Cody's Christmas Tale
AN: For old-time's sake, and a little holiday cheer, here is the start of a new Cody Christmas story. Merry Christmas to all of , Enjoy! - B. Mills
Chapter 1: A Rocky Prologue
This late December day had started out well enough for the newer Digidestined. They were all off from school for the impending holidays, allowing for extended "computer club" activity in the Digital World. Ken Ichijouji had surprised them all by extending invitations to a Christmas Eve party, and Cody Hida's mannerly reception of his invitation was a second pleasant surprise. When they were heading back toward the Digital Gate to return home, they found several makeshift signs indicating that a Control Spire still stood in that area, and asking the Digidestined to take it down. The back of each sign conveniently provided a map right to the offending piece of architecture. The request was potentially too real not to check it out - even Cody agreed with that. It was also potentially too much like a trap not to be careful - and even Davis realized that. They decided that Yolei, Kari, TK, and Ken would each take their Digimon partners and approach the supposed Control Spire from a different direction in the air. Meanwhile, Cody and Davis would converge on the same spot with their Digimon over land. If there was any sign of Arukenimon or Mummymon, then the kids would regroup and head for home. They all reached the base of the Control Spire with no indication of trouble, but the Chosen Children saw that up-close it looked every bit as makeshift as the signs that had led them there. Suddenly, up-close proved too close because it wasn't a Control Spire at all - it was literally the better part of a Gotsumon tribe posing in Control Spire formation. The pose held scrutiny just long enough for the rocky Digimon to cascade down from it, surrounding the Digidestined and their partners. One of the Gotsumon stepped forward long enough to demand the surrender of the Digimon Emperor and his "recruits".
Davis and Veemon instantly tensed for battle, but Kari plaintively called for the goggled leader to wait before digivolving his partner. The Child of Light couldn't bear the thought of using force against these Gotsumon - she said it would be like fighting off a group of first graders that were mad for some reason. T.K. vocally hoped their would-be captors could calm down for a minute to see that at the moment Ken was nothing like the Digimon Emperor he used to be. The blonde boy's charm might have worked things out, if not for the very sight of Ken within angry grasp. Yolei moved closer to Ken, following her determined instinct to protect anyone she felt was in danger. The tall girl told Kari that they might not have a choice about fighting. Then, Ken's soft voice commanded anticlimactic attention, "Wait, there's no need for anybody to get hurt. I'll go with you," he told the Gotsumon. "Just let the others go."
"No." The raspy, forceful clarity of the un-shouted single word cut through the remaining tension, drawing all eyes to Cody Hida. The young boy, normally flustered by sudden attention, was currently too determined to mind it. "Kari's right, we can't fight them without becoming bullies - and there are too many of them to make a run for it - but we can't let you go with them alone Ken. They are too angry right now. They might hurt you without understanding how bad that is. We all need to go with the Gotsumon peacefully, for everybody's sake."
Nine year-old Cody firmly believed that good manners were among the most important traits that led people from childhood into maturity. Therefore, being mature meant avoiding unmannerly general statements. Cody hoped that the other new Digidestined understood that he would do his best not to tell them something like, "I told you so." However, the youngster was seriously considering those very words as he, Yolei, TK, Kari, Davis, Ken and their respective Digimon partners all became the prisoners of the Gotsumon. If the older kids had only bothered to explore the youngest's many reservations about working with Ken so soon after the ex-Emperor's albeit voluntary abdication of power, they wouldn't have this problem now. After all, it seemed obvious to Cody that all the Digimon of the Digital World had every reason to be angry with Ken Ichijouji. It seemed equally obvious that instantly treating Ken as a completely reformed good guy just might make a lot of those angry Digimon suspicious of all the younger Digidestined. Cody was introspectively annoyed that the others didn't understand the pragmatic reasons he honestly had for not accepting the change in their former enemy ... yet. The fact that the youngster was recently making more of an effort (encouraged by forceful sweet-talking from Yolei) to see the difference in Ken, did not - repeat, did not - mitigate the risk of hard feelings from victimized Digimon. The small boy also had to be honest about himself too, though. Cody had stopped sharing his concerns when they were first dismissed as childish temper. He knew he should have found a way to continue expressing them that wasn't so ... inflexible . If he had been less stubborn, maybe potential consequences would have been better understood. Cody's self-criticism helped keep his own temper in check about today's predicament.
