GONE WITH THE WIND
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended; I do not own Digimon nor do I own the song "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go. The only thing I do own is the storyline.
4. HERE IT GOES AGAIN
Several years had gone by since the well-known green-lined trolley, that was an everyday sight in the metropolises of Japan – Odaiba in particular – had magically taken flight and transported eight children to the sun of the Digital World, and had somehow brought them home safe and sound. Several years in the human world; but taken into account the digital world's time measurement, more than just several years there.
And, as with all things influenced by the course of time, this realm had changed, too. Its modifications were minor at first sight, but nevertheless severe when it soon became apparent that they were no mere consequences of nature's wrath over time. Instead, they had been voluntarily and consciously created by the hand of mon.
Of course, as of late, time flowed equally as fast in both dimensions, but not even all those previous decades – digital time – should have distorted the land that badly.
An obscure figure stood atop a mountain, a hiding place that ensured no living creature would be able to spot him or her lurking about, even though the population below was very scarce and practically zero. It was coldly gazing over one of the newly destructed areas from which smoke could be seen from miles away, billowing out of abandoned houses that could barely be made out as houses anymore. Thankfully though – or not – there was not one digimon left to witness their blackened remains.
This mysterious being seemed to be searching for something in particular, as its red eyes scanned from left to right and back and repeated that routine twice. Or perhaps it was checking to see if everything was, in fact, destroyed enough.
And after that seemingly failed attempt at finding whatever was looked for – or seemingly satisfactory feeling at the fresh ruins – it opened its wings and was ready to take to the air.
But loud grunts and the talking of people kept it from doing just that.
"Ouch! Who's sitting on my foot?" a muffled voice spoke.
"Ngour foot? Twy mwy 'ead!" an even more muffled voice sounded.
Some more grunting reached its ears and soon enough, the ones responsible for it came into view. And what a view it was: four people were apparently trapping themselves in... themselves, and arms and legs were sticking out in every direction as several methods were tested to get out of the mess. 'Well well, wouldn't this be an amusing sight', the creature thought, 'if it wasn't for their intruder status.'
"Okay, everyone calm down! Ugh. Let's just... disentangle ourselves gently. Kari, you're on top, you get off first."
Several snorts were the answer to this rational statement, but eventually the teenagers did manage to get out of their mini homemade dog pile without too much of an injury.
"Well, I'm sure I've got over a dozen internal bruises now. Thanks a lot, Mr Whoever-Is-Responsible-For-The-Transportation-To-The-Digital-World", the one with the blue hair said sarcastically to the digital sky, which, sadly, did nothing godly in response.
The winged creature was not satisfied with their arrival and as its eyes took on a specific gleam that could be interpreted as an intent-to-kill look, it spoke out a harmless sentence that somehow, at the same time, sounded extremely lethal: "Time to give them a little surprise".
Joe was not happy with the way his life had turned out. No sirree, not happy at all.
At least, that was what he was trying to tell himself at the moment, thinking that once he persuaded himself of that mantra, an accompanied feeling of aversion would be invoked as well. Unfortunately for him though, he found that he had a harder time convincing himself of that transparent lie than he'd originally thought.
This would – to a good many people – sound peculiar, especially when taken into account the subject's personality, proneness to reality and all things down-to-earth, but the Digital World was an exception – possibly the exception – to that level-headed behaviour.
And it really shouldn't, he told himself, because when he started wondering, the only logical answer he could come up with was that it was illogical.
How many life-threatening situations had he been in while he had been marching through endless deserts or travelling inside the mouth of a whale? How many times had he exerted himself in order to escape an evil digimon chasing after him and his friends? How many unreal and impossible things had he encountered during his stay there, which in itself wasn't exactly a five star hotel holiday? And how much precious learning time was he losing this very instant at the expense of a visit there?
Too much to his liking.
And yet.
Yet he couldn't help but love the Digital World, quirks and all. Yeah, to say that that line of thought was quite different from the first time he set foot there would be an understatement. Still, it was true; he had accepted its weirdness and wrote it off as something inherent to the dimension, and the fact that he did still surprised him to this very day. He could even recall that anticipated moment of departure and how he had caught himself missing remote telephone booths at the beach and smiling at the memory of random vending machines in a jungle landscape. It was just so weird that the more time he spent there, the less he cared about that weirdness.
See, I told you it was illogical.
What's more is that he couldn't deny how much he had cherished that particular sense of responsibility that went with the burden of saving the world. It had made him feel as if he was a somebody, an important factor that couldn't be missed, someone who could make a change. And he remembered all too well that that wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the Digital World.
