Chapter 6
The Mad Hare and the Mad World
Katinka had an hour for explanations being said to her. she was still unsure of the whole destiny thing considering the fact it wasn't anything she liked. In her mind, she maybe ten years old, but she knew she should be in the driver's seat, not let anyone else guide her life, even God knew that.
More and more it came to be, Katinka and Yuji started to open up to each other. Little things they saw in one another, but as Katinka hoped he would see more, Yuji would be oblivious to see it. Wizardmon and Yuji told her more things about the digital world that she must know as Katinka constantly wanted to get out of the village and explore, but the alter dimension of their hiding spot could only be so big and stretch so far. It was something that she couldn't understand that she was in some sort of doll house, or if she was really outside.
"It's dangerous to be out there, especially with a newborn Digimon," Wizardmon explained to her.
"Other than demons, what kinds of things are out there?" Katinka asked.
Yuji came into the conversation hearing them. It was night right now, and only small camp fires were made as some digimon started baking food and making soup.
"There are people like us," Yuji explained.
"Really!" Katinka was surprised.
"But there not from the world you and I from, in fact there people from different worlds, unsafe worlds." Yuji explained.
"How unsafe?" Katinka asked.
"People that speak differently, come from different eras of time, and take Digimon for granted." Yuji explained.
"There prejudice and treat them like animals, but when it comes to demons and others they respect them out of fear," Wizardmon said. "It is too dangerous for any of us to go outside and take chances like going into battle and starting an army, when so many of us have, but so many have died and now we have no more existing in this world."
"Even the elders thinks it's impossible to find any hope now." Yuji said, pouting his hand to his cheek.
"Elders?" Katinka asked, she was petting Nyaromon now that she started getting used to her.
"There not necessarily elders, but we call them that because there the digimon that have dealt with the past chaos of the digital world. And have found to been able to enter your world as well." Wizardmon said.
"Why not ask them make all this mess go away, tell all these creatures and demons from the other worlds to go back to their worlds?" Katinka asked.
"We tried, the four oldest digimon that have been here since the digital world was created were destroyed and killed," Wizardmon said. "Now there only lays one of them, and he is dying by himself, slowly but painfully."
"Doesn't any of these people and monsters know that there in your world, and that they pretty much immigrated here?" Katinka asked again.
"Some don't, but most actually do. they just appeared out of nowhere in the digital world and soon they grew and started making a life here in our world. Soon the digital world became not digital anymore, and soon effective and deform instead. And even if we wanted them to leave and go back, they can't, somehow there stuck here in our world and can't seem to find a portal or some kind to head back to their world. And they probably don't want to leave, them being like Pirates and pigging out all of the Digital World's resources and life span." Wizardmon said.
"You gotta have someone that believes that all of this is wrong, like some supporters." Katinka asked making sure there was something possible.
Wizardmon and Yuji looked at each other. "There is," Wizardmon answered.
"Really? like another person or something?" Katinka asked.
"Creatures from Wonderland believe our story and support us, but I'm afraid there not that many of them," Wizardmon explained.
"How many of them are left?" Katinka asked.
"Not very many, but if you see a talking animal wearing sophisticated clothing, then you'll know there from Wonderland." Yuji said.
"I believe she should meet them, considering of the danger, she'll be escorted," Wizarmon suggested.
"By who?" Katinka asked.
"Us of course," Wizardmon said.
"Wait us? as in me?" Yuji wasn't aware he was included, "But the Wonderlanders aren't the best of people to talk to and make sense of," Yuji said to Wizardmon.
"There are our only friends that believe where they are they don't belong, they believe that they must go back to their world and help us get back ours, there the only peaceful allies we have," Wizardmon told him.
"There not exactly peaceful more then there loud and obnoxious," Yuji added.
"What are they like?" Katinka got up ready to meet these Wonderlanders, she felt excited all of a sudden.
"You'll know when you'll meet them," Wizardmon said, "In the morning." He then added.
Katinka felt bummed after Wizardmon said they would leave in the morning for her to meet, she got excited all of a sudden for no reason, but she did needed her sleep. But was she ever excited.
The next morning Yuji and Wizardmon carefully escorted Katinka through the woods and out of the Digimon hide out. The woods were more dense then the night she appeared and woke up in the digital world. The place was still gray and foggy, but the trees were tall and the branches were claw like as they stretched out from one another. It was like the autumn just hit and the ground was filled with fallen crunchy leaves. Yuji was good look out for Katinka, as he took her hand and led her from hitting her head under branches and deformed tree trunks, and every time was harder for poor Katinka to breathe, but she was happy they looked out for her, Wizardmon made sure Katinka was behind at all times.
When they got to destination, it wasn't at all Katinka expected to be. It was an outside tea party, with the most dreary of places, in the middle of a dead field completely covered with fog and surrounded by the most dreariest of trees. These looked more petrified then the trees she was traveling in. There were only two people there, or not people but from what she saw, a rabbit and a small dreary mouse throwing tea cups and saucers at each other.
"March Hare, Dorm Mouse, how are you?" Wizardmon said ending the neurotic feud throwing utensils and tea cups at each other.
