Reviews:
Ackbarfan5556: Yes they are :)
Music Chick: Yup XD Poor guy. Having to deal with your ex-wife and new girlfriend at the same time by yourself must be a horrible experience.
Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: You'll just have to keep reading to see what happens ;-)
Ratchet McCloud: Nice eye, Ratchet. Thank you.
Thanks to BlackSkull Universe for the favorite and follow. Much appreciated.
Here we are, everybody. Welcome back to another chapter. Hope you all had a good week. I know I certainly did. Let's get right to it. Like I said last chapter, I'm splitting up some of the events into their own chapters so that way I'm not overwhelming you guys with too much. Once we get past the Emperor arc, we'll go back to long chapters.
Let's get this thing started.
The mid-day sun beat heavily down on the children as they climbed the façade of the mountain. The rocks got hotter as they reached up for the next level, burning their hands with ever ascent. They had been climbing for almost an hour, and still had a long way to go to the top.
"Are you sure this is it, Cody?" Kari asked the youngest Jedi. She had stopped climbing to take a breath.
"Positive," the boy replied. "It's just up over this hill."
Once they reached the top, the Jedi felt like their hands were blistered to the bone. With the added weight of their bags, it took half a day for them to reach the mountain that Cody had climbed with Joe the day before.
The Jedi scanned the valley for any trace of the monstrosity that Cody described to them. It was wide and vast, with forests to the far left and treacherous canyons in the distance to the right. But there was no sign of the rock-like structure.
"I don't see anything," Davis said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Are you absolutely sure this is the right place?"
"What are you talking about? Of course it's the right place," Cody snapped back before he saw what the others did. A large crater sat where he remembered the rock being. "Where is it? It was here before. Joe and I saw it with our own eyes."
"Maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you, Cody," Davis replied with a shrug. "Or it could have been a mirage."
"I swear, I am not making this up! We got photographic evidence that it was here."
The burgundy-haired Jedi pressed his forehead against the young boy's. "Do you have them on you by any chance?" he hissed.
"What's it to you?" Cody snarled back, pressing his forehead against the older boy's.
TK ignored them and looked around. He quickly noticed that something was missing. Or someone.
"Where's Yolei?" he asked, seeing that the other member of their group was nowhere to be found.
Kari pointed down the cliff. "Look right down here," she said.
The other three Jedi joined her and looked down at where she was pointing. A cloud of dust flew behind Yolei as she skidded down the rocky façade, her green lightsaber out and itching for some action. Her impatient battle scream filled the air.
Davis sighed with exasperation. "Always on the move."
"Let's go," said TK, hurdling over the rocks to slide down the mountain.
Kari joined him a second later. Davis and Cody looked at each other for a second, shrugged, and then followed their teammates down. If there were snow on these mountains, it would have been more fun to slide down. Instead, they just tried to not get their feet cut, stub their toes, or get them crushed by jagged rocks.
Once they all reached the bottom, the Jedi went over to the large crater to inspect it. The hole was about a half mile wide and a mile deep. There were no boulders in the world that could make a hole this big, even in the Digital World.
"What do you think could have made this?" TK blinked. "I've never seen anything this big."
"I'm telling you, this is where the base was," Cody insisted. "I think Ken must have seen Joe and I when we were up there and knew we would eventually come. So, he ran off with it like the coward he is."
Davis blinked in confusion. "Ran off with it?" he asked. "How? I don't understand how a whole building could just go off on its own like that."
Yolei emphatically raised a finger towards the far-off mountains. "I know what happened!" she proclaimed. "It took off into the sky!"
That only gave her more confused looks from the other Jedi.
"Into the sky," Davis repeated slowly. Somehow, that sounded a little far-fetched. "Riiiiight."
"I don't see how that makes sense," Cody agreed. "The technology isn't there in real life like it is in science fiction."
TK, however, thought differently after inspecting the size of the crater some more. Yolei's idea of it going into the sky was not as crazy as it seemed after all.
"Hold on. Any of you guys seen 'Castle in the Sky'?" he asked.
The other kids nodded.
"Yeah, of course," Davis said. "What kid in Japan hasn't?"
"Well, my theory is that Ken must have enjoyed the film so much that he modeled his ship after Laputa, the floating island. With that in mind, he could take his base anywhere he wanted if he felt threatened in a certain area."
