Y/N: I had a lot of fun writing Hideto's chapter this time around.
U/N: So I believe this is Willis? Yeeeh, okay, so to be honest I was having fun torturing Willis with this whole Terriermon/Lopmon ordeal, and that's kind of mean, but that's okay anyway because he's noot real. I'm not insane for enjoying making our characters miserable, I promise.
Title: Digimon Adventure 06: Data
By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing
Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 4: War
Chapter 37: A Narrow Miss
Hideto Fujimoto:
I walked through the great door of the Temple with Mari at my side somewhere. I couldn't see her. We were both invisible after all. Why was I there? Because I happened to be awake early that morning. Mr Ogremon had woken me when several of the younger digimon had nightmares, and he couldn't handle all of them at the same time. Since I worked with him for recess, and the kids all loved me for some unknown reason, he thought they would find my presence calming. They did. I still didn't understand it. But after calming them all down, Mr Ogremon and I weren't tired anymore, so we just lounged around in the living chamber, and talked a lot. He was an alright guy. Faces a lot of challenges because he's a dark digimon, and most kids are afraid of him when they first get to their lessons. I felt for the guy. I really did. I made some really creamy hot chocolate for the two of us, and had just settled in to drink it when I saw Yoshie and Kae wander in to the chamber with their hands clutching steaming hot cups of coffee. They looked miserable. Bags were hanging under their eyes, and they weren't even able to put smiles on their faces as they talked to one another. I had never seen either of them without a smile before. It was sort of sad.
Their husbands walked in and the women sighed. The men kissed their wives and handed over a large sack of phones and music devices. Masami set the sack on the table between the women, and the two men sat across from them. They looked so sad to have to leave one another, and I acted without thinking. I apologized to Mr Ogremon for leaving, and strode across the room and grabbed the bag, telling the women to go back to bed, and then set off back to my cell.
Mari didn't appreciate being woken early, but when I suggested we bring Lopmon and Terriermon back to surprise Willis, she got up and dressed in record time, ready to make the stupidly long walk to the Temple at the extremely early hour in the morning.
I had to really hand it to those parents. They were a heck of a lot older than me and they'd been making this trip every day for a week. I would've jumped off the nearest bridge if I had to do it, so really, they were pretty awesome.
During our long trip over, I had time to think about why I'd done what I did. I didn't have to take over for Yoshie and Kae—I also didn't need to bring Mari—but I'd done it anyway. And after getting to the bottom of it, I knew it was for Kiyoko. Yoshie and Kae were two of his closest friends, and they were miserable. I could change that, so I did. I wondered when I'd become such a good person—but then I remembered the feeling of wanting to kill the guy that shot Noriko, and I remembered I wasn't all that good.
Because I did want to hurt him. I would've too, if Kiyoko hadn't stopped me. These other digidestined were thinking differently now, just because the enemy wasn't a digimon. In the past, it was always shoot first, as questions later. Now that the enemy was human, they had to think all of their moves through. I didn't really understand the difference. They killed the digimon, just like the DWD wanted to do, but to hurt a human wasn't acceptable? Didn't that make them hypocritical?
I knew it was mostly that they wanted to do the right thing, and lead by example, hoping that they'd be able to sway more humans with honey rather than vinegar. They didn't relish killing digimon, and the fact that a digimon's data recycled after the digidestined killed them was the only upside and excuse that worked in this whole argument. Because the DWD didn't have a legitimate reason for doing what they do, and the digidestined killed only the digimon who threatened the safety of the Digital World.
But the DWD was threatening that safety now, and they weren't doing anything to act on it!
We were falling apart. Michael was still gone, no one had seen him. Neo was missing too, and I didn't really blame him if he just wandered off and chose not to involve himself. But the fact that he left Dracomon at the Temple was really worrying me, because Neo actually cared about the little guy. Dracomon was one of the only things that Neo cared about at all, Dracomon and Rei. I'd flatter myself and put Alias III on the list, but I knew that if it came down to a fight between us and them, he'd side with Dracomon and Rei.
He was like that.
In addition to Michael and Neo, Gomamon was missing, and his was a little bit more of a pressing matter. Jou had to take care of Noriko, so he could go look for him, and Noriko was shot. We knew that a bunch of parents had been collected, but we didn't know if it was all of them—all that mattered anyway, meaning Mari's, Neo's and mine were definitely not included—or if we still had more to wait on. They might've found Jun, they might not have. Sora and Miyako may or may not be back from touring the Digital World. Kiyoko sent word last night through Tatum that Willis and Natsuko were to put up a blog post that would give the chosen of the world access to the shield, so that they could protect their sections of the Digital World. But other than that, Kiyoko didn't have anything to say.
I wanted to talk to him, or at least just know how he was doing, but he was too busy working with Koushiro, Tatum and their team to remove the tracking devices. They weren't getting anywhere though, and I thought maybe Kiyoko wasn't actually as helpful with that as they'd hoped, and that they might just send him back to the Coliseum with Mari and I when we got there, but it was kind of a long shot. But Alias III needed to stick together. If we didn't have each other, what did we have?
None of us really got along too well with most of the other digidestined. Yamato hated Melga, and he was afraid of me, and it was really only Mimi that bothered to stick up for me most of the time whenever my morality was put to question. Mari had Willis and Miyako, and Kiyoko had everyone's mothers.
Without each other, we'd fall to pieces.
I didn't know how much of this reasoning was just my stubborn desire to have him close to me at all times to protect him, and how much of it was just selfishness on my part for wanting to hang around my boyfriend. They were two very different things, and I wasn't sure it wasn't both of them.
Plus, Tapirmon wanted him back—Natsuko and Toshiko too—so it wasn't just me.
So we trudged through the gate, and through the barren Market. It was creepy here, and I didn't like it. Not after spending so long at the Coliseum with so many digimon around all the time. This was too empty, to ghost-like. I wanted to leave as fast as possible.
We headed up the stairs to the Council room, and saw Taichi working diligently. He had a calculator in front of him, and a few sheets of paper with what looked like Mimi's writing. They were lists of all the people and digimon they needed to find and bring to the Coliseum. He was the only one in the room, and there were just candles for lighting. There were twelve of them scattered all over the table, and he glowed in the dim, buttery light. He looked worse than Yoshie and Kae.
I turned off the program of the phone I was using—not mine by a long shot, too new—and appeared out of thin air. Mari followed suit and slammed her hand against the tabletop.
"We're here for the digimon," she said dramatically, smirking when Taichi jumped and looked at us in shock.
"I didn't think you'd be here so soon," he said, looking at the clock on the wall. "Or at all. Where are Yoshie and Kae?"
"Having a day of rest," I explained quickly.
"I don't have a list ready yet," Taichi said, grabbing at the papers in front of him.
"Don't worry about it," Mari said. "We're going to take who we want, and you're going to let us. That's how this will work."
He didn't like that idea. I knew he had it in his head that he had to put the Temple digimon ahead of his friends. He thought he couldn't play favourites, and that it was his duty to put others first, but it wasn't up to him today. Mari and I would be taking whoever the hell we pleased, and then we'd be back for more. Because we had a plan. An awesome plan, and I was surprised no one else had thought of it.
"Fine," Taichi sighed. "But if I give you control, you're giving a spot to Jun."
"Whatever," I said, though he looked so serious that I didn't decide to protest out of spite. Something had happened to her—other than the fact that she'd been found. I got a queasy feeling in my stomach and headed out of the Council room. Taichi decided to lead us to the motel district. He knocked on a few doors, and after a lot of loud grumbling, people started to poke their heads through to see what Taichi wanted. Takeru was in a room with Ken, and Hikari was with Natsuni and Jenna. It was adorable. They still didn't share a room because they were wholesome like that.
I couldn't even be sarcastic about it like I wanted to, because Kiyoko and I didn't share either.
Daisuke looked miserable when he opened his door. I was surprised to see Kurayami stick her head out the fourth. She had a man with her who could only be her father, and there was a woman that I guessed had to be Daisuke's mother.
"Hideto and Mari are here to bring Jun to the Coliseum," Taichi told them. "And they're going to pick all the others at random."
"It's not random," I assured him.
"We made a list," Mari said with a grin.
"Go on," he sighed.
We had a lot of slots to fill. There had been only twenty three, before Momoe came up with the idea of using iPods. I'd grabbed nine of them from the store, and added my own personal one to the collection. Fumiko had added Hiroaki's as well. There were nineteen more phones than before too, with the influx of people. It was hard to keep up with the numbers. There were now fifty-five spaces available though, and only two hundred and ninety seven digimon at the Temple. It wouldn't exactly take a long time to get them transferred over now. Which meant there was no reason to wait to bring our friends and allies across.
"Okay," I called loudly. "I need Kurayami and the baby, her dad, her husband, her mother-in-law, her sister-in-law and her future brother-in-law."
"Can't you just use names?" Takeru groaned, wiping his eyes.
"I don't know everyone's names," I said with a snort. "Veemon, Labramon and the two frog digimon go too."
"What about Meramon," Shuu asked. He appeared in the doorway behind Daisuke and wasn't pleased with the new development.
"Obviously he'd melt the phone and then wouldn't be invisible anymore," Mari pointed out. "Honestly, even if he could hold the phone, he'd make scorched footsteps all the way to the Coliseum. He'd give the secret location away. We can't bring him yet. We'll find a way to get him there. I just don't know what that is just yet."
"I don't want to leave him," Shuu said, shaking his head.
"I must stay," Meramon said, scaring the crap out of me when he appeared behind me. I whirled around to face him. "You must be with Jun. She needs you now more than ever. I will be safe within this shield. I will help all I can with your team, and let you know when we figure out a removal method for the devices."
"Thanks Meramon," Shuu said, before disappearing back into the room, probably to get Jun ready to travel. I wondered what specifically was wrong with her, but didn't bother to ask. I didn't want to rub salt into an open wound.
"There are ten phones for you, Kurayami, you'll have to share with the baby," I told her. She nodded, understanding completely. "Next we need Mimi and her parents and the two digimon. Palmon and the other one."
"Minervamon," Takeru supplied.
"Jou's still got family here, right?" I asked. "So we'll send them, that's another six people right?"
"Five," Daisuke correct. "Momoe went back to earth. She's sending Taichi's parents and those two you invited. Izumi and her friend."
"Awesome," I said feeling relieved to know she decided to come. I didn't care so much about her friend, but whatever, he could come. It was cool. "After that, we need the Americans. That means Jenna, her parents, Kudamon, Betamon, Tatum's parents, Lopmon and Terriermon. Is Michael back yet, because we'll take him too."
"He's not," Taichi told me. I sighed.
"You're not taking Jenna either," Jenna said firmly. "I'm staying here until either Michael comes back, or Chi decides to join us. You can't change my mind. They'll be chances to go later."
"Fine," Mari agreed. "But you will go later." Jenna nodded.
"Ken, you and Hawkmon are going," I said. "Is Miyako out with Sora still, because they're on our list."
"They're not back yet," Taichi supplied. "They headed out yesterday to go to Neverland, and then Piximon was going to magic them to his place after that. On their way home they were going to stop by Fanglongmon's old base—where Ogremon's sending the dark digimon he finds—and shield that too. They should be back by tomorrow."
"Moving on," Mari said, taking over. "Iori needs some family over there. We need Fumiko, Meiyomon—and his brothers—Armadillomon, Natsuni and Goblimon."
"I'm waiting with Jenna," Natsuni said with wide, panicky eyes. "I can't go without Dad. I won't go without Dad."
"There are Dark Spore kids here or something right?" Mari asked. "Because they're coming, and bringing their digimon with them, and who else is there? Takeru and Hikari, so you guys are coming. We need Dracomon too."
"Yuudai," Takeru suggested. "He's my mom's boyfriend."
"That leaves," I said doing the math in my head. "Ten spaces for whatever digimon you want to send, Taichi."