But most of all, he loved his silly partner digimon, Gomamon. The partner he had been friends with for years, through thick and thin, through bad jokes and safety rants, and who was the best friend he ever had. He thought so at least; after all, it had been years since the last time he had seen him or heard his idiosyncratic laugh. He missed him, more than anything. And it would be the biggest lie ever to deny that he didn't long for one bit of it to return to him.
Although, at the moment, these truths were kindly repressed by Joe's sullen mood as he was presently taking a breath from being crushed by his travel companions, who, he noticed, were busy appreciating the use of oxygen like himself.
"All right, so what happens next?" our blue-haired Ol' Reliable asked when they acted more or less normal again and had begun their latest stroll through the digital dimension, which, as a nice surprise, had dropped them off at an alluring flower field.
Questioning the next step in the grand adventure made him feel 12 years old again, with that particular excitement beating in his veins at the prospect of adventure and the sense of meaning something to the world. It instantly made him feel better.
But, before Izzy could give him a highly detailed description of his watertight plan, Joe's prospect became a reality. And not in a good way.
"Well well, what do we have here? A bunch of silly children who dare to trespass these lands?"
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and looked around carefully to identify the owner of that cynical voice.
"Up here you dimwits."
Unconsciously, the tense Digidestined started to huddle together as their eyes quickly darted to the blue sky in unison. What they saw did not surprise them: a humanoid digimon – female, if digimon had genders – with black-feathered wings and a curve-hugging dark outfit that barely covered its skin. Both accentuated its evil nature, which was already guessed at, as did the evil smirk on its face.
TK bravely took on the role of the leader figure and asked: "Who are you and what do you mean "we're trespassing"? Last time I checked, the Digital World didn't belong to you."
Very brave indeed. Or very stupid.
Joe vaguely thought of a certain other leader and couldn't help but wonder if all leaders possessed that quality of making brave remarks sound incredibly stupid at the same time and actually get away with them.
The digimon's eyes immediately turned to narrowed slits, and in the blink of an eye she had conjured up a fireball in her long-nailed hand and hurled it at TK's head.
At least, that's what it looked like. When he opened his eyes again though, he saw that she had aimed a little ways off and had instead stained the flower field.
"Don't you dare insult me again, little brat, or you will pay for it. Dearly." The humour was gone from her voice, and the venomous slits remained dangerously in place.
Joe gulped as the silence that followed that remark reigned. 'Haven't you learnt by now, stupid? You always get what you wish for. And usually in the worst possible way as well... If only Gomamon were here, too, then we'd show that hag just who's boss! Wow, I can't believe the adrenaline actually got me thinking like that. *nervous mental giggle* I guess Tai must be rubbing off on me. At least, Tai like he used to be...'
The flying angry womon looked intently at each face and was apparently content with the effect of her threat, as she decided to answer TK's question.
"I am the Wind Warrior, and I speak on behalf of my master when I say that you are trespassers. And according to his rules, trespassers should be dealt with instantly." Her glance became more amused again, and she said: "But I see that you have absolutely no way to defend yourselves..."
'Please don't kill us. Please let us go. Please, please, please.' Joe's new mantra played in fast motion.
"Which will make your annihilation even easier than it would've been." Her ruby red lips curved upwards in a sadistic smile while her voice's tone was utterly cheerful. "Goodbye Digidestined. It was nice meeting you; I rather enjoyed our little run-in."
'So this is it? We're not even here for half an hour and we're already toast? Damn you, luck! Why can't you ever come at the right time? And wait a minute, she knew we were the Digidestined? Why didn't she kill us from the moment she saw us then? Aargh, never mind, we're going to die! Inhale, exhale, inhale, ex– Stay calm Joe, Izzy will figure something out.' But when he allowed himself a glance at the redhead, he couldn't help but notice the equally desperate look in those dark glistening eyes.
'Okay, we're screwed.'
Lesson Number One in Spying for Dummies: 'In order to keep your identity a secret, you must have one or multiple unsuspicious objects at your disposal in order to blend in'.
Matt Ishida, desirable bachelor in the Odaiban teenage rock industry, was currently sitting in a small and cosy coffeehouse called "Cuppy's Coffee". A name of which he wasn't sure it was an attempt at a funny pun – which it wasn't – or simply a reference to the owner – which he didn't wish on anyone.
He was sitting there with a newspaper in front of him that he lowered every so often in a fashion that would make him very suspicious if anyone would actually bother to pay attention to the blond. Which was not the case, since people with coffee tended to like their damping mug filled with caffeine in front of them much better than watching some guy, who didn't even have coffee, do some weird stuff. And, as a result, no one noticed him eyeing the cheerful and pretty waitress very attentively.