Kari nodded. "And then he could go all over the Digital World like the Death Star in the Star Wars movies to keep certain areas afraid."
Davis interjected. "So if we can get inside of the base and blow it up from within, that would disable it and keep Ken stationary."
"Which would allow us the opportunity to capture him and end this once and for all," Cody finished.
"That's great, but what are we going to do now?" Yolei asked. "We can't just let this slide without acting. Let's go down into the crater and see if we can find something to use against him."
Davis glared at the girl. "Who went and made you the leader, four eyes?" he bit. "I think we should wait for Tai and the others to get here. Strength in numbers."
Yolei's honey brown eyes shot imaginary flames at him. "You're not the leader either, Davis!" she shot back. "So why should I take orders from you?"
"When will you learn to settle that endless energy of yours?"
TK interrupted them before things could escalate further. "Actually, Davis does make a good point," he said. "With all of us here, we could use our superior numbers to find the missing base."
Kari shrugged. "Then I guess there's nothing to do but wait."
Yolei puffed out her cheeks and plopped herself down on a rock, begrudgingly accepting the decision.
"They better get here fast," she muttered.
The smell of pine trees, along with the sweetness of mountain air, filled the world around as the mid-afternoon sun settled just above the peak of Mt. Fuji. A slight bit of cloud coverage obscured the peak itself from view, but the rest of the mountain could be made out clearly.
Lake Yamanaka was a popular place for city people to go to get away from the drags of daily life in the city and get back to nature. The lake itself was right in the middle of the village of Yamanakako. There were just barely above 5,000 people that permanently lived in this quaint, small lake town, but it was always buzzing with activity during the summer months.
The Destined Jedi and their three adult chaperones piled the gear out of Mr. Ishida's van and started to make their home for the next couple of days. They would be staying around a cabin that was just a few yards away from a small pond. The view out from the campsite gave a great view of the lake and Mt. Fuji. The kids were jealous that they wouldn't get to see much of it after they left for the Digital World.
"Four hours of the Beastie Boys, are you kidding me?" Joe complained.
His ears were ringing after enduring Fight For Your Right for the last thirty minutes. He could not concentrate on anything because Tai, Matt, and Izzy were singing as loud as the song. They even danced along to it. When one of them would throw themselves to the left side, it would send the others right into him.
Mimi noticed the oldest Destined Jedi's exhausted eyes. "Everything okay there, Joe?" she asked.
"No, I am not okay," he replied. "When we go back, I'm riding with you and Sora. I'm sure it'll be much quieter."
Mimi giggled. "Okay, whatever you say," she said before going to help Sora with unloading coolers and their backpacks.
Within an hour, all of the gear had been unloaded and camp was being made. The first thing they needed was firewood. Ms. Takaishi and Rumiko volunteered to go into the woods to find some, leaving Mr. Ishida to watch the kids.
"Do you guys really have to go?" he asked, almost begging for them to change their minds. "I don't want to be left alone like this."
"Oh, come on, Dad," Matt slapped him on the back. "Someone needs to stay behind and cover for us. Besides, Mom and Rumiko will keep you company."
"That's what scares me the most," the man grumbled, a defeated look in his eyes. "Don't leave me here with two women I'm not sure will get along."
"You can handle it. Who knows, maybe they're getting along right now," Matt assured him with one more pat on the back. "How's that portal coming, Izzy? Are we ready to go?"
"I'm almost there," Izzy replied as he typed away on his computer. "I just need to type in the coordinates of their location. That'll take a minute."
While Izzy got the portal ready, everyone else made final preparations before heading to the Digital World. They were not coming back until Ken was completely neutralized, or if any of them died. The last part made them all think deeply. There was a good possibility that if things didn't work out, Ken would not hesitate to kill them. But the Jedi knew that it was worth the risk. Facing the Dark Masters was a giant risk, but it worked out fine in the end.
"Okay, the portal's ready," Izzy said. He pressed the talk button on his earpiece. "TK, we're ready."
"Roger," TK replied.
A moment later, a purple vortex of energy appeared on the shore at the edge of the water. Matt looked back at his father.
"Well, guys, good luck," Mr. Ishida said. "Be careful. I don't want to have to tell your parents something happened to one of you."