We gave everybody listed a total of half an hour to get ready and down to the Market place. I tried to use that time to visit Kiyoko, but everybody kept asking me questions, or asking me whether I could carry something for them. It was annoying, and the half hour flew by without me even getting a glimpse at Kiyoko. I had to go to the Market, where I had fifty-five sets of eyes staring at me, waiting for instructions. Mari was walking around, passing out phones and iPods while I called loudly to everyone in front of me.
"I don't know how this works with Yoshie and Kae, but this is how it's gonna work today. No one talks until we get at least fifteen minutes of solid walking in, no one complains about needing the bathroom. We walk quickly and efficiently, and if you get separated from the group at any time, either use your digivices to find the rest of us, or turn around and head back here. We don't want to lose anyone out in there," I said in my loudest voice. "If you're a digimon and don't have a partner present, find a person to attach yourself to, because that will help if we get separated. We're working on the buddy system here, people."
"Once we've covered an hour's distance," Mari called, taking over for me. "We'll be switching it up. You'll give your phones and other devices to Hideto, and one of the digidestined will lead you to the Coliseum. We're aiming for high numbers today. You've all been trapped her too long, and we want everyone at the Coliseum ASAP."
There was a bit of a cheer in the crowd, apparently we were inspiring them. It was kind of nice.
"We need absolute cooperation from you all today," I continued. "If you chose not to follow our instructions, then its best you remain here until tonight when Masami and Kazuya come and take over once again. You will not be getting away with anything with Mari and I in charge. The DWD are still right outside, and this plan could be dangerous if there is any misbehaviour. Our word will be your law. Do you understand?"
The general consensus was that yes they did understand, and so our walk began.
We were determined to pull off our plan. I stayed at the front of the group, and Mari was in the back. She was holding the hands of a Gotsumon and a Floramon before she activated their phones. I knew Takeru was also following instructions and was letting Shinramon ride on the top of one of Satoe's bags, which he was stuck carrying, and Fumiko held the hand Meiyomon and Shinsetsumon., while Goblimon held Hikari's hand, whilst holding Armadillomon in the other.
Satoe was walking with Minervamon, and each held a bag in their free hand—though Satoe's was considerably smaller—with Keisuke, Satoe's husband, following behind with even more bags. Both Jeffersons were also preoccupied with bags, as those that didn't have digimon buddies to keep track of had to carry the brunt of the load. Michael's father was balancing Betamon on top of a stack of suitcases, while Lopmon and Terriermon balanced on his shoulders. Mary had Kudamon wrapped around her neck, and a bag in each hand—surprising me, since I thought she was a fat, lazy, woman, thanks to all of Terriermon's descriptions, which were very false. Isao and his step-daughter Cho were carrying bags, while his two other step-daughters and his wife held the hands of two digimon each. Daisuke was supporting his sister on one side, while Veemon tried to help her too. Shuu carried Jun's digimon, immediately behind Daisuke. Okotte, Kurayami's father was carrying a large load of bags, along with Daiuske's mother, while Labramon ran alongside them swishing his tail in a way that would hit one of them—his solution to not having any hands for a person to hold.
Ken was with Hawkmon and a Psychmon who he had sent to the Temple in the first place. The two male Dark Spore adults had their partners beside them, and a bag in their free hand, while the lone female had no digimon at all. She looked miserable, and part of me wanted to see what I could do to help her feel better, but the stronger part of me just hoped she'd make it to the Coliseum without drawing attention. She looked ready to scream. She was carrying bags though, so at least she had a purpose. The last member of our team was Natsuko's boyfriend. He had as many bags as he could hold.
I wondered if many of these people thought this would be a simple stroll. They didn't seem too daunted by the fact that it took almost twelve hours for a round trip, there and back. They'd be walking for a solid six hours—and that was with no dawdlers!
Soon everyone was invisible, and Mari called out our first meeting spot—Yoshie's tea house—and we were all sneaking around the tanks and the people patrolling, hoping to not run into anybody. I had Dracomon with me, because I didn't trust anybody else to make sure Neo's partner made it to the Coliseum. He clutched my hand so tightly, and was so short that I eventually caved and just scooped him into my arms—heavy as he was; he was a dragon for crying out loud!—and just sort of ran around everybody dodging left and right and enjoying every second of it. It got the adrenaline pumping.
The only downside was the fact that I had literally all the lives of these people and digimon resting on my shoulders. If I screwed up and even one of these guys died because of my plan, I didn't know what I'd do with myself. Our plan was risky. I knew that. But there had never been any signs of DWD between the Temple and the Coliseum in all the times that Yoshie, Kae, Masami and Kazuya had made their trips. For the most part, they were all gathered right outside the Temple, trying to scare us into submission. They also had a base in the water, but they probably moved that by now.
The point was, there shouldn't be any delays or problems with just having the digimon run straight at the Coliseum gate. Willis was supposed to be working on getting a shield set up around the perimeter anyway, so that no DWD would be able to get inside even if they did follow these guys.
And I was planning on putting the other digidestined to work. I would've added Shuu to the list as well, since he'd been to the Coliseum and knew where it was too, but with Jun as she was, I thought it best to not try and rock the boat there. I also wasn't too sure how comfortable Kurayami would be with handing her son off to someone while she waited for the next shipment of refugees, so I knew she was out of commission as well. But I had Mari, Hikari, Takeru, Mimi and Ken in addition to myself that would make good ferry drivers, so I could let Daisuke, Shuu and Kurayami all go together with the first shipment.
Mari called for attendance once we made it to the tea house. Everyone had made it. So far so good. We headed out for the first hour of the trip, and I was always searching, looking for a good checkpoint for our next attendance check, but nothing good ever really stuck out.
Eventually, we got far enough away from the Temple for people to start talking quietly, and boy did they jump at that chance. I learned very little from Dracomon though, since he was too scared to talk. He missed Neo, he told me that much, but I was an okay substitute. Not a good one. Just okay. But I totally understood where he was coming from. He wasn't trying to make me feel bad, though he was doing a pretty good job.
"How are you holding up?" Shuu asked Jun.
"I'm fine," she said, exasperated. "I'm in a little pain, but its fine. I'm fine. Jou's probably made an antidote by now, and you'll laugh at how worried you're sounding."
