about Jesus! Their parents were too busy...fornicating to bother to bring their children to church. These kids were just innocent victims of the Devil's evil ways. DAMN THAT DEVIL!
The preacher put a gentle hand on each of their shoulders. Hawkmon and Wormmon looked at the man with tears still in their eyes. " My children come with me. I have something that will help your parents see the error of their ways."
"Really?" Wormmon asked tearfully.
"Yes. Follow me." The preacher lead them outside and to a group of young people standing in front of the church. The young adults were all wearing T-Shirts that said "I Love Jesus!" and were holding picket signs. The leader of the group smiled, when he saw the preacher walk toward them.
"Father! We are ready to spread the word!" the young man said joyfully, holding up a sign that said...
"ALL ATHEIST, DRUNKS, FORNICATORS, AND PROSTITUTES WILL GO TO HELL!"
"Perfect, my son, now I want to you bring these young boys with you. Give them signs and help them find their parents." The preacher turned to Hawkmon and Wormmon. "Now boys when you see your parents, you show them this sign and read it to them. Maybe this will show them the error of their ways...oh and here." The preacher gave both Wormmon and Hawkmon a necklace with a cross on it. Hawkmon and Wormmon looked at their necklaces with wonder. "Now Jesus will be with you where ever you may go...Farewell my children!"
"Bye! Thank you for telling us about Jesusmon!" Hawkmon said, waving good bye to the preacher as the group started to walk down the street, away from the cathedral.
"And don't worry! We'll show Ken and Yolei our signs!" Wormmon promised.
So here's the first chapter to A Digital Mardi Gras. I really hoped you enjoyed it ^-^
Please leave a review!
Below are some links to pages about various Mardi Gras themes mentioned in the story, such as king cakes and the mardi Gras decorations. Just to help people not familiar with Mardi Gras better visualize the story!
.org/wiki/King_cake
.org/wiki/French_Quarter
.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras