U/N: Heyoooo this was supposed to go up two chapters ago, coinciding with Michael and Betamon's story, but oops. Anyway, hereeeee
Title: Digimon Adventure: Moments
By: UrazamayKing
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Year: 2001
Chapter 15: Second Chance
Michael:
I slouched down into the seat in the classroom. Basically I could already tell that today was going to be another boring day. All the popular kids had set up a prank in my desk. There was glue on the seat, there was a mousetrap inside the desk and I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd put another wild animal inside.
Luckily I'd spotted the problem and moved across the room to sit somewhere else.
Not-so-luckily, the only free desk otherwise was next to the biggest, messiest, most disgusting boy I'd ever met. You'd think at twelve years old he'd figure that he was to be clean sometimes. But nope. Not this one. I was pretty sure he'd never once had a shower.
Days like this made me question why I ever turned down the popular clan... Two years ago I'd been confronted by the school's president and asked if I wanted to run to be class president in the future, and join those who are known as 'cool'. But I said no. I couldn't do that.
Sure, I was awesome. But they were jerks. My point being proven by the glue all over my desk seat.
They hated me though because I was 'destined to be their leader' and still wouldn't join them. The only reason they wanted me was because I was rich, and handsome and stuff. But that's exactly why I didn't want them. They were shallow jerks. And playing pranks on me wasn't going to get me to want to join them.
I sighed and looked out the window across the room, ignoring the rude signals the popular clan was giving me.
Suddenly the door to the classroom flew open and our teacher Mr Roosevelt bustled into the room, "Class! I'm sorry I'm late!" He said as he dropped a messy pile of papers on his desk. "Someone put my shoes on the roof of my house last night. And I'm blaming you Richard." He aimed his fingers toward his son who basked in the glory his prank had given him as the people around him whooped and clapped.
"Enough of that!" Mr Roosevelt called out as the whistling and what-not grew louder. "I was here on time anyway though, and then I was called to the office. Because we have a new student." He pointed toward the door which flew open even more dramatically than before as a brunette Asian girl strutted into the classroom.
She was wearing a red shirt, and a blue jean skirt, and her long wavy hair was held back in a ponytail. But the weird part was the pink cowboy boots.
I looked to the popular kids who were all murmuring and laughing at her.
"Ohaiyogozaimasu." She said. "Watashi wa Mimi desu."
Everyone was completely silent as she stared at us all completely seriously. Did she... not know English?
Suddenly she laughed a little, "I am kidding!" She said through a thick accent, "I totally speak English." Everyone relaxed a little and she tried again, "I'm Mimi Tachikawa."
"Me-me Touch-a-cow-a?" Richard snorted as the rest of the group laughed with him. Some of the more nerdy children were staring at Mimi as is she was dressed in a revealing battle suit, ready to go out and fight with them to save the world from some aliens.
Cute. They had no chance with her. And judging by the way she was looking to the class, no one did. She crossed her arms as if expecting someone to introduce themselves to her or tell her what to do, and she was starting to get nervous so I raised my hand.
She looked toward me and her eyes lit up and she smiled at me.
"My name is Michael Washington." I told her. Suddenly the whole class erupted with names. The popular kids using fake names compiled from "funny words". Mimi glared at them and then looked to Mr Roosevelt.
"You can just sit in that empty seat Mimi, it's all we have for now." Mr Roosevelt said as his son snorted again. Mimi shot him a glare and moved to her seat. She was about to sit down when I remembered why I wasn't sitting there.
"No don't sit there!" I said quickly, jumping out of my seat. Mimi looked to me confused and then slowly down to the seat and nodded. She looked up to me and winked. What was she doing?
"He is right sir," She said. "I can't sit here. I simply must sit by the window. Right. There." She pointed directly to Richard and as his face fell I couldn't help but feel happier than I swear I ever had.
Mr Roosevelt nodded, "Very well, Richard move." He said.
"Dad!" Richard tried.
"Now." Mr Roosevelt demanded as he began writing the lesson plan on the board.
Richard stood up and Mimi used on finger on his forehead to push him out of the way. Mimi slid down into the seat and waved to Richard who just stood there.
"Son sit down." Mr Roosevelt said. "You're disrupting my lesson Richard."
"I can't sit there." Richard said.
"You can, and you will." Mr Roosevelt said flatly, "if you want your video games to remain out of the garbage that is." Richard nervously stepped across the room to the glue covered seat and stared at it. Mr Roosevelt shook his head, dropped his chalk and walked over to him. "Sit." He said, placing his hands on his sons shoulders and pushing him down into the seat.