Tai nodded confidently. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Ishida. We'll be careful," he said before walking into the portal.
Joe, Izzy, and Sora followed, then Mimi.
"We're back!" Rumiko's voice emerged from the forest.
Matt and his father started to panic.
"Oh, crap! That's them," Mr. Ishida hyperventilated, struggling to figure out what to do next. "What do I do, Matt?"
The blonde-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know, just tell her that we went out," he replied, sticking one foot into the portal.
"Where?"
"ANYWHERE!" Matt shouted before he entered the portal completely. "But tell Mom the truth."
The void of energy disappeared just as Nancy and Rumiko came over the hill towards the shore. They carried whole bundles of firewood in their arms before setting it down near the fire pit.
Nancy was the first to notice something was missing.
"Hiroaki, where are the kids?" she asked.
The man darted his eyes from his ex-wife to his girlfriend and then back again. He couldn't tell Nancy out in the open where they had really gone without outing their secret to the other woman. He gave his ex-wife a look telling her to go along with what he was about to say.
"Oh, they went off into the woods to play," he replied. "I told them it was alright since we were done unloading."
"Do you know when they'll be back?" Rumiko asked.
A sweat drop went down Mr. Ishida's forehead. "Hopefully by sundown. You know how kids are," he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. He quickly changed the subject. "How about we get some fishing in, ladies?"
Nancy snorted. "And what do you know about fishing?" she teasingly replied.
"I know enough!"
"The first time you took me fishing, I had to walk you through everything, even right down to what bait was. Needless to say, we never did that again."
"Nancy!" Mr. Ishida blushed hard with embarrassment. "Not in front of Rumiko."
The younger woman tried to stifle her giggles unsuccessfully. "Please, tell me more, Ms. Takaishi."
Nancy snickered as well. "I like this woman, Hiroaki," she smiled. "She definitely completes you."
'Great,' the man moped as the two giggling women went to grab the fishing poles. Their giggles continued, no doubt making fun of him even more. 'Why does this stuff keep happening to me?'
"Man, that is huge!" Tai breathed, his eyes widening as he gazed down into the crater. He and the older Jedi were quickly briefed upon arrival that the Emperor's base was gone and there was a possibility that it had floating capabilities.
Davis snickered. "That's what she said," he joked.
Yolei rolled her eyes with a disgusted groan. Boys could be so immature.
Izzy inspected the crater closely. If the images Joe and Cody took the day before were reliable, this had to be the spot where the Emperor's base was. With the new knowledge of what he was seeing now, it was easy to discern what had happened.
"I think you guys may be right," he said. "Ken must have known we were coming, so he fled the scene before we got here. I must say though, he certainly lives up to his reputation as a genius. The engineering that went into that base must have been extensive and far advanced for someone his age."
Matt glared at him. "Izzy, this is no time to be impressed. What do we do next? He could be on the other side of the Digital World in that thing by now."
"Hang on, hang on." Izzy pulled the photographs he got from Joe's camera out of his bag. "Joe, Cody, come over here with me."
The two nodded and went over to a flat rock not far from the crater. Izzy sat down between them and started inspecting the photographs. The other Jedi caught some murmurs, but it was mostly technical talk none of them understood.
While the three of them were at work, Sora looked around and noticed a certain someone was missing.
"Where's Yolei?" she asked. "Yolei?"
Davis slapped a hand to his face. "Oh no, not again."
"Hey, guys!"
The voice came from within the crater. The group went to the edge and saw a stake was stuck in the ground, with rope going all the way down to the bottom.
"Down here!" Yolei cried. Her hands were cupped around her mouth to amplify the sound of her voice.
"Yolei, what are you doing down there?" Sora yelled down. "Come back right now!"
Yolei frowned. "Maybe Ken left something behind we can use," she called back. "There's no harm in at least checking it out."
"That's an order, Yolei! Get back here!"
"You're not my mom, Sora! I'm tired of being a fourth wheel on this team. It's time I did something that actually helped us for a change!"
Yolei stormed off across the crater before anyone else could say anything. But before she could get too far, a rumbling went through the crater. Not too far away from her position, the ground split apart. What came out frightened Yolei so much that she let out a loud, horrified scream.
