2004: New Year, New Problems

Story #3: Social Networking

Author's Notes: This story is third in the New Year, New Problems series; covers Mimi (in New York City) and also mentions many of the International Digidestined (Tatum is the Digidestined that was riding on the Airdramon during the first of the Digimon World Tour episodes, as reported on Wikimon). Enjoy!

Date: 1/2/2004

Time: Around noon, New York Standard Time

Place: Tachikawa residence, Mimi's room

At the moment the clock struck twelve, Mimi Tachikawa was sitting by the computer in her room, looking over a sheet of paper attached to the clipboard she was holding.

"So let's see…" she said to herself, using a finger to guide her eye as she read off the paper. "I have the information for Tai and the others in Japan, my own, Michael's, Lou's, Maria's, Steve's, Phil's, Tatum's, and the information on Willis as well. Good, that means I can move on to the hard part: gathering all the other information I need…"

Now you may be wondering what Mimi is doing at the moment. Well, after the MaloMyotismon battle, Mimi noticed that the various Digidestined groups were generally separated physically by large distances of space and time, and you couldn't just call up "Imperialdramon's Taxi Service" whenever something needed to be passed on between those isolated groups, so Mimi decided to fill in that gap by creating an Internet-based social networking program. She had already asked Izzy about the proposal through email, and he had approved of the idea, but warned that it could be a hard undertaking.

Scanning down the page, Mimi saw that Izzy's warning was not unreasonable: as she had asked Tai and her Digidestined friends in Japan for information, she had been told that they had personally met Digidestined in many countries of the world, including China (Hong Kong), Russia, Mexico, France, Australia, and India! So not only did she have language barriers to deal with, there was a problem of sheer numbers and complexity, at least in gathering the information the first time around. And it was anybody's guess how many more Digidestined were out there that weren't even really known about! Who knew how much contact information she would have to gather before this idea would even come close to fulfilling its goal!

Nevertheless, Mimi saw several practical reasons for trying something this ambitious:

1. To promote general social bonding and camaraderie between otherwise isolated groups of Digidestined.

2. To provide a means by which advice, news, and support could be passed to a worldwide group rather than be isolated locally by physical barriers.

3. To enable the coordination of any "military" action that involves more than one group of Digidestined, should this ever be necessary.

But it was more than practicality that motivated Mimi to try developing this social network. She now wanted to be a unifying force for the Digidestined; "After all," she said to herself, "I have been too long a source of division and problems, and it's about time I should change that!" This determination was the partly the result of the fact that she now lived in New York City, USA while the other kids she had been with were still in Tokyo, Japan, but the roots of this passion came from the experiences in her first adventure with Palmon and the other Digimon, something that the recent battle had brought back into clear focus…

"Myotismon." Mimi said to herself. "Oh, how I hate that name!" This hate, now compounded by the recent revelations, stemmed from her first adventure. After whining and complaining much of the way through the battles with Devimon and Etemon, she had been lured into a trap while looking for the supposedly disappeared Tai. Myotismon's servant DemiDevimon had lead her into the worst kind of trap she could've ended up in: the trap of being treated as a literal princess, which is what she had wanted to happen above anything else. One thing lead to another, and she pretty much went crazy, imprisoning fellow Digidestined who were just trying to help her! As a result of a very bad nightmare and Sora's (secret) help the hold the royal treatment had on her mind was broken, but as a result Mimi had to humble herself in public, and even after finally doing the task which was the reason she was at the castle in the first place, she barely escaped the ungrateful Digimon which she had awakened with her singing, ShogunGeckomon! The net result of all this trouble and embarrassment was an intense but internalized anger against DemiDevimon and by extension, Myotismon.

This anger became more complex as time progressed and battles occurred, and soon she had developed a mental "blacklist" consisting of Myotismon and his servants, Digimon she would be willing to fight regardless of what damage it did to her look. This blanket condemnation was particularly directed at Myotismon himself and his two main servants at the time, DemiDevimon and Gatomon (who was specifically singled out because of her actions against the group at the gate to the human world, which she had denied to them virtually single-handedly). After Myotismon had sealed off Odaiba with his fog and she and her family had been captured by the Bakemon, Mimi's frustrated anger briefly boiled over and for the first time her Digimon reached Ultimate level: Lillymon.

However, off the high of Lillymon's first victory, Myotismon had arrived and sent Mimi's optimism crashing down as an attack by the vampire enemy left Lillymon badly hurt. Escaping to the TV station with Sora's help, Mimi found her anger quietly building to a level she had never thought possible before, but the interesting twist of events that happened next was to change the way she thought about assuming certain behavior patterns from both Digimon and people.