"Why, is that you Wizzy!" The march Hare grimaced at the sight of him. "Your late for tea!" and he threw a tea cup at him, but Wizardmon ducked, and with Yuji's help, Katinka and Yuji both ducked at the same time, the tea cup breaking in pieces behind them.
"Whose he?" Katinka asked Yuji.
"That's the Mad March Hare," Yuji answered, "And that's the sleepy dorm mouse." He pointed to the small brown furred mouse that plopped himself in a jar of marmalade. then came out gasping for hair as if coming out from drowning from the marmalade and then jumped into a tea cup filled with tea that was 3 sizes bigger than him.
Katinka wasn't sure what to say at all. Only to look baffled and little bewildered by the Wonderlanders she was excited to actually see. But the setting of the place looked awfully familiar, like she's seen this actual big and long rectangular table stretched out and filled with all sorts of different kinds of tea pots and tea cups. Filled with all sorts of strange pastries and weird looking cakes and scones. It was a very popular image that she herself couldn't put her finger on it.
"We wanted to introduce you to someone who has wanted to see you," Wizardmon said bringing Katinka in the front for March Hare and Dorm Mouse to see.
"A girl?" March Hare said, unimpressed.
"She sure is a pretty, that she is," the dorm mouse sniffed and squeaked as he spoke. He looked like he had a cold or something that made his voice so nazily and made him had the sniffles, but Katinka wondered if there was drips of jig in the marmalade that made him be that way.
"I'm Katinka," she introduced herself. for some strange reason she found herself curtsying to them which she found awfully strange of herself doing since she never done such a thing in her life. Being amongst British beings that clearly were talking animals wearing nice petticoats and vests was something she felt was all in her imagination. Then she realized what it was that this image gave her a familiarity too!
"Isn't there suppose to be another person here?" she said.
The March Hare and Dorm Mouse looked at each other bewildered by her question.
"Like someone with a hat?" she asked, she couldn't comprehend the name for some stupid reason as she wasn't having any luck at all remembering.
"You mean the Hatter...?" The Dorm mouse said suddenly feeling gloomy and tearful.
"Yes, what a good friend he was," March Hare said staring inside his tea cup, feeling gloomy as well.
"What happened to him?" Katinka asked.
"Why haven't you know?" The march hare looked up from his tea cup to look at her surprised. "The mad hatter has been dead for many years, at least 30 or so years. He murdered time you know?"
"Murdered? how?" Katinka asked suddenly interested. The March hare was not at all like a cuddly bunny as many may think, he was a wild rabbit, a hare that skinny, brown fur with edges of white spots on him, like a deer or so. His eyes were as wrenching yellow as puss and his claws were bony as he only had four fingers, and his outside coat was not at all good looking. It had been unwashed, as so did March Hare look, and torn and ripped, but he had such a old looking plaid vest, that made him looked more like a Looney British as any British would see he's a Loony Mad March Hare.
"Well, it was said that he created something that dealt with going back in time, and well, supposing it backfired and killed him." The March Hare said, "We used to have tea time all the time, but now since he murdered time, we've been left to have supper tea time every time since it will never go on working again!" He suddenly screamed hopping on the table then duck his whole arm in a tea pot and brought out a large pocket watch.
"Is it working yet? it is moving!" He said putting the watch to his face to look dead in the eyes at, but seeing that there was no ticking noise, and the second hand wasn't moving he said, "Nope!" and dropped the watch in the tea pot again, then pour some tea out of the tea pot in another cup that was broken and fell into another tea cup. But he tried sipping the broken one and didn't know it was broken until he noticed the large broken piece missing at the bottom cup and found the tea cup filled with tea.
"Okay then..." Katinka said.
"Yeah, there not exactly the best we could have..." Yuji said, "But there the only ones we have."
"Don't you guys know of a way to help the digital world, all of the wonderlanders combine with the digimon so you guys can fight your world back?" Katinka asked, not just to the wonderlanders but also to Yuji and Wizardmon.
Suddenly the March Hare and Dorm Mouse bursted out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Katinka asked annoyed.
"Half of the Wonderlanders are dead!" The March Hare said laughing, "The only one who knew what to do was the White Rabbit!"
"The White Rabbit?" Katinka said remembering who that was now.
"That's right! He knew what to do when dealing with those muzzling immigrant demons!" The Dorm Mouse said suddenly hiccupping.
"The Phantom is gone, he came and disappeared like the wind, he wouldn't even help us anyway." Wizardmon said.
"Whose the Phantom, and the white rabbit?" Katinka asked.
"Well the phantom and the white rabbit are the same thing, it's just the digimon call him the phantom and the wonderlanders call him the white rabbit," Yuji said.
"So who is he?" Katinka asked again.
"He was some sort of vigilante that saved and helped digimon that were getting affected by the demons and turning into real monsters. " Wizardmon explained.
"He was good to us you know?" The dorm mouse said. "He saved Digimon and Wonderlanders alike!"
"But he saved digimon by killing them," Wizardmon added.
"Killing them?" Katinka was a little shock of that.