The Gotsumon led their captives to nearby caverns that networked into an underground domain. Even the deeper passages were well-lit and warmed by torches. These rock-based Digimon apparently had no problem with fire that wasn't blast furnace hot. The inward trek was not long or harsh, but only Cody was small enough to comfortably walk where they were being taken without stooping in places. The others were at least glad that the passages were built for things slightly bigger than Gotsumon. The taller children were the gladdest when they finally emerged into a roomy natural chamber, an obvious gathering place. The sense of relief was all-too temporary, because the rest of the Gotsumon tribe awaited their arrival in some kind of assembly. A simple resolution to this situation seemed less likely now.
As the newer Digidestined and their partners were brought forward, the ranks of assembled Gotsumon on each side turned heavily forward as they passed. This directed everyone's attention to the front of the chamber. A particular Gotsumon - seated atop a stone bench on a short raised stage- waited for the human children. The escorting security detail halted the reluctant parade at the base of the stage and collectively reported them in the presence of the one Gotsumon, called the Eldest. This imposingly senior Gotsumon was actually a greyer color and bore scuffed features, which must have been their way of aging. The Eldest's gaze swept them all from tallest to shortest. Finally, when the gravel voice spoke with masculine weight, the words were directed to Cody Hida rather than Ken Ichijouji. "So kid, help me figure a couple things out - will you?"
"Uhm, Are you sure it's me you want to ask sir?" Cody tried not to mind that every pair of eyes around - human and not - had trained on him - again. Then he bowed quickly, because he knew this was formal conversation. The small boy's talks with Izzy mentioned that Gotsumon speech patterns always sounded like casual banter, so this was probably as formal as the serious-looking rock being got.
"Yeah, you're the one," the aged Gotsumon confirmed with a chuckle. "In fact, I think only you should do the answering. It's the best way I can keep a lid on things while you're all here. Talking to you is the right thing because we can all look you in the eye. I've got a feeling that if you know a whole tribe of us can look at you that way about what you say, it's going to matter to you. Am I right?"
Cody responded with an immediate, "Of course it will sir." His reply was completely respectful, but its firmness clearly expressed that the youngster was slightly offended. The Eldest was challenging Cody's sense of honor, and the youngest Digidestined wasn't going to be pushed like that without pushing back. Yolei was the nearest of the other new Digidestined, and she realized that on a scale of serious from 1 to 10 the old Gotsumon had just dialed Cody Hida up to an 11. If anyone - or anything - was going to put the tall girl's immediate future in the hands of a nine year-old, she'd want that kid to be Cody. She reached down and patted his shoulder as a gesture of confident support. The small boy didn't break eye contact with his interrogator, but Yolei felt the small shoulder relax briefly, gratefully under her hand before it tensed with purpose again.
The Eldest Gotsumon nodded, "Like I said, I figured as much. The first thing I need to know about is him." Now he pointed to Ken Ichijouji, "Is he one of yours now or are you one of his now?"
The youngest Digidestined was glad that the word "friend" never loomed in the question. He and Ken were not friends right now, and there was no way Cody could honestly say that they were to vouch for the former Emperor's current helpfulness. He could, however, report the mitigating facts that his other friends would want him to mention. "Sir, I promise that facts are very important to me. I think it's a fact that this boy, Ken Ichijouji, is not the Digimon Emperor anymore. He has given up that stupid costume, he has left that terrible base, He is helping us - the Digidestined - destroy the evil control spires he made. He has even saved my life. He's just Ken Ichijouji now. Honestly, I don't know enough about him like that yet, but I think I know enough to believe that he's not the same as the Digimon Emperor now. Cody finished his answer with a truth that needed to be admitted, by himself and his friends, to the residents of the Digital World, "The Digidestined are not the recruits of the Digimon Emperor, sir - the Digital World is free of him. It's just the younger group of Digidestined sort of recognized Ken Ichijouji as a Digidestined too ... by a silent vote of 4 to 1 - that's all."