"Sure," he said, though he obviously didn't believe it.
It did shed a little light on the situation though. She'd been shot, just like Noriko had. Problem was, Jou hadn't created an antidote yet. In fact, last I'd heard, Noriko was missing a lung. Yep. A lung. I didn't know it was possible to live without one, but Willis assured me it was. He'd looked it up when Mari was curious. There were actually a lot of things you could live without, if you had to. Hopefully those would be the things that the virus attacked next. Anything that would give her a better chance of survival.
I had to constantly quiet the group, and they'd listen at first, but only for a few moments, before they were chatting again. Did they not remember when they swore that my word would be their law for the duration of this trip? DWD could be anywhere in these woods. And they would be drawing attention to themselves, invisible or not.
God this was so nerve wracking. How did Yoshie and the others do this every day? I couldn't calm my heart even slightly, and there was nothing going on at all. It hadn't been this terrible when it was just Mari and I walking to the Temple this morning. Everything seemed really easy then. We were talking about numbers then though, but this time we were dealing with real, live beings. It was different. Very different. It put everything into perspective.
We walked for just over forty minutes before anything changed in the scenery. At first it was just a lot of trees and grass and sticks. It was all very monotonous, and at one time had seemed beautiful. After the change, there were still trees, and sticks and grass, but there were also a pair of blondes. At first glance I'd hoped it was Michael. But it wasn't. He wasn't a middle-aged man, and he wasn't a woman. He also didn't wear glasses, and both of these people did.
I knew her on sight: Yorokobi.
I had to look at him carefully; he was familiar, sort of. He was a lot older than he was the last time I'd laid eyes on him, and it showed. He still looked younger than he was, but to my eyes he looked positively ancient. He was Shigoto Fujimoto. He was my father.
I didn't want to be here anymore. I wanted to run, to leave these people I was meant to help, and just get out of there. I didn't need to be near them, it wasn't good for me. They were horrible people and they left me a shell of a man for so long. Neo helped me through it, and then Mari and Kiyoko too, but I still wasn't over the damage they'd done to me. To my sense of self-worth.
And now to my friends.
Takeru knew one of them—my guess was my father. I could tell, because he gasped somewhere behind me to the left. Ken knew Yorokobi, or at least I assumed he did. She was dating his brother-in-law in any case. I wasn't sure how much of that relationship was real though. She wasn't kind enough, nice enough, thoughtful enough to be with Mantarou and mean it.
Ignore them, I told myself. Get passed them, and everything will be okay.
And we might've gotten away with it too, if someone hadn't stepped on a stick and snapped it in half at that exact moment. Yorokobi looked sharply towards the sound, while my father continued on his merry way. She was suspicious though, and wouldn't just pass off the noise like my father did. She looked carefully all around her, even going over towards where she thought the sound was from. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was Ken and Hawkmon, or Hikari, Armadillomon and Goblimon. They were the most likely to behave, and stay perfectly still and calm as she got close.
Finally, she looked away, satisfied that there was nothing there.
Almost as one we let out a sigh of relief—figuratively, since it would cause too much noise if it were literally done. They started walking off, not fast, still searching for something. I didn't know what it was they were looking for though, and I wished I did.
"It's a good thing we're invisible," Otamamon said, loud and clear. "Or else that could've been bad."
"It's bad now," Shuu hissed at him.
But it was too late. Yorokobi pulled out her gun and Dad followed suit a second later. They were shooting at random, not able to see their targets. I breathed a real sigh of relief when I noticed they weren't wielding the lethal guns, just the tracking ones. It still wasn't good by any means, but it was better, because we still didn't know how to remove them, but it was good to know they'd all still be alive by the end.
I just wished I could see what was going on. I heard tracking devices bouncing off of suitcases, making it easy enough for me to imagine our luggage carriers were using their loads to become shields for the digimon around them by jumping in front of the tracking devices. I heard Fumiko scream as a tracking device bounced off of her, which prompted Takeru to jump in front of several without a suitcase for a shield, having realized they wouldn't stick to him, as a human, and he could protect his buddy—Shinramon—by abandoning the luggage and most likely cradling the tiny robot in his arms. I heard Hikari leading Goblimon and Armadillomon behind a bunch of trees and out of the line of fire. I tripped over Labramon who headed over and bit Dad's ankle. He aimed towards the ground, but ended up only shooting his own foot.
Everything seemed to be going alright. I bellowed for everyone to make a run for it and remember the contingency plan, and I heard the sounds of many scattering feet.
But there was one very unwelcome sound. Palmon let out a horrific shout, and I heard her fall to the ground. I just couldn't find her.
"I'm hit!" she shouted. "I'm hit! Mimi!"
"Palmon! Palmon, where are you?" Mimi called out pleadingly. She was close to me, and I hesitated for just a second before thrusting Dracomon into her arms.
"I've got her," I told her. "Just go!"
She didn't want to, but I knew she would. She agreed to listen to me, after all. And Mimi was the one digidestined that trusted me completely, no questions asked. I heard her rush off, and set about finding Palmon. She was a smart plant, and was keeping quiet. It didn't really help me find her though. Yorokobi pulled out a hand-held device and smirked.
"They might have her," she said gleefully. "But she'll lead us right to the lot of them. It's our lucky day, Daddy. We've hit the jackpot."
"Oh good," Dad said, not really paying attention, as he was inspecting the bite that Labramon gave him.
"What's this?" Yorokobi said, confused. "They don't have her at all. She's still here. In fact..." She let her voice trail off, and took a few measured steps staring at the screen in her hand. She reached out with her hand, and closed her fingers around something. "She's right here."
"Let me go!" Palmon called frantically.
"I don't think so," Yorokobi said.
"Yeah," I said. "Well I do. You let her go, right now, Yorokobi. Or you'll regret it."
"Will I now?" she drawled, looking thoughtful. "You're Hideto. What are you doing with this lot? You leave your family, abandon everything we believe in. You're with them? To think a Fujimoto has fallen so far as to need digimon for allies. It makes me sick. You have a place with our family, if ever you come to your senses, dear brother."