Of course, the whole deal with the fog was an important component of the hunt for "the Eighth Digidestined", which was both a backdrop and an excuse for Mimi to stew in her anger against Myotismon, but Mimi came relatively late into the story of Gatomon's redemption. After being rescued from the bay by Joe and T.K., Wizardmon had taken of his valuable time and powers to heal Lillymon of the effects of Myotismon's attack. Both Mimi and Lillymon were understandably confused, but after getting a "briefing" concerning what was going on with Gatomon and Kari, Mimi realized that her blanket hate was apparently wrong. Denied the ability to make a blanket statement and enraged at the implications of what she had been told about, Mimi found her anger building again, but this time directed solely at Myotismon. (She later likened this anger to the pressure built up in a pressure cooker.)

Mimi, already emotionally charged due to the intense, building anger, was to experience some of the most emotional moments of her life as Lillymon and the other Digimon battled Myotismon at the TV station. The battle played out in her mind as clear as crystal, the memories cemented by the high emotions: battling Myotismon to a stalemate, Wizardmon's sacrifice, the miracle of Gatomon Digivolving to Angewomon, the union of their powers with her own, and the arrow strike which seemed to take Myotismon down. During all that time Mimi had found herself pooling all the emotional energy generated during the battle: the sadness, the anger (both old and newly generated by Wizardmon's fall), the amazement of the miracle, into one great and powerful rage which made Mimi want to either assault Myotismon personally and strangle him with her bare hands or to morph/"Digivolve" into a Wonder Woman-like superhero and join in the attack. This experience helped make Mimi far more willing to enter into battle and also marked the beginning of the end of viewing herself as a "little princess".

After the battle ended, the high of the great victory was tempered by the continued presence of the fog, but Mimi was for the moment intensely relieved. In this relief, Mimi realized that she had likely went through emotions during that battle similar to those Gatomon had, and therefore was one of the few who actually was emotionally committed enough to talk to Gatomon during that period. She couldn't remember much of what was actually said, but she had developed a fair bit of empathy with the recently-redeemed Digimon, empathy that has survived to this day (albeit in a much weaker form)…

Sincerity; that had been her crest then. But she had learned through the battles with Myotismon (the first victory in particular) that sincerity was more than just dictionary definitions of "determined devotion" or "honest expression of an emotion"; being sincere, or being honest, was a method through which many other things, including courage, friendship, love, hope, and yes, light as well, could be developed or discovered. That's what Mimi had seen happen with Wizardmon and Gatomon, and it's what she saw in herself later in the adventure, when she wanted to stop to honor the group's fallen allies (including Wizardmon) and also when she wanted to get away from the fighting. Of course, she had to learn that not all sincerity was created equal, a factor in finally ending the "little princess" outlook she had on life and in accepting the fact that she had to be involved in the fighting, but at least Mimi had let the sincerity she saw in Wizardmon (which had served to strengthen and sustain his love for Gatomon) teach her lessons, one of which became handy later when she and Joe had found and cared for Ogremon: that you should care for someone in need even if that "someone" is an enemy. Wizardmon's actions had been the teacher of that lesson, and with it she and Joe had virtually converted Ogremon to their side of the conflict, one of the few things she was proud of during that time. "Ah, yes, the memories…" Mimi said to herself.

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Mimi's reminiscing was suddenly interrupted by something tapping on her right arm. She turned and looked only to find Palmon staring back at her. "Oh, when did you come in?" Mimi asked her Digimon.

"Just a minute ago." the plant Digimon replied. "Were you thinking about something?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" Mimi said casually, pretending to be more interested on the paper on the clipboard.

A moment's silence, then Palmon spoke again: "Your mom just told me she still thinks I should be eating plant food."

"Well, I'm not surprised about it." was the casual reply. Mimi still looked at the clipboard. "There's a lot of stuff Mom doesn't understand about you. I don't think even I understand everything about you. Of course, things will get better with time, so don't worry about it too much, OK?"

Palmon flashed a suspicious look. "Are you ignoring me?" she asked.

Surprised, Mimi turned her gaze in Palmon's direction. "Why would you say that?" was Mimi's reply.

"Because you keep staring at that clipboard."

Mimi flushed slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry Palmon, but this whole networking thing keeps grabbing my attention. I can't stop worrying about it."

"But aren't you supposed to be good at socializing?"

"Yes, but this isn't something like inviting a few friends over to chat. This is something over the internet, and there's a lot of work to do in just getting the contacts. I've never done anything like this before, and this is a big job; I'm afraid I might be in over my head on this."

"Then why don't you take five minutes to relax, get your eyes off the computer and walk around a bit? Maybe you'll get an idea."

