Author's Note: Though I initially intended to write a Mimato romance, the story grew into an adventure fic far removed from its original conception. Still, that Mimi and Yamato have some protagonism is to be expected for this is, after all, what sparked the story to life.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

With a sudden movement, Tachikawa Mimi opened her eyes. She sat up in bed, a hand rubbing the back of her neck absently as she turned to look at her bedside table, where a digital clock flashed 3:17AM in brightly mocking pink letters. Mimi hung her head down, sighing. This is unbelievable, she thought tiredly, it was the sixth night in a row she kept waking up abruptly around this time of the morning, and it was really starting to mess up her sleeping pattern in general. She yawned, scrambling out of bed and shuffling out her room to fetch a glass of water at the kitchen.

The water felt cool, and it settled down the slightly anxious feeling that was bothering her in the pit of her stomach since she got out of bed. Mimi paced silently towards the living room, sitting on a low couch and hugging her knees to her chest with one arm, whilst she sipped her water. She hadn't bothered to turn on the lights, but she didn't need to. New York City had been dubbed ´the city that never sleeps´ and it didn't take her long to realise why. Even at this hour, the city was vibrant with life; the skyscrapers tall and lit, and giant billboards flashed in tourists' and locals' faces every day, all day. Mimi loved New York, loved its sounds, and colours and the people. The flashing lights reminded her of Tokyo, and it made her smile for a bit to think of her home. She got up and walked towards the window, drawing one silken curtain back. There were no billboards flashing in her face – not here, not in Upper Manhattan, where her family lived. There were other lights though; buildings and hotels, and office towers and apartment complexes, and the sky was permanently lit somehow, so that you could never really see the stars, because there was so much light pollution in the night sky.

The skies were different in Odaiba. She remembered when she was ten years old, at summer camp. She had been looking forward to the stargazing nights, her father had bought her a small telescope even, so that she could look at them a little better when she was up there. But that summer had not been what she or her parents had expected, had it? Mimi smiled again, and this time it was more mischievous, livelier. Her fingers dropped from the window, leaving finger marks that she knew her mother would freak about in the morning. Without thinking much of it, she walked back to her room, flipping on a small pink lamp on her desk. She sat down unceremoniously, placing her glass on the wooden surface and opening drawer after drawer, looking for – ah, there it was.

Mimi took out a photograph album and flipped it open. It was her little secret, that album. It was full with pictures, all Mimi's favourites. Her best friends at school, some family moments that she was fond of, vacations that she had enjoyed; but there were other pictures too, much more special than any of these things, and those were the ones that had prompted her to look for the album at all. She took one picture out of the page, fingering it delicately as a smile made its way towards her lips. Eight children looked back at her, smiling, and in front of them, around them, in their arms and on their hats were their Digimon friends. Mimi could see herself there, that characteristic pink cowgirl hat and the leafy green and pink Digimon that she was hugging so tenderly. That had been the summer she had first visited the Digital World, and met some of the most important people in her life.

That had been what, nine years ago now? Mimi pursed her lips as she flipped through some other pictures, eyes scanning each face as memories touched her briefly. Brown, unruly hair and a carefree attitude – Taichi was always smiling broadly in every picture. Well, almost every picture. There were those where Takenouchi and him were arguing, or fighting, or trying to ignore each other while everyone else looked apologetic, or annoyed, or amused. Jyou, always pushing his glasses up his nose, a knowing smile and a slightly guarded look about him. How was he doing these days? she wondered. Koushiro, often distracted by technology or such curiosities; Takeru, running around with Patamon on his head or else, looking tenderly at little Hikari, who had grown up to be such a lovely young girl, or Ishida, looking coolly at the group, or sitting placidly with Gabumon, smiling at their antics, or at her, sometimes, even …

She closed the book, her gaze lingering for a while, almost as if she could still see the pictures. Of course she missed them, she had moved to and from America twice during that time, making it really taxing to keep in touch with her friends. They all did, of course. Mimi visited often, they visited sometimes, and then there had been their many adventures in the Digi World, where they met again and fought alongside each other to save their worlds time and time again. But that had been a while ago, and things were different now. Life was busier, and they had all turned their attention more to what was happening in this world. It wasn't a bad thing either, the Digi World had been at peace for a few years now and the DigiDestined were allowed, finally, to catch a well-deserved break.

Mimi yawned, finished the rest of her water in two deep gulps, and sat back in bed, figuring she could try to catch a few more hours of sleep if she could. She had a long day ahead of her, and she absolutely refused to go about it with dark bags under her eyes. It was only after a few minutes after she closed her eyes that she fell into a deep and profound sleep, too deep to realise that inside another drawer, her digivice was lighting up for the first time in almost two years.

-x-

Mimi woke up feeling rather peculiar that Saturday morning. She yawned as she got out of bed, checking her reflection in the mirror and groaning. "My God, I look terrible," she muttered to herself, barely avoiding a collision against the bathroom door. Mr. and Mrs. Tachikawa were not home, nor would they be for a few more weeks. They had taken off about a week before, insisting that it was time they had some family vacations. Mimi was to join them, after her school break started, which meant that on Monday, she'd be free as a bird and on her way to some well-deserved vacations at the Maldives. Humming to herself, Mimi emerged from the shower, a lush pink bathrobe wrapped around her body as she towel-dried her long cinnamon tresses.