"Hideto?" Dad asked surprised.
"Yeah," I said. "And I'm just going to disappoint you further, Dad. My bad."
I rushed over to Yorokobi, winded my arm back and let it go, slamming my fist into her face. She fell back, startled, blood bursting from her nose. She shrieked. Her hands fluttered to her face, pulling one back and screaming at the sight of her own blood. I had to admit, it felt good. To finally get her back for everything she'd done to me in my life, and for hitting Palmon, for infiltrating Miyako's family.
Everything.
I picked up the device she'd been using and threw it into the bushes. If they wanted it, they'd have to hunt it down. I dropped to my hands and knees, feeling around for Palmon. My hand brushed against hers, and she practically crawled into my arms, shaking horribly. I got to my feet and started backing away from the scene. From my father and my sister. Again. Just like when I was eighteen. I'd been just as unsure then as I was now. What did the future hold for me this time? I sure hoped there were a lot fewer struggles—but somehow, I doubted that.
"Hideto!" Dad snarled, angry that I would ever dare to injury his precious daughter, the light in his eye, the joy of his life. She wasn't worth all of his praise—not that I was either. He'd made sure I'd never forget that fact.
I didn't stick around to get scolded though. I was a grown man, twenty six years old—going on twenty seven—and he couldn't ground me anymore. He wasn't in control of my life. I couldn't let him sink his fingers into me again. Not when it took me so long to break free the first time. But I knew that if I stuck around, he'd succeed. He always did. Because he was a winner, a champion, the best of the best. And I was just his deepest, darkest secret. I was the stain on the Fujimoto family, the disappointment in their eyes. And I would never be able to change that.
I wasn't even sure I wanted to.
Pulling out my digivice, I followed the dots, noticing a large collection of them. Palmon was still shaking in my arms, when we arrived in a clearing with everyone. I couldn't detect the digimon with my digivice, but I hoped that everyone had kept track of their buddy. Mimi had better still have Dracomon. I didn't want to face Neo if I'd lost him.
"It's safe for now to turn off the phones," I called. "Yorokobi's been otherwise detained."
Everyone followed my instructions immediately, and I wasn't pleased with what I saw. It wasn't that anybody was missing—a blessing on its own—but everyone looked dishevelled, and several people had angry red welts on their faces. There were very few bags that had survived the scuffle, and the ones that did all have dings and dents in them, as they'd been used for shields.
"What's the new plan?" Ken asked.
"Same plan," I declared. "Slight alteration. Mimi—"
"I know," she said, exchanging Dracomon for Palmon. "We'll head a different way. They can track Palmon now. We'll lead them on a chase across the Digital World if we need to. They'll be so distracted by us that you'll be able to get to the Coliseum no problem. How long do we have?"
"Not long," I said sheepishly. "They'll find their equipment soon enough. Jun needs to get to the Coliseum, so we don't have time to waste."
"Right," Mari said. "So Daisuke and Kurayami will lead this group, as fast as physically possible to their destination, while Hideto takes Hikari, Takeru and Ken with him back to the Temple, because there's no way you're going alone with your family out in the woods. Besides, you'll need digivices for the buddy system to work. Either that or find a long piece of rope so the digimon can't get separated."
"What about you?" I asked. She looked to Mimi. "Right," I said. She wouldn't want Mimi to lose Palmon like she'd lost Lalamon. She'd do whatever it took to keep Palmon safe.
We debated for a minute, less even, about who would go and who would stay. In the end, we followed Mari's instructions, only adding the Dark Spore adults as they also had digivices and would be an asset. Then I collected all of the phones and music devices, and watched them all race off into the trees, praying that our plan wasn't stupid, and that everyone would make it just fine. Mimi, Mari and Palmon had already turned their phones back on and disappeared from view, so I had no idea if they'd left already or not. I wished they hadn't, because there was so much I wanted to tell Mari, just in case. But it was probably for the best.
We needed to take advantage of the distraction Palmon had become. The DWD would search far and wide for her, and while I didn't like it, it would prove useful to us in our quest to relocate the digital refugees.
And maybe while I was at the Temple, I'd see about getting the phones outfitted with Kiyoko's new shield program too, just in case.
Willis Kennedy:
"I did it! I did it!"
The high voice was echoing through the hallways. It was fading though so I knew they were heading to the others. It was hard to decipher what was real and what was a distorted echo, but I was pretty sure it sounded like Agumon. What he had done though, I did not know.
"We did it," Gabumon corrected him softly.
I looked up from the computer I was working on. I was pretty sure it was Hikari's, but I really didn't know. Kiyoko had just posted to the blog asking everyone to set up the shields anywhere they thought needed protection in the Digital World. He was only giving them a few days to do it before he removed it from the site though, just to be safe. So I didn't want to put it off any further. The Coliseum, though invisible and entirely well protected, was not fully protected. But it soon would be. The program was downloading onto the computer, and I was prepared to create a barrier to protect everyone.
Annoyingly though, Mari and Hideto had set off early this morning in place of Yoshie Izumi and Kae Ichijouji to the Temple to collect digimon. My plans for today were to do exactly that, and go to the Temple to see my partners. I had a few chances I could remember, but I hadn't thought of the plan at the time, and whenever I could remember the plan I was too late, or busy doing something. But whenever Mari came back I'd be able to take hers and go in her place. I knew she wouldn't keep that from me.
But they were just taking so long.
"What did you do?" Yamato asked from the other end of the room. I looked to him to see him wrapping a bandage around a baby Koromon who had been sure he'd broken a bone. Gabumon and Agumon both skidded to a stop outside the dining chamber, which was where I'd taken to sitting now that it was completed. Much fewer digimon came here compared to the living chamber, and better yet, the digimon that did come were rarely the children, so it was calm and quiet. Except for now, with Agumon's excitement.
Agumon was gasping for breath from having run from wherever it was he had been, and motioned for us to follow before running back. Gabumon took a second to notice his friend had run off, but was gone after him as well, leaving Yamato and I to shrug to one another before following along. They were out of sight already but the sound of their feet slapping against the stone floor was easy to follow even through the echoes.