I could hear the squish as his butt came down on the glue. Mimi giggled and looked to me with a wink.
"Needless to say," Mr Roosevelt said as his sons face turned green. "We welcome you to our class Miss Tachikawa." She responded by smiling and shrugging her shoulders adorably.
But never had Mr Roosevelt spoken words more true. Mimi was the best addition to our class since... ever! She was witty, sarcastic, hilarious, smart, pretty. And not afraid of Richard.
The best part of the first half of the day was when a racoon jumped out of Richard's desk. He panicked and shoved it back inside the desk as his Dad turned around with a curious look in his eye.
"What do you know about raccoons?" I asked Mr Roosevelt quickly joining in Mimi's fun. "Why are they nocturnal?" Mr Roosevelt thought for a moment as Mimi tried to hold in her laughter and as Richard and every one of his goons sent me a look of death.
"Well I suppose they don't like the heat." Mr Roosevelt said, "it makes them rather aggressive, no?" He shrugged his shoulders and turned to the chalkboard as Mimi's smile grew even larger.
"It is so cold in here." She said, faking a shiver as she reached to the window latch. "Let us get some of that warm summer air in here while we still can." She pushed the window open and started fanning herself as the hot wind blew in from outside, her hair blowing like mad. "That is much better."
Richard's face drained of colour as he froze where he was. Not that he could move. His butt was glued to his chair.
And then there was a snap as the raccoon stepped on the mouse trap Richard had left. Mimi and I both looked to each other, sad for the creature. But that was gone instantly as it lunged out of the desk and landed on Richard's shoulder, biting him and scratching him.
It was both funny and horrifying. The rest of the class seemed only see the horror either because Richard was their leader, or because they knew that he'd take his anger out on them. But they were safe. It was Mimi and I who weren't.
Richard began screaming as his chair fell over. His dad turned to him and froze in shock as Mimi stood up and walked calmly over to him. She knelt down and simply picked up the raccoon, and held it in her hands. She reached down and took off his mousetrap, dropping it next to Richard and petting the animal softly. "You are okay." She said to it. "Did that mean boy hurt you?"
I could have sworn I saw the thing nod.
Who was she? A Disney Princess?
"I am going to take him outside now." She said to Mr Roosevelt who only nodded, still in shock. I jumped to my feet and rushed to the door, pulling it open for Mimi as Mr Roosevelt rushed to aid his son. I followed Mimi out into the hall and walked with her.
"You're pretty cool Mimi," I told her, bouncing up and down beside her. I did that a lot. I found it hard to actually walk normally because it was so boring.
"You too Michael Washington." She said with a wink. "And that Richard boy is awful. This poor creature wanted to be sleeping, and outside, but he put it inside where it was stuck and scared. But he is really quite gentle. Pet him." She said holding him out for me to do so.
I nervously put my hand on his head and he closed his eyes and relaxed as I pet him. Already I'd done something bizarre and yet amazing. Mimi was going to be a good friend.
When we released the raccoon back into the wild Mimi watched him go for a while and then she smiled to me, "Let us not go back to class just yet. I want to tour the school, and—" She froze, looking down to her waistline she reached down and unclipped a strange white toy from her skirt. She looked at it as it flashed and suddenly I realized that it was just like mine.
"Mimi!" I said quickly, digging into my pocket and showing her the toy I'd gotten when the monsters were invading Earth. I'd forgotten about it until this morning when it had started beeping and flashing excitedly. I didn't know what it meant, but for some reason I had a feeling that it had to do with Mimi being here.
She wasn't looking though, she was muttering in Japanese under her breath. She looked up to me with a single word, "open?" And then her eyes widened at the sight of my toy thing.
"You have one?" She asked sharply. "What?"
"I don't even know what it is." I told her to try and calm her sudden anger or surprise, or whatever emotion she was trying to convey.
She said something loud and in Japanese but I just stared at her until she took a deep breath and spoke a language I could understand.
"Where did you get that?" She asked.
"In the air." I said, suddenly realizing how bizarre that was. "I was with my little sister Jenna, and my dad was fighting this giant gorilla monster, but then a sea dragon saved us, but then tried to kill us... well maybe not. It was on the day my Mom..." I trailed off, unable to finish.
"Wha...t?" Mimi said slowly.
