Daichi: Recently, in A Little Kindness, I stated that Mimi was leader of the American DigiDestined. This story takes that fact and runs with it, starting from when she meets her first Digimon in America, continuing through A Little Kindness, until the eventual conclusion.

Verity: She doesn't own anything.

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No matter where it was, school was still school. There was learning, there were teachers, and it was filled with utter boredom. And at the end of the day, a single thought would flit across the students' minds. Freedom.

Mimi Tachikawa was no different from the rest of them. Her friend Michael said that he was going to introduce her to Steve, supposedly his friend who went to another school.

"Now, some of what he says may confuse you. If you don't understand it, assume it's an inside joke and move on." She nodded.

Michael had been the first friend she made after moving to America. Her only friend, if she could just admit it. By this point in their lives, most of the kids had already settled into little groups, leaving not much room for someone new. Not that she would admit to having only one friend at school to anybody.

Anybody except Palmon. It had been more than two years since she had seen her partner, and it had begun to get to her a little. Only having one nearby friend to talk to didn't make it any easier.

"Where were we meeting your friend, again?"

"There's a small… we think it's a park nearby. Nobody ever goes there. Actually, I think everyone forgot it existed." Michael grinned. "We go there all the time, if we don't want to be overheard."

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"It's in case someone ever reports me missing. Check here first."

Much of what her friend did was an unknown to Mimi, but something told her that normal teenagers weren't supposed to talk about that so easily. Not that she'd know. She was hardly a normal teenager.

Of course, unbeknownst to her, neither was Michael.

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"I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Michael."

"Very funny, Steve. I told you about this just last week." Michael gestured for her to come forward, and she did, albeit tentatively. "This is Mimi. Moved here about a year ago, from Japan, actually. And you said I didn't need to know a foreign language."

"Well, can't you hire a translator?"

"That's not the point. Anyway, Mimi, this is Steve. I've known him since we were little. He moved to another part of town before you came here, but we keep in touch." She wasn't entirely sure what to do in this situation. It had been far too long since she'd had to introduce herself to somebody else like this. Generally, it was in front of a class.

"Hello. It's good to meet you." Was that too formal? She didn't know. She hadn't made a friend in… over a year, since she met Michael. And the time before that… Palmon.

"Quiet, huh? Michael, sometimes I really question your tastes in girls."

"I already told you, it's not like that!" Michael glared at Steve, and Mimi was beginning to wonder why she was there. That's when it happened.

In the area between two trees, the world seemed to blur. "Um… guys… is that normal?"

Michael and Steve turned to see the distortion. "One of them? In the city? That hasn't happened before."

"Should it surprise you? It was only a matter of time." Michael opened the bag that he always carried around, and Mimi saw something that she knew shouldn't have been there.

A little green Digimon hopped out of the bag. "Again?" He asked. "This is the fifth time this month! Can't we get a break?"

"I wish," A voice squawked out, and a small purple bird jumped on top of the rock he had been hiding behind. "But you know how it is. Mind if I take this one?"

Steve glanced at Michael, who shrugged. "Betamon doesn't fight well on land, anyway. I don't see any reason not to let Penguinmon have this one."

The distortions ceased, and out stepped a large black wolf Digimon.

"A BlackGarurumon, huh?" Penguinmon eyed the wolf cautiously, as it snarled, scraping its claws along the ground. Perhaps it was a good thing nobody else came there. "I guess there's no talking you into leaving peacefully, right?"

"There never is. Why are you even asking?" Betamon sighed in exasperation.

"I can try. Hey, Steve, toss me some power, will you?" Mimi couldn't remember a time when Palmon, or any other Digimon, had talked to their partner like that. Almost carefree, like it didn't even matter that there was a feral Digimon in the middle of New York City.

It almost reminded her of herself, back on File Island, before she learned the meaning of the word DigiDestined.

"Sure, fine." Steve pulled a Digivice out of his pocket, gripping it tightly. "Go wild." That was when it started glowing.

"Penguinmon Digivolve to Frigimon!" This was the first Digimon she actually recognized, although she could have made a pretty good guess with the BlackGarurumon. She knew a Frigimon.

She didn't know any BlackGarurumon, but if this one was anything to go by, they weren't very nice at all. This one was wilder than any other Digimon she had seen, and she wished, again, that she had Palmon to protect her.

"Sub-Zero Ice Punch!" An attack, a flurry of dispersing data, and Frigimon shrunk back down to Penguinmon.

"We're lucky this isn't a populated area," Betamon remarked. "Now all we have to worry about is explaining this to your friend." Michael, Steve, and the Digimon turned to Mimi, who was trying to make sense of what she had just seen.

They had been forced to leave their partners behind in the Digital World, hadn't they? But, right here… there were two Digimon with human partners. Other DigiDestined, who apparently had to deal with things like this a lot.

And she didn't even have Palmon to help them.

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Daichi: This side story is mainly because… Mimi doesn't get a lot of focus during 02, for obvious reasons. There's not many places to fit her. And T.K. and Ken aren't the only ones suffering in this world. Besides, with when we see her, with what's coming up… if I didn't do this, the most awesome upcoming moments for Mimi would have to happen offscreen. Let's try to avoid that.