We passed Unimon's room, which was bigger than some of the other rooms because we hoped to fit Jou's dad in there with him. Unimon was currently sitting, a depressed look on his face, as Masami and Kazuya pulled baseball sized burrs from his wings. Unimon refused to sit still, and explained he craved the open skies, and so we'd let him out whenever he wanted. We couldn't control everyone here, even if it would be easier if we could. Maybe these burrs would convince him to stay inside more often. At least until Isao Kido came back to tell him what to do.
In Mari's library that she'd set up, Katsue was sitting, her legs curled up as she leaned against one of the shelves, reading. Monimon was taking pictures of each page as he flipped through his own book next to her. And since there were so many people, and having them all stay in their bedrooms all day every day was a bad idea, and a living room and a dining room would never be enough, there was also a lounge area. This was where Lunamon, Coronamon, Mushroomon, Digitamamon and their partners Toshiko, Natsuko, Kae and Yoshie were all drinking tea. I knew Kiyoko would be upset to have missed a 'team mom' meeting. Whatever that even meant. Why couldn't they just call themselves friends, like everyone else?
Yamato winced, and it took me only a moment to understand why. As we were walking past the infirmary we could both hear Noriko gasp for breath. "I'm fine, guys!" She insisted from within, when her onlookers likely tried to help. She could live without a lung. I looked it up. It was possible—the pope was living without one of his lungs and he was still alive and able to do whatever it was pope's actually do! Noriko could still be entirely fine as long as we could fix the problem before she lost too many other organs. I was rooting for the appendix next to be honest. That ball of poison inside your body that does nothing until it pops and tries to kill you. She could have it removed without a scar to show for it...
Not that it would make up for everything she was going through. Last night I'd gone in to see her when Jou was eating dinner, and it didn't look good.
"Hey," She'd said to me as I slowly closed the door. She was alone aside from Impmon. I thought maybe she had wanted some alone time with him, so I was willing to leave, but chose not to when I noticed Impmon was actually asleep. "Willis, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded, "Hi..." I moved to sit next to her in a chair that looked worn in, like someone had not moved from it in days. I turned to her and she smiled down at me optimistically. She wasn't fooling me. I knew she wasn't happy, or braving this out. She was putting on a happy face to trick everyone into thinking she was going to be okay. I could see in her eyes that she wasn't though. "Can I see it?" I asked her, being quite forward.
"Yeah," She said, adjusting her position gently to not wake her sleeping partner. With another look to Impmon I could see that he had cried himself to sleep in her lap. Noriko pulled down the collar of her shirt a little to show me the burnt skin under her collarbone. "Here it is. In the flesh."
I didn't say anything at first, and just stared momentarily before finding it too difficult. I leaned back in my chair and sighed, "Did he try to suck the energy out, like poison?"
"Yep." She said quickly.
"Did he try to neutralize it?"
"Mhm," She hummed, "He's still trying actually. But it just isn't working."
"What about—"
"Can we not?" Noriko interrupted. "Can we not do this right now?" I nodded and we were both silent for a long time. I thought she might want me to leave, but I didn't know how to go about doing so, but then she whispered something, "I regret so much."
"What?" I asked, not quite catching it. She didn't respond at first, and it gave time for the words to settle.
"Nothing," Noriko said, smiling down to me. "I didn't say anything." She paused and looked down to Impmon and a tear fell down to him, splashing onto his forehead. "Can you go now?"
"Of course," I told her, my voice choked on its way out. When I closed the door behind me she had begun sobbing.
Yamato was beside me still, walking after his partner and Taichi's Agumon—at least It thought it was their partners. "Jou can do it..." Yamato muttered quietly. "He can."
"Of course," I said as cheery as possible. Yamato snapped his head to look to me as if he forgot I was there. I waved awkwardly and then we continued in silence. When we came to the cross road it was impossible to not hear Pal and Pul screaming at Babamon who was telling them they were not allowed a cookie. Rei was defending them and in the end MetallifeKuwagamon ripped the cookies away from the twins and ate them himself to stop the arguments.
The partner-less digimon, Wormmon, Tapirmon, Warg and Melga were all working together to take care of the baby digimon in the living room in Hideto's absence. Mr Ogremon was with them, but not paying much attention, relaxing while he still had the chance to do so. I saw Emiko, Beramon, Monmon and Masa sitting just outside the living room, but they looked like they might all be on time out, so I didn't say anything.
And then we'd found Agumon and Gabumon who had stopped somewhere in the West around a big door. "Tadaa!" they said together motioning to the big hole in the wall.
"Cool," Yamato said, "What... is it?" I was glad he'd asked, because I didn't know either.
"The secret passage!" Agumon said, angry that we weren't excited, "The one on Kiyoko's map? We finally found it! We can move people in once we clean it up!"
Oh. I should have paid closer attention to where we were going, but it didn't matter now. I walked right through the door, picking up a lantern Agumon had been using, and stepped into the dark passageways. "Where are you going?" Agumon asked, nervously following me.
"I'll go tell Rei," Gabumon said, trying to find something to give him an out. Neither was fond of the darkness, and that freaked me out. Digimon were able to sense things that human's couldn't. Did that mean this wasn't a good place to be going? Yamato looked for all the world like he wanted to follow Gabumon, but instead he stepped into the passage with me.
I thought maybe we should have gone to get the map Agumon had mentioned, but figured we'd be able to find our way. The passage was as grimy and wet as the rest of the Coliseum had been when we'd arrived, but for some reason there were no lights attached to the walls or ceiling like the rest of the hallways. Had the others installed them, or was this a lesser used portion of the Coliseum itself? Yamato shuddered vocally when he accidentally brushed his arm against the wall, jumping to the center of the hallway. I didn't blame him, it was really gross. What had Kiyoko made this place out of that created this much sludge on the walls?
I saw a golden trim framing a doorway on the wall ahead, lit by the dim light of the lantern hanging from the brass ring in my hand. Slowly I stepped up to it with Agumon and Yamato at my side and as one we all shrieked loudly.