Mimi thought about that for a moment. It did sound like a good idea, but… "I appreciate the offer Palmon, but don't let me ruin your fun." Mimi sadly replied. "Go watch TV or something; it's not like I have to be hiding you like the other Digimon."

This was very true, but to Palmon it was irrelevant at the moment. "But I'm worried about seeing you sitting in front of that screen all day. I don't think it's good for your eyes."

"Eh, that's what they say… I know you're concerned, but this is something I have to at least try, otherwise I feel like I'm not helping the cause, not being a part of the team. You know as well as I do how much of a drag I was on the first adventure, and this is to help make up for it. So I have to do this, OK? Understand?"

"I… guess."

"Good. Now, unless you have an idea to help with this situation, could you please get me a sandwich and a can of soda from the fridge?"

Palmon looked confusedly at Mimi's request, but, having nothing better to do, she shrugged off the confusion and went off to get Mimi her food.

Mimi smiled as Palmon walked out of sight. At least she didn't have the worry of having to hide her on top of the other problems she had; she came on Christmas as a present, but unfortunately the reunion got a little too rowdy and her parents barged in on the celebration, leaving Mimi with little choice but to explain as best she could why she had a "walking, talking plant" in her room. After that things were just crazy with all the Digimon appearing and having to ditch her fleeing parents, which of course required more explaining, but at least now things were able to settle down again. MaloMyotismon was gone, destroyed for sure this time, Oikawa was now helping to protect the Digital World, and now she had Digidestined friends in both New York and Japan; things were now definitely looking up for the Digiworld and the Digidestined. Now all Mimi was to do was to act as a bridge and unite the scattered groups of Digidestined into one, cohesive force. Considering her past, it was the least she could do to make up for the deficiencies of her former "little princess"-self.

A lot had happened in the four and a half years since that first adventure: she lived through the September 11th attacks (something which further strengthened and enforced the "new self" the first Digimon adventure had developed), met new Digidestined during and after the attacks, entered the fashion industry, and developed a reputation for throwing great parties, but Mimi thought the lessons on sincerity she had learned during the adventure had been the main reason she eventually turned from being a bratty, selfish "princess" to a caring but determined soul, that it had truly made her "grow up".

Now she stared at the clipboard of paper, wondering what else could be done before she took on the long hard task of harvesting the appropriate information. After a moment, she realized she still hadn't really named the project, but had just submitted the proposal as an "Internet-based social network" with few specifics. Now she figured she had to give a real name to this thing before proceeding on.

Mimi thought for a moment. "What kind of name do I want?" she said to herself. She thought for a moment more, then realized that the name had to be linked to a significant event, something worth honoring. Of course, she quickly saw the redemptions of both Gatomon and Ken as possible events, and an idea developed in her mind: "Hmm… let's see… Digital Light Network, no, umm… what was Ken's Crest called?... oh, yeah, now I have it!… Light and Kindness Network… no, other way around, Kindness and Light Network… yeah, that sounds good. We can abbreviate it to KLN… yeah, that'll work." Mimi wrote the words "Information for Kindness and Light Network (KLN)" across the top of the paper on the clipboard. Now, of course, the hard part began, but she was happy with the title she had come up with, as it honored both redemptions at once. This would be her way of giving to them, when she could otherwise do little else…

Meanwhile, Palmon had come back into Mimi's room with the sandwich and can of soda, both of which Mimi took with a thank-you. Mimi took a bite out of the sandwich as she opened the computer's email program. Palmon stood beside Mimi and eagerly looked out at the screen as Mimi now determinedly began to type out emails.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mimi saw her Digimon partner watching her type. She didn't mind her being around and thought to herself, "After all, Palmon and I are partners; we're in this together. Why else would she be here?" Mimi smiled to herself and typed on the computer's keyboard, sincerely determined to unite the Digidestined of the world into one body. She knew change was in the air, that a new order in both worlds was being formed, and that unity among the Digidestined would be very helpful in this new order. And that's why she was sitting here, knowing that in the future, the keyboard would be mightier than the sword in bringing the new order to fulfillment and in protecting it as well.

Mimi Tachikawa typed on, knowing that her efforts would not be in vain and that one day she would be rewarded for her determination, her sense of honor and most of all, her sincerity. That is why it is up to her to unite the far-flung elements of the Digidestined into a powerful force able to affect hearts, minds and (eventually) political structures. As the Digidestined chosen for sincerity, the task has fallen to her, and to her alone. And she knows she will not fail in accomplishing it because of the lessons that were taught to her, lessons she will treasure for the rest of her life…

The End