She was mesmerizingly serving the coffee-craving customers that were sitting conveniently next to him. 'Just... mesmerizing', Matt thought. Not that he was staring that intently of course, but he had somehow taken up the role of a detective – albeit an amateurish attempt – so as to figure out who exactly that very familiar-looking person was, and thus had no choice but to look attentively at his subject.
This was the second day he saw her, but since he just hadn't been able to overcome that attack of initial shock that easily the day before, and he had ran out of there as if he was a mad man on the run, he counted this as day one. 'It's cool now', he told himself, 'I'm cool. Oh shoot, she's looking. Newspaper… up!'
"Hello sir, may I get you something?" Cue beautiful smile from her.
"Oh! Gee, I didn't see you there. And uhm, well,… uhm, c-coffee please." Cue stupid stuttering uncool me.
"I figured as much, but what kind would you like specifically?"
Cue brain on automatic pilot. "An espresso please, no milk, no sugar."
"Coming right up." And she left with another smile.
The smoothness of that conversation surprised him. Weren't girls usually fawning over him in bushes? And weren't they usually the ones to stutter in his face? How did the universe suddenly turn upside down? And was this asking-yourself-questions thing a part of his Spying for Dummies training? He did not know the answer. But he would make the blasted universe realign again at all costs to preserve his sanity; that he was sure of.
"... but perhaps I am in a good mood today and take no pleasure in killing you poor helpless lot." She smiled again in a rather teasing way and flew playfully in a circle around the Digidestined, in a way that was similar to a hungry vulture before it decided to feed on its prey on the ground. "Maybe."
She eyed the blond leader in particular and all of a sudden came down to his level to mock him, turning her body in the sky so that she was inches from his face but hanging upside down.
TK in turn did a remarkable job in not flinching at this twist of events and looked intently at her red intriguing and heavily-applied-with-mascara eyes that were taunting him to do something – anything – that would result in her gripping his neck and breaking it in two as easily as a twig.
"My, I see you are even more foolish than I believed you to be." Her teasing smile turned more and more seducing and she twisted her body in the right direction again. "I like that." She heard a squeak from behind her and immediately zapped to the small brown-haired girl to hold an arm threateningly on her neck, prompting another squeak out of the defenceless girl.
"Let go of her!" the knight in armour instantly yelled.
"Ah, I see you do have some common sense, pretty boy. Pity. You would've made such a nice asset to my collection of entertainment puppets."
She giggled at everyone's baffled faces. "What to do, what to do? Should I kill or let you go? Hmm... Tricky question. On the one hand, you are completely at fault for being here. But on the other hand, you say you didn't know this was forbidden land. I wonder what's more likely to convince me. Decisions, decisions..." She took on a posture that suggested she was thinking elaborately about their predicament.
"You know what, how about I just decide my temporary good mood is over and do take pleasure in killing helpless little humans?"
Kari was thrown back to her friends and TK caught her in his arms protectively. "Are you okay, Kari?"
"I'm fine, but we have to get out of here. Fast."
"Ah, sorry to break it to you hun, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Don't you worry though, this will be completely painless." The feathered digimon flew back up in the air swiftly and threw out her hands so that she was looking like a dark crucified angel – sans cross – and conjured up a circle of perfect fireballs around her. "Or not, I never experienced it myself. But judging from the cries I hear in response, I'd say it hurts as much as being burnt on a stake." She looked like she was suddenly thinking deeply about her own statement. "Gee, I guess I was wrong then, stakes usually hurt like hell, don't they? Well, too bad. For you that is. Bye bye now!"
But just as she was about to hurl her fireballs at the teenagers on the ground, she received scratches, fishes and air explosions to the face, which caused her concentration to dissipate, as well as her fire.
"Who dares to touch my face? WHO?" Fury appeared in her eyes, so that it looked like they were burning as well, and she quickly conjured up her fireballs again and started to throw them at the Digidestined in revenge.
They were blocked by some very familiar-looking creatures.
"Gatomon?"
"Gomamon?"
"Patamon?"
"You got it! Now, run to that hill in the eastern direction and hide!"
"Yeah, we've got it from here. And whatever you hear, keep going!"
The still baffled, but happy to see their friends again, children didn't need to be told that twice and immediately bolted for that hiding place, but not after digivolving their partners so that they'd stand a better chance at beating that annoying crazy digimon.
"Booyah luck!" Joe said in a rejuvenated way to which everyone replied with a face that obviously said 'what the hell'.