It had been a mirror. We'd just been scared of our own reflection. Agumon's nerves were getting to me, and clearly to Yamato as well. "It says something," Yamato said, using his fingers to point to the golden frame. "I can't read digi-writing."
"I can't read at all," Agumon admitted, leaning closer to check his teeth in the mirror.
"I can't either," I told Yamato, but made a mental note to get Kiyoko in here later to check it out.
"You're a genius, but you can't read?" Agumon asked, "That's funny. Taichi can read even—but he doesn't like sitting still so he reads while he does things. It's funny to watch. Sometimes he walks around, and then he walks into something because he's interested in the story."
"Oh," I said, hardly paying attention. Yamato and Agumon began sharing funny and embarrassing stories of things Taichi had done, while I stepped away from them, down to the end of the hall. I passed a hallway that led off to more cells, which was what we needed. More space for digimon to live. But what really caught my attention was the thick wooden door at the end of the hallway.
The door was made of many rotted planks of wood all tied together with a metal belt. There was something really weird about the door too, something I wasn't looking forward to experiencing when I went through.
"Don't run off like that," Yamato warned, coming up behind me. "It's dark in here."
Agumon was practically cowering behind Yamato's leg as he stared at the door, "Don't go in there," He told me. "It's dark."
"It's dark everywhere," I told him, reaching for the metal chain that was strung through the door where the doorknob would usually go, "at least until someone turns on the light." And then I pulled the door open, and all three of us gasped.
We hadn't seen anything exactly, but the darkness inside was definitely strong. It was like the scent of fear if that was possible. It felt like my blood was rushing away from something that desperately wanted to drain it. It was like the darkness inside the room had been pickling and growing stronger and was now ready to be consumed. I braced myself, swinging the lantern around to shed some light on the room before stepping inside. In the brief moment that the light cast around the room I saw it was an office of sorts. Chains were hanging from the walls, and there were swords and spears, and basically everything inside looked dangerous. Even the table in the center had edges that looked like a saw.
I stepped inside stupidly, and looked around quickly, making sure no one was inside. "What is this place?" I asked as Yamato followed me, dragging Agumon along.
"I think I know," Agumon said quietly, "Maybe. It reminds me..." He trailed off but I didn't notice. I was busy looking to the papers on the desk. There was one that was written in harsh writing that I couldn't read, and some others that looked like blueprints to something. But the one that I couldn't stop staring at was a pencil drawing of Miyako, in her bed, sleeping. Beside her was another person, maybe Ken? But somehow it didn't look like it.
"Sigma?" I asked Agumon. He looked up and nodded slowly.
"Really," Yamato said sharply. I looked to him and followed his eyes that were focusing on the right wall where there were large drawings carved into the walls. There were four, each of them with wings. They were fairies, and each of them were hanging in the pictures. "Let's go." He said.
"Yeah..." I said awkwardly, hurrying out of the room. I closed the door when Agumon and Yamato followed me out, and I latched it shut. "Let's tell Rei not to go in there."
"Good idea." Yamato agreed.
We left the newly found hallway and found Rei, Pal, Pul and Gabumon waiting for us. I left Yamato and Agumon to explain and I found myself looking for Tapirmon. He was still with the babies, and I knelt down to him, asking him if I could talk to him. He followed me to the hallway, and floated up to my eye level, "There's a room," I told him, "In the new hallway that was just found. It was Sigma's." He looked terrified, so I put my hands up and calmed him, "Just don't go inside."
"Okay," He agreed, looking over his shoulder. "D-do you know when Kiyoko is coming back?" I shook my head apologetically. Tapirmon looked depressed and then floated off. I could relate. I wanted my partners back so bad I wanted to fly off somewhere to find them.
Only, I knew where they were.
I was back at Hikari's computer moments later, shooing Emiko and Monmon away as they pressed random buttons on the keyboard. I was finishing the shield that had been downloaded. I pressed 'enter' and instantly there was a reaction. A bubble of warmth shot out to surround the Coliseum. Hopefully it wouldn't be seen from the outside. The Coliseum was invisible to whoever did not know it was there, so perhaps the shield would be as well.
I'd done everything I could do here, that was all there was to it really... and I was tired of waiting around for people to tell me what to do next. I was a grown man and since both Taichi and Daisuke were not present that meant I was my own leader. I looked to Tapirmon as he floated past the dining room and I sighed. He was so sad.
I could go get Kiyoko for him. Just like I'd go get Terriermon and Lopmon.
Right. Now.
"Emiko," I said to her as she lazily pushed a ball across the floor to where her cousin sat. "Can I have your digivice."
"No!" She said, shaking her head, "It's very important."
I was sure her mother had told her that. "Yes, I'm aware." I said.
"So no." She said.
"I'll give it back," I said, "I just need to borrow it. I don't have mine."
"You can't have it." She said sharply, then she sighed, "Because I lost it. Literally."
Of course she did. I turned to Masa who was shrieking loudly while Monmon tried to rip the ball away from him. I pulled Monmon away from him and set him back down, kneeling to Masa's level again. "Hey, what have you got there?" I asked him, pointing to where a digivice coated in cheese powder was attached to his waistband. "That's mine I think."
"No," Masa said confused, "Kunemon said it was mine."
"He lied," I said nervously. Why was I lying to this kid? Because the shields didn't allow people without digivices to go through. I needed one because Director Arnold had taken mine. "It's mine."
"I'm sorry," Masa said, his eyes wide as he handed me the digivice, "I didn't mean to take it."
"It's okay." I told him, "You can have it even. Just, when I get back."
"Okay," He smiled at me, hugging my leg. I really wasn't sure why Emiko disliked him so much, other than the dirty handprints he left on my socks. I ran through the hallways, eager to get outside and to the Temple to see my partners. Finally. It had been exactly a month since I'd seen them. It was the twenty-fourth of May now, and I didn't care what anyone had to say. Taichi could stay away from Agumon if he wanted to, but I wasn't going to stay away from my partners anymore. Especially since it was my birthday soon. I wanted them to be there with me! I was turning twenty-five. That was a big thing, and I needed my best friends to be there with me.