The Eldest had to quiet a loud ripple of murmurs from his Gotsumon tribe before continuing. "I told you," he said generally, "I said we'd get the real deal from the little guy, didn't I?" He turned his attention back to Cody. "OK, 4 to 1 - got it. So who was the holdout?"
"I am, sir." Cody revealed matter-of-factly.
An impressed wince formed on the weathered, rocky face hearing the child's present tense reply. "Ouch! That can't be easy on you when all the others want to throw the stone another way, huh?"
The small boy sighed. "It hasn't been easy for any of us, sir, I'd like to be sure, but it's probably been hardest on him - I mean Ken."
"If it's so blasted difficult, why do the rest of your pals not mind being all buddy-buddy so fast?" The aged Gotsumon challenged.
Cody's answer reflected no uncertainty, "They believe he's worth the risk that if they become his friends and stay his friends he'll be good, and be better at good than he ever was at evil."
The little human was so stubbornly careful that the rock-hard tribal lord responded even harder now, "But you don't think that do you? That's why you know it's not right to include him, right?"
"I didn't say that," Cody stressed each word fiercely before catching a calming breath and adding a respectful, "sir." The youngster continued with a heavy sense of responsibility for what he had to say. "That's not the reason I haven't agreed yet. We've spent a lot of time here in the Digital World knowing him as the Digimon Emperor, knowing what he did and how wrong it was, and knowing we had to be against him because of that. When he suddenly became just Ken Ichijouji again, there was so much that we didn't know - that we still don't know. I wanted to know those things, and not just for me. I think they are things that all the Digimon of the Digital World would like to know too."
"Like what?" The Eldest invited.
Cody gathered his thoughts and his calm again before answering. "I don't know if Ken really thought the Digital World was only a virtual game or the dimension of living beings it really is. He knows the truth now. He knows that every Digimon has been hurt - or worse - in some way by what he did. That knowledge is sort of a punishment, but there's a selfish part of me that doesn't know if any amount of punishment could be enough. Most of all, I don't know if he's sorry. I think he can't say it because he's afraid of feeling as small as that word against all the bad things, but -" The youngster paused, and certainty gave him a stature that physical height did not, "- sometimes small things are strong stuff."
"Sounds to me like you are thinking your way into accepting the old DE there too."
"Sir, I may not know these things, but at least now I believe he can be sorry for it all. Really feeling it by helping us is just going to take time to make sure of. I may not be as ready as my friends are about Ken, but I've been watching. Each time I've watched, he's at least been worthy of the next chance I'd give him. I guess what it comes down to is that any Digidestined I know wouldn't be a Digimon Emperor. As soon as I can say that about Ken Ichijouji, then I'll count him too."
The gravely gravel figure scraped a rocky hand thoughtfully on his rocky chin. "Now, I think we're getting to what has my tribe shaking today. You're a solid kid for a human, but you are still so smooth ... I think humans call it young. Maybe your friends are forcing you to agree with them - without even letting you think that's what they are doing."
At that Davis, Yolei, Kari, and TK - along with Patamon, Gatomon, Hawkmon, Veemon, and even Armadillomon couldn't help laughing out loud. They knew nobody could stop Cody Hida from thinking about anything and everything, and the very idea of trying to was uncontrollably funny ... for a moment. Of course, Cody mildly scowled right along with the assembled Gotsumon for the breech in formality, while Ken and Wormon were silent through it all.