"O-kaay… As glad as we are to see you happy, Joe, we can't exclude that there might be a chance of them not beating her. She looked pretty strong to me back there", rational Izzy said.
"I thought so as well, but we can't give up on them, we have to trust that they'll make it while we are getting to safety."
"Oh, how I wish to have stayed there to help Gatomon wash that smug smile of that bitch's face! She definitely needs to be taught a lesson!"
This made everyone turn to Kari in surprise as well, seeing as she rarely spoke so defiantly about fighting another being. Or swore.
"Look! There it is, just a little further!" Izzy noticed.
And just at that moment, a Harpoon Torpedo, courtesy of the digivolved Ikkakumon, flew over their heads and exploded a couple of metres to their left. And although they weren't in the course of that torpedo, the sheer force it held knocked them off their feet.
"Oof... That does not look good."
"I know, but we have to keep running like they told us to. Is everyone all right?" TK asked in concern.
"Yeah, but I'm even more worried now. Are you sure we shouldn't go back to help them?" Kari voiced her own concerns.
A short silence gave away her companions' hesitations. "Well, statistically speaking, it's three against one, so they should manage... Let's go."
"All right... Hey, is it just me or does it really feel like we've just plummeted in another adventure in the Digital World that's way bigger than us?"
"I'd say the Digital World just likes us and wants to show that by putting us in charge of something we have no idea about. Again." TK joked at that.
"Well, can't argue with that. Come on, we're almost there."
With another worried glance to the direction of explosions, they resumed their run.
Lesson Number Two in Spying for Dummies: 'Try to find out as much as you can about your enemy/subject/object without drawing attention to your motives. Use a false name if necessary.'
"Did something worth reading happen today?" she asked him while she refilled his cup with strong-smelling coffee.
"Well, I don't really read that stuff, but the crossword puzzle is good today. If you want to, you can have it, I just filled out the Sudoku part." He smiled at his fluent sentence and at her seemingly genuine display of interest in him, and felt triumphant because of this nice possibility at getting to know her a little better.
"Oh that's okay, I have one of my own at the back, but thanks for offering. As it happens, I really like crossword puzzles." She was done pouring coffee and smiled at him, but he didn't want her to leave already so he asked her what her name was. It was a risky move, he knew it, but he had to know.
"My name? Oh, it's Aiko. And you are…"
"Who I am? I'm… Tai."
"That name sounds familiar, have I met you before?"
"Not that I'm aware of, but I would like to meet you some more if you'd like. You seem like a really nice girl." Time to throw in the big guns, AKA the Matt Ishida smile. "Are you free tonight?"
Aiko's posture stiffened and instead of falling for the up-till-now-infallible look, she coldly answered: "I'm sorry, but I'm not the dating type."
"Meaning you don't date? As in: at all?" 'I can't believe that didn't work. I must be losing my touch.'
"Exactly that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other customers. Enjoy your coffee."
'No dating type? For real? I didn't even know there were non-dating girls on this planet. Or girls who can resist me. Maybe the universe really is coming to an end.' He took a thoughtful sip from his coffee pot.'Well, I guess I can't complain; I've learnt a lot today: she likes crosswords like Sora, she smiles like Sora, acts like Sora, sounds like Sora and looks like Sora, but her name isn't Sora and she doesn't date. Though she did recognise the name Tai... Not that it's such an uncommon name, but still.'
He stared at her again and could swear that she was everything what made Sora Sora, from the way that she moved to the way that she flicked her hair behind her ear in irritation of its length. And judging from his memory, she was the best lookalike he had seen so far, and could definitely be the real Sora. Except that that option was impossible, because the real Sora had gone missing a long time ago and was declared dead and because that girl's name wasn't Sora.
Matt took another sip from his espresso at all that. 'There's something fishy going on here, and I will find out what that is.'
A/N: I'd like to thank my course teacher of Analysis of Spoken Interaction for presenting me with such a boring syllabus and thus giving me inspiration to write today. Otherwise, well, I don't know when this would've been updated. And thank you for reviewing last chapter, I really appreciate all of them! Tell me what you think of this chapter by clicking the nice review button! ^^ Oh, and I got the 'Cuppy's Coffee' from browsing Wikipedia (they teach us to name our sources to an obsessive level). Yeah, I browse Wikipedia for names when I can't think of a good one on my own; it's sad. But hey, did you know there are coffeehouses that're called 'The Unseen Bean' or 'Drinkmore'? Ha! Just in case you were wondering 'is that all she thought was good from looking at an entire list'. My answer to that would be: yes, yes it is. Although I thought 'Lollicup' made a good second.
-x-