"You probably don't understand... or believe me." I said, "Monsters attacking us? Yeah. Right."
"I understand." She said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You are a... what is the word? Chosen Child? You are Chosen to save the world."
"With a toy?" I asked, my voice getting much higher in pitch suddenly.
"It is not a toy." She said, "It is a digivice."
"What does it do?" I asked her.
"I think it will be better if I show you." She said, looking down to the beeping device in her hand once more. "Come Michael. Follow me."
And that's what I did. We ran all the way back across the school yard, and instead of going around the soccer practice, we just went through it. Mimi spun and danced and then kicked the ball hard as it came toward her. I wasn't very good at sports so I just let her have the fun and then ran off with her when the teacher started yelling at us. She threw open the door to the school and then we crept along, and jumped behind a recycling bin as some of the teachers walked by.
"Did you hear?" One of them said, "Apparently an alien bear killed six students in the seventh grade."
"That's so awful!" The second one said.
And then they were gone.
"Rumours." I said shaking my head. "I feel like I should tell them that it was just a racoon and it did nothing..."
Mimi didn't reply, instead she grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hallway and into the computer lab.
"Oh they connect to the internet?" I asked as she rushed around, shutting the blinds. She didn't answer, so I just peered out the window on the door and quickly locked it before she dragged me toward a computer. She turned on the computer and waited impatiently until it loaded up. She clicked a few buttons and then grinned brightly as a page popped up with a picture of a forest and a big green light.
"Ready?" She asked.
"What?" I asked her as she grabbed my wrist and held up my hand that was holding the device.
"Let's go!" She said dramatically as a blinding light burst from the computers and washed over us.
The two of us landed roughly in a forest. Where were the computers? Where was the school? What had she done? She was crazy! This was crazy. Where was I?
As I looked around I realized that this was the same forest as the one in the picture... "Mimi...?"
"We're in the computer." She said, "This is the Digital World."
I swear I was ready to faint. But it didn't take long for me to get used to the world itself. Everything felt different than it did in our world. The trees looked like they were just blooming, as if it were spring, but the air smelled of Autumn and the air felt like Summer. It was just the best of everything all wrapped up into one ball of joy.
Mimi laughed at me as I examined things. And that was when I found a really pretty flower that felt much more life-like than anything else. I poked the petals and then sniffed them. They smelled... off.
Suddenly the flower jumped out at me, and revealed its stem was a body. A monster. This was where all the monsters lived.
"Poison Ivy!" She screamed as her fingers extended like vines and wrapped tightly around me.
Mimi was rolling on the ground laughing, which eased the fear a little, but I was still being attacked by some crazy monster. The monster, however, turned to see Mimi and dropped me instantly.
"Mimi!" The monster cried, running toward her and wrapping her arms around her. "I've missed you!"
"I missed you too Palmon." Mimi said, hugging her tightly. My mind was trying to wrap around what was going on, but it was pretty difficult.
Some random girl who joined my class had the ability to take me to another world where she was friends with a monster. It was a simple concept. Why couldn't my brain get a hold of it...
I asked Mimi a little while later after her reunion with her friend and she was happy to explain it to me. Apparently anyone with a digivice was a Chosen Child, and was destined to have a digital partner. Hers was Palmon. I asked her who mine was and she said only I would know that. And for some reason I couldn't shake the thought that it was the sea dragon.
I didn't tell her that though, but I felt like she already knew that, taking my story into account. Otherwise her stopping to sit by a river seemed pretty random. But I was glad I didn't have to talk to her about it.
"So what are partners for?" I asked.
"Well they fight and we help them get stronger so they can win against evil." Mimi said, "But mostly they're just our best friends. They're really great too." Mimi kissed Palmon's forehead as Palmon hugged her tightly.
"If mine..." I said slowly as I took my shoes and socks off to put my feet in the warm water. "If my partner is that sea creature..." I trailed off, unsure of how to finish. But it kind of made sense really... I got the digivice while he was protecting me. It had glowed and then it grew bigger and saved the day...
"Michael... never ever judge a book by its cover." My mother told me that when I flinched at a big man who was really scary. He gave me a balloon and went on his way, patting me gently on my head. "Not everyone who looks like they want to hurt you, is actually going to hurt you."
Maybe my mom knew about all of this stuff... either that or she was just super smart...
And then there were the words of that man... "You were quick to judge someone whom you knew nothing about. If ever confronted with this being again, you should rethink your morals? And maybe then you will find true happiness."