"That's the only way to save a digimon when it's affected by a demon, to keep them to turning into a demon and slowly killing themselves painfully until they themselves explode and burst until there mashes of flesh and blood!" The March Hare cackled.
"Why are you laughing at that? that's terrible!" Katinka said to the March Hare.
"No he just does that cause he's mad," Wizardmon told her, "Don't mind it."
Katinka wasn't sure to take that as a casual thing considering from everything she just saw here was nothing even close to normal. This was probably the most looniest place she had ever been.
"Do you think we can find him and have him help us out?" Katinka asked.
"No!" The march hare suddenly said yelling at her. "He's dead," he simply said with a different tone.
"Is there anyone else that can help us that is alive?" Katinka asked.
"The digidestined are the only hope to revive the digital world, we have no one else left. The Phantom
used to help by murdering and taking down the leaders of immigrant demons and beings of other worlds, he could literally be able to go deep in the core of the army and controllers and somehow break them apart from the inside." Wizardmon explained.
"That's why the digimon called him a phantom, he appeared and then he disappeared, like smoke or fog," Yuji explained.
"Thanks to him though, he recovered the last of the nine digi eggs left in the barn of what you saw. those are the last digi eggs ever, none of us have the ability to return back to digi egg form like we used too." Wizardmon said.
"It looks like this phantom knew on what to do with the digital world, but how come he disappeared, did he die too soon?" Katinka asked.
"No one can really say," The march hare said smashing his scone in his cup of tea then scooping some jam on top, then drinking his tea from there. "But Chez seems to know more about! White Rabbit and him were closer!"
"Chez?" Katinka asked.
"Forget it," Yuji told her, "As you can see our allies aren't the best of being what you think allies are. we can't just put up and army fight them off, there's less of us now then there was of us then, and we would make a pretty small army, not to mention we would kill ourselves then the digimon would really be extinct."
"It's better than doing nothing," Katinka told him.
Yuji didn't bother to fight her, as what he felt what she just said was really better than nothing, and he appreciated her alot for saying that. But Katinka was so young and inexperienced, that there was no way she could understand unless she seen it herself.
"I have heard rumors that there is more of digidestined then you two," Wizardmon said.
"You mean there's more kids like me here?" Katinka asked suddenly interested and somehow relieved.
"Yes, but they could be anywhere in the digital world," Wizardmon said.
"How do you know about this?" Yuji asked, it was obvious that he didn't know this information at all which actually surprised Katinka considered he and Wizardmon were the biggest of information holders, that they seem to know everything that went on in the digital world.
"It's been tradition I do say ma'self," The dorm mouse said hiccupping then suddenly yawning.
"Tradition?" Katinka looked at the dorm mouse.
"Well there can't be just two of you," He said. "There's always more than one of you, you can't save this world by yourself you know? There's usually a team of children who partner with chosen digimon and save the digital world! that's how it was with the last two," He said hiccupping then he sniffled and sneezed, making his small mouse body fly into frosty cake. The march hare burst out laughing.
"It's not as easy as it seems love," March hare said pouring tea through his floppy ear and then pouring it out of the other and into a tea cup. "We Wonderlanders know a thing or two, and we know that you can't save this world by yourself!"
"We should go look for them then!" Katinka said.
"Say what?" Yuji said, "You mean travel around the infected digital world with our digimon and just go and find a bunch of kids that we don't know and have never seen?" He said to her, "Okay, I like that idea." he was satisfied suddenly smiling and feeling calm.
"You won't go alone though," Wizardmon said. "There is much for her to see, and for you to know what lies ahead, I've been lucky enough to live through most of what I saw, but if we decide on this, you should know we have a long and dangerous path ahead of us."
"Seems better than nothing," Katinka said. she looked back at the March Hare and Dorm mouse, "Would you like to come with us?" she asked.
The march hare started to shake and shiver, spilling his tea from his tea cup, looking at Katinka feverishly then looking back the dorm mouse, "no," he simply said then stopped shaking and continued to sip his tea.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Someone has to continue with tea time, and after all, were the kind of wonderlanders that likes to stay alive," the dorm mouse said.
"cowards!" Yuji said.
"And Mad!" the march hare added cackling and then shoving a scone in his mouth then poured down tea down his throat through the tea pot.
"I think they rather stay and continue being trapped in time then help us," katinka said looking disappointed at them.
"Your all crazy!" Yuji yelled at them.
"Thank you! and alive," Dorm mouse said satisfied, sipping a tea cup that actually 3 sizes smaller for him to pick cup and big enough for his mouth to take in a gulp.
"Being the last of Wonderlanders, I think they rather stay here for the Mad Hatter's sake, they aren't necessarily the ones in the finding destiny then most of us are," Wizardmon said.
And so they left, where Katinka was disappointed with their decisions.
"Katinka," the dorm mouse called out to her.
"Catch!" the march hare threw a tea cup at her and she swiftly catched it where she saw in the tea cup was still left over grain from the tea, when she looked into the cup, she could tell a shape formed from the leaves.
In the cup was the shape of a clawish hand.