"Sure, they try to laugh it off now," the Eldest insisted, "but didn't they just force you into accepting a commission from the Digimon Emperor this afternoon?"
The young boy's expressive eyebrow's furrowed in confusion. "Excuse me for saying so sir, but I have no idea ..." then Cody realized what the senior Gotsumon might be talking about. He took out the invitation that Ken had given him earlier and held it up. "Wait. Is this what you mean, sir? This is just an invitation to a party celebrating Christmas."
"Christmas?" The Eldest repeated the word wonderingly, "What's that mean to human beings, anyway? You're expecting me to believe that it means enough for the old DE to throw a shindig for his enemies. More than that, it's this Christmas that wore you down as the hard case against any renewed activity of the DE."
"I'm sorry that you haven't had a good opportunity to understand why almost all people do special things around Christmastime sir," Cody began with careful politeness. The boy naturally wanted to be instructive when he knew about a subject that others didn't, but the Gotsumon were of a completely different culture - not to mention life form and dimension. Their not understanding Christmas was sad, but not a fault to be criticized. The Eldest Gotsumon had just made Cody accountable to explain Christmas for all human beings. Since everybody did not share the specific religious beliefs at the center of the holiday, the youngster decided not to detail that. Still, there was something that Cody believed Christmas could bring out in even the most hopeless of living human souls - and he believed with an innocence that assured him everyone - every being - could believe the same thing too. "Christmas reminds everybody that good is possible from everybody and for everybody. The closer the year gets to Christmas, the better it is to be good, and do good. It's also the nicest time to try changing from not doing good things - and to encourage anyone who makes that effort that they can do it. Sir, that's why I think Ken asked us to go to his Christmas party, and that's why I'm willing to go to it. I may not believe completely in him yet, but I'll let him borrow from my belief in Christmas, because I really believe in that."
The old Gotsuman stared long and hard into the determined green eyes of the human boy. He was looking for any sign that this kid was just talking a good game to get himself and his companions out from under. For all their rocky weight, there was nothing more heavy to bear than a Gotsumon's stare - and this little guy stared right back. Everything the child had said from the beginning was the rock-solid truth. That Christmas whatever-it-was was the truest thing the Eldest had ever heard - it had to be if it gave this kid such faith in the rightness of good. However, there was still a problem. He believed Cody because the elder, himself, had the wisdom to realize what the smallest Digidestined's certainty in Christmas meant to the Digital World. The little boy was making Christmas a promise to help Ken Ichijouji alright, but to be a better human being again, never the Digimon Emperor he used to be. The many Gotsumon of the tribe would have to see why this one human boy believed that this human festival - this Christmas - had such power. There was one big, convincing way to get through to them all at once. It had never been tried on a human, and it wasn't necessarily enjoyable - especially for the smooth ... young. Then again, the little human was as big as any Gotsumon hoped to get, and he was stubborn as a rock for the right reasons. "How long have you believed in this Christmas thing enough to let others borrow the good you honor in it?" The Eldest asked loudly. The question got everyone's attention.
Cody only had to think a moment about his answer. "Since the Christmastime I was five years old, sir."
"So, do you remember exactly what made you believe you could do that with a Christmas?" The craggy questioner challenged again.
"I'll never forget sir, not as long as I live." The youngster replied intensely.
"OK, then here's the deal - you show us that moment in your life when you first believed that, then you all go home; even the old - the one you call Ken."
Cody briefly weighed the personal intrusion against the overwhelming rightness of ending this situation in a good way. "I'll try to tell you. My Dad helped me believe in Christmas like that. I'll do my best to tell you the story how, but there aren't any pictures to show with it."
The Gotsumon Eldest leaned forward, and noted "There are in that noggin of yours, kiddo - and we've got a way for you to think them up on a big screen ... well sort of." The Gotsumon elder addressed his tribe "Let's everybody take a break. When we get back together, the little guy here is going to tell his story in the Chamber of the Waving Stone."