I never did find out who that man was. But the words never left my head... and for some reason they attached to that creature. The sea creature.
I stared down at the water in front of me and jumped a little when I saw a fish swim by. Mimi laughed at me and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Michael... you'll only know who your partner is if you're confronted with him again." She said, "And there's a way to do that."
"What's that?" I asked her.
She laughed as she pushed me as hard as she could into the water.
I plunged under and hit the soft, sandy bottom before shooting straight back up. I resurfaced and grinned at her. "You're a jerk!" I laughed.
"I can be." She said as she reached into the water and splashed me. "I don't actually know how this will help either. I just thought it was funny.
"Oh-ho!" I said quickly, swimming toward her and grabbing her foot tightly.
"Michael no!" She screamed as I pulled hard, dragging her into the water.
I watched the place where she'd gone under with anticipation, bubbles popping up every now and then. She'd be pretty mad I could tell, but it was all in good fun.
But then the bubbles stopped coming. "Mimi?" I asked. I looked to Palmon who shrugged her shoulders. "Mimi?" After a few more seconds I dived underwater and opened my eyes. Instantly my heart fell to my stomach at the sight of Mimi's terror stricken face as she was being dragged by a strange tentacle.
I bobbed back to the surface and turned to Palmon, wiping my eyes quickly. "Mimi's in trouble!"
Palmon dove into the water without a second thought, and I followed, but she wasn't much of a swimmer I could tell. I wrapped my arms around he and swam her toward Mimi where she shot her fingers out again, and tried to get Mimi to grab them.
Palmon was running out of air I could tell, so I kicked off the ground and brought her back to the surface.
"I think that's Dragomon." She said, terrified. "I can't do anything though! I'm not a water digimon!"
"But I am!" I glanced over my shoulder and saw a small green digimon with four leg-like fins and one large red fin on his back. "I'll save your friend!" And then he was in the water.
"Betamon?" Palmon asked, "I-is that your digimon?"
I looked to her and shrugged before following the so-called Betamon into the water. I swam as fast as I could, and over the edge which led down into deeper waters where I saw Mimi being dragged down by the tentacle again. Her eyes were closed—she was unconscious!
I swam down and grabbed her hand as tightly as I could, but it was no use, the tentacle was tightly wrapped around her waist.
And then Betamon appeared like a torpedo, shooting through the water, latching his sharp teeth tightly to Dragomon's tentacle. He loosened his grip quickly and then Betamon tackled my stomach and began pushing me up toward the surface as my air ran out slowly. I held Mimi tightly, dragging her from the monster's grip. But I couldn't hardly see anymore... my eyes were blury and dark and...
"... hope they wake up soon..." I heard Palmon said, "It's getting pretty dark. They'll be late for supper."
I opened my eyes slowly and saw that Palmon was right. The sun was setting, but it wasn't dark around us, there was a bright, warm flame just next to us. I was laying on the ground near Palmon and Betamon talking to one another, and Mimi was on the other side of the fire, laying down too. I sat up slowly and both of them gasped and looked to me.
"Michael!" Palmon said, rushing toward me and hugging me. "You're okay!"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said slowly, running my hand through my matted hair. Palmon looked to Mimi, scared for her as my eyes fell to Betamon.
"I'm sorry..." He said quietly.
"For what?" I asked him. "You just saved my life—and Mimi's life. You have nothing to be sorry for, sir."
"You told me to never come near you." Betamon said, not making eye contact. He was so shy and so cute, and I just wanted to hug him forever.
"I was wrong." I said simply. "You are a wonderful digimon, but I thought you were... I thought you were going to take my father away from me, like the others took my mother."
Palmon gasped in horror at my tale as Mimi stirred. Betamon nodded and stared at the ground.
"I'm sorry." I told him. "I didn't understand. I was a scared ten year old boy who didn't know what was going on. I should have given you a chance. And I'm so sorry."
Betamon didn't say anything, so I looked to Palmon.
"He's super shy." She said, "Like... he always has been. He probably always will be—but that doesn't mean he doesn't want a hug, eh Betamon?"
Betamon shot her a look of horror as she ran toward him and hugged him. I laughed and moved closer so I could join their hug as Mimi sat bolt upright. She turned to me with anger, but upon seeing the group hug she softened up a little and crawled over to join in.
So Betamon saved me and Mimi from a crazy tentacle thing, and then saved me from Mimi just by being there. I had a feeling I was going to like having him around.