I had until Friday to see my friends again. Or else I'd be old and they'd probably not even recognize me.
I took Hikari's computer with me because I'd helped Kiyoko on his invisibility technique, installing it to the computer in the process. I'd need to be invisible if I intended to get into the Temple.
And so I was, and I was walking. I didn't remember exactly how long the walk was supposed to be, and I really didn't care. I just wasn't going to sit around and wait anymore. The Coliseum was really not much better than being stuck at work. Sure, it was better than the prison Arnold had put me in, but not better than when I'd been there voluntarily. Well, not much better. The beds were softer, I got one to myself, and there was the possibility for a warm shower—if I got up earlier than everyone else which simply was never going to happen. But I didn't even have my own clothes. Sure there were some things that Mari and Hideto had picked up for me during their 'shopping' spree, but it just wasn't mine. And I couldn't even go back to my house because it was apparently unsafe. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
The walk to the Temple went well, but early on I thought I heard someone coming, so I froze and stayed quiet. I'd forgotten I was invisible, so I stayed perfectly still and hidden behind a tree so they couldn't see me, but that also meant I was unable to see who they were. I was sure it had to be someone, unless I was just hearing things, but when the noise faded I continued on my way, dodging a bullet I was sure. Other than that small bump in the road, the walk was smooth, and soon I was creeping past the tanks, and through the open Temple door.
I saw Takeru first thing, standing with some digimon that were fighting one another for a space in the travel. Had they not left yet? I'd thought they would have nearly been back to the Coliseum by this point in the day. Hideto was away from the group, sitting on a bench, his fingers wrapped around some girl's. It was one of the dark spore girls, and Hideto looked to be comforting her in the same spot he had done for Mari when Lalamon died. I didn't know what had happened, but I knew it was bad.
I turned off the invisibility program on the computer in my hand as Ken rushed past. He smiled to me, waving kindly, and then froze. "Wait, what are you doing here?" I looked over his shoulder and saw Hikari and Takeru looking to me confused as well. "Willis, go back!"
"Why?" I asked, nearly panicked. Was something happening? Why was everyone staring at me?
"We just sent Terriermon and Lopmon to the Coliseum." Ken said, checking his watch, "They should be there by now."
"What?" I asked, my face deadpanned as his words sunk in. He had to be joking.
"Sorry," Ken said awkwardly, "You should go back."
I shook my head in disbelief. They had to be joking. But whatever. It was a long walk, but now I knew that I could get back to the Coliseum to see my partners. They were there waiting for me this time. But I wasn't going to keep them waiting like Taichi had done last time. I wasn't a Knight and there was no excuse as to why I needed to stay. So I'd be going.
"Come with us," Ken suggested. "Hikari and I are going to lead the next group to the Coliseum. None of them know where that is, so they'll need us. You may as well walk with some friends."
I nodded, "Okay..." I waited for them to get set up, to tell everyone the rules, hoping for a chance to talk to Mari, but I couldn't see her anywhere, and no one was giving me the time of day to actually answer my questions.
Soon though, we were getting ready to leave. Hikari kissed Takeru on the cheek, saying goodbye, and he set off with Hideto to collect more digimon. There were a lot of digimon we were to be taking over. How we were supposed to keep them quiet, I didn't know. Ken took initiative, turning himself invisible, and soon the digimon followed suit. Some couldn't understand how to work the phone, so Hikari helped them out, and some didn't even have hands so they had the phones tied to them with whatever was available. Luckily we had new cells for them to live in, so they'd be able to actually sleep somewhere when we got them across.
"Let's go," Ken called out, apparently leading the way. I would have to trust him and go. I bumped into a few digimon on the way out the door, and knew this wasn't going to go well. Some of the digimon were really big, and the door opened wider as they tried to squeeze through. It was weird to see it move on its own, but I knew they were invisible. What would the enemies outside thing if they saw it?
I was in the rear of the group, well at least I was pretty sure I was, and I was heading toward the door when I heard someone trip behind me. I turned to help them up, but they weren't nearby. It was Kiyoko and he was in the center of the plaza. He pulled himself to his feet, pleased no one was around to see his fall.
I groaned, and quickly ran over to him, turning off the invisibility. "Kiyoko!"
He screamed and spun around quickly, sighing when he saw me. "Willis, why are you here?"
"I promised Tapirmon I'd bring you back with me." I told him, "Come on, let's go."
"I can't go," Kiyoko said, shaking his head, "I love Tapirmon but there are so many things that need to be done. I'm advancing the shields, trying to help Jou discover the solution to Noriko and Jun's problems, and trying to remove the tracking devices so we can save Palmon, Mimi and Mari."
"Woah," I said holding my hand up, "Back up." He looked nervous, like he'd said something wrong, "Jun was shot? That's Daisuke's sister isn't it?" Kiyoko nodded, "And Mari is in trouble?"
"Palmon was tracked, and the enemies are following her." Kiyoko said, "So obviously I have to help her. And help Jun and Noriko, and all the digimon of the world."
As he said it Jenna appeared from the doorway to the shop behind him. She rolled her eyes and stepped forward, "Funny," She said, "How all of those things are more important than Michael. Why is no one trying to help him?"
Kiyoko turned and crossed his arms nervously, "I-I'm sorry, I don't know how to help him. I'm just doing all that I can."
"I know how though," Jenna said, annoyed, "I know where he was going. I think. He was trying to destroy the weapons. The tracker guns. He also went through a big ordeal to get this," she pulled a tracker out of her pocket and handed the small plastic red device to Kiyoko. "And it might help with your mission. But that means someone has to help me find Michael."
"I'll do it." I said, my stomach seizing up. Why was I saying that? Wouldn't it be easier to go back and see my partners? Obviously. But if Michael, Mari, Mimi, Palmon, Noriko and Jun were all in trouble... if I could do anything to help them here, which I was sure I could... would that not be worth the wait to see them again. "I'll stay. I'll help."
Jenna smiled, and I knew I was doing the right thing, but God did it suck.
Next on Digimon Adventure 06: Mimi and Michael find themselves on different intertwining chases as they fight for a common goal: Freedom.