Upon re-entering her room, she noticed her phone buzzing on the bed and retrieved it to check her messages. "That's odd," she murmured, "17 new messages?" Another rattling sound distracted her, however, and she looked around her room for the source of the noise. She checked under the bed, in her closet, on her desk until – there it was again – what was that sound? Finally, Mimi opened her drawer and there, under some papers, was her old Digivice. She pressed a few buttons, but the thing wouldn't beep or buzz. It seemed to be, well, normal. She didn't know what made her take it out, but after a moment she just couldn't put it back inside the drawer. She went back to her closet and chose her outfit, which consisted of a pink blouse (no surprises there) and tall shorts that had some sort of tribal print, of vibrant blues and greens and oranges. Mimi looked at her phone while she searched for the rest of her things – wallet, a note tablet, camera (she never left it now) and tossed it all in a brown hobo bag that reminded her of that girl with the cowgirl outfit.

Koushiro: Mimi, have you noticed anything strange about your Digivice? Let me know, it is of utmost importance.

Mimi looked at the limp Digivice, frowning. Miyako had sent a similar message, and suddenly she had an inkling that the rest of the messages would also be similar. But she was late! She didn't have time to confirm these things, Mimi had to turn in a very important assignment in about an hour, and here she was, wasting precious time! She tossed everything in her bag – Digivice included, grabbed a hold of a rather warm and expensive looking kimono-type of wrap to throw over her clothes and some closed toes, pretty and comfortable flats on her hands. After another minute's consideration she opened her jewellery box and took out her old tag and crest, surprised for a moment that she had forgotten it for so long. Mimi left the apartment in a hurry, pushing large shades on her nose and an oversized hat as she walked under the warm New York sun. She rushed to a bakery on the way to her university, stopping to get a bagel and some coffee (she had certainly gone very Western these past few weeks) and was just taking a sip of coffee when her phone rang.

"Mimi here, konnichiwa!" she sang.

"Hi, Mimi? I'm so glad to hear you." the voice said. Mimi smiled widely.

"Wallace, it's so nice to hear from you too! How are you?" Willis' face came to view in her mind's eye, and she remembered the young man so fondly. Terribly nice (and cute!), Wallace had been one of the first Digidestined that they had met in America. She didn't need to remember the specifics of that particular story, though.

"I'm fine Mimi, thank you. Listen, I got a message from several of the guys – something funny's going on with our Digivices, I thought I'd call in to check."

"Hai," she nodded, "I got several messages telling me the same thing. I haven't noticed anything strange so far, but I'll definitely keep an eye open for anything," she assured him, looking warily at her bag and wondering if she should start worrying about it. Normally, she wouldn't, but the fact that so many of her friends had called and seemed to be tense somehow made her a little nervous.

"Yeah, thanks. Good luck, and let me – or anyone else know, ok?"

Click.

Looking at the time, Mimi coarsely swallowed her breakfast and coffee, and made a run towards her destination.

It was only half an hour later, when she had delivered her paper and was free, finally, that she took the chance to leisurely walk around campus and then remembered the strange messages she had been receiving. Mimi frowned, deciding that she'd better check what was going on with her friends in Japan. It was around 1AM there, she knew, but there was a chance someone might be up and maybe she'd get some answers. She made a turn back towards one of the libraries, happy to find the computer room deserted. Mimi took a seat on the furthest corner and started the computer, taking out her Digivice and turning it between her fingers.

Nope, still nothing new.

Her phone rang again, and Mimi picked it up.

"Mimi, thank God you picked up. I need to tell you -"

She recognised Taichi's voice and squealed happily. "Taichi! It's so good – " but what was so good, Mimi never had a chance to say because it was then that her Digivice started glowing eerily, a bright green colour that was blending with the blue that shone much too brightly from the PC in front of her. For a moment she swore she could see Palmon on the screen, but then everything went bright and Mimi could see nothing.

She opened her eyes just in time to see herself crashing against the grassy floor. "Oww…" she complained, looking around as she adjusted her bag, looking down at her Digivice, which had gone back to its normal state.

"What on Earth am I doing in the Digiworld?"

Mimi looked around, the familiar surroundings slowly coming back to her. She hadn't been to the Digiworld in a long time; real-life becoming much more demanding as she grew up. But because she hadn't tried to come, she hadn't realised that so many weird things seemed to be happening in here. Her surroundings were familiar but strange, and there was an eerie silence and stillness in the air that made the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably.

"Hello?" she called out, her hands around her mouth to magnify her voice. "Is there anyone here?"

"Mimi? Is that you?"

"Palmon? Palmon! It's me! Where are you?" Mimi called again, frantically turning this way and that until she saw her running her way, pink flower bobbing happily up and down as she drew closer. Mimi ran to meet her, throwing herself into her arms and hugging her Digimon partner so tightly, she thought the little plant Digimon almost died.

"Oh, Palmon, I am so happy to see you," Mimi whined, "I don't even know how I got here!"

"Mimi!" Palmon looked worried, "I saw you appear on the screen a while ago, I've been waiting around but you didn't seem to notice." She looked at the TV receiver that had served as Mimi's portal, but the thing was smoking, clearly broken. "It's been so long, too."

"I know that," Mimi replied, standing up and letting go of her partner, "I didn't intend to come here just now, I was just going to talk to Koushiro…" she touched her finger to her chin. "This is so strange, Palmon. Taichi-kun had just called me, too. I guess … maybe he's here as well."

"Then we should find him! Maybe the others are here as well!"

Mimi smiled wryly, her hands rising to adjust her much-too stylish hat. "Maybe, yes." But she had a feeling that even if they found them, things were about to take a turn for the worse.