A large spider, about the size of a wooly mammoth, darted right for the girl as its eight eyes locked on to their target. Its eight legs were sharp as knives, with its mouth open to reveal equally sharp teeth, its head covered by a yellow helmet with two horns sticking out the side. Finally, a bush of brown fur covered its neck. The skull and crossbones on its abdomen gave off the impression that it was not friendly.
Izzy went through the files of Digimon that he had on his computer to see what creature that was. It was one they had never encountered before. When he found the creature and read its profile, his face paled.
"That's called a Dokugumon," he said. "They're real nasty. It has an attack called Poison Thread that paralyzes its prey." He looked down into the crater and yelled, "Yolei, get out of there!"
"HELP!" Yolei screamed as she curled up with her knees against her chest, too terrified to move.
Mimi jumped down thoughtlessly. "I'll get her!"
"Mimi, don't!" Sora cried, but was unable to grab her as the Jedi of Sincerity fell to the ground below. A small thud rang out once her feet touched the dirt in a squatting position to absorb the shock.
The large spider had Yolei firmly in its sights. Without warning, it shot a string of purple needles right out of its mouth. Yolei curled tightly into a ball and shut her eyes, waiting for the painful sensation to run through her. This was what she deserved for being so reckless, she thought.
"YOLEI!"
Next thing Yolei knew, she was shoved to the ground. A pained scream erupted before the sound of something hitting the ground. The girl opened her eyes to see what had happened.
"MIMI!" she screamed.
The Jedi of Sincerity rested on her stomach an inch away from her. Needles were buried in her back, and Mimi's breathing became shallow. The poison coursed through her veins. If Yolei didn't act, she would die.
"Yolei, grab the rope!" Sora called down to her.
The lavender-haired Jedi nodded and picked Mimi up to rest on her shoulder before grabbing the rope behind her. The other Jedi started to pull.
"Hurry!" she cried. "Mimi's hurt bad!"
A flash of yellow whizzed past her vision for a second. It was TK. He landed on the ground, his blue lightsaber blade already out, and engaged the large spider. He dodged the needles from its mouth and swiped off a leg. The creature roared in anger and swiped at him with its other legs. The Jedi of Hope dodged each one and leapt onto its back. Dokugumon tried to shake him off by thrashing around, but TK stayed balanced.
"Come on! Pull!" Tai said in a strained voice. "Put your backs into it!"
The other Jedi heeded his command and pulled with everything they had. Lavender hair finally emerged from the abyss a few seconds later and they all pulled Mimi and Yolei up. Yolei flopped onto the ground the second she had cleared the edge, breathing heavily from her near-death experience.
Sora and Kari took Mimi away to be examined, with Joe following right on their heels.
Back down below, TK had finally found a spot where the spider was most vulnerable: its neck. The creature was still moving around wildly, making it hard for him to get a good chance to jump. The mark on his wrist glowed brightly, and time started to slow down for him.
Now that things were much slower, he took advantage and jumped right for the small glimmer of black skin beneath the fur bush. He pointed his saber at it and drove the blade into the neck. The creature roared painfully and disappeared in a burst of data.
TK wiped the sweat off his brow and took a deep breath. That was one less thing they needed to worry about.
He looked up to the top of the crater.
There was a much bigger thing to worry about now.
"You damn brat! Do you even understand what you've done?!"
Yolei shrunk away and avoided looking back into the furious orbs of the Jedi of Friendship. Matt glared knives into her face, his blue eyes narrowed in fury.
"I-I-I'm sorry," she squeaked. "I-I-I-I-"
"I-I-I-I-I," Matt mocked condescendingly before he roughly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer. Their noses were pressed almost painfully against each other. "You almost got Mimi killed because of your stupidity, you idiot!"
Yolei struggled to choke back her tears as she looked past Matt to where the others were gathered. Joe wrapped bandages around Mimi's mid-section after taking out the needles. She was slightly poisoned, but he took care of that with some antidote he luckily had in his pack.
The tears fell down her face as she started to sniffle. Matt was not moved in the slightest.
"Oh, what now, are you going to cry? Try to beg for sympathy?" he shot. "If anyone deserves sympathy, it's Mimi." He pulled her head towards him so she looked him dead in the eyes.
"How dense can you be?" he hissed, accidentally spraying saliva in her face. "Did you forget that Ken practically killed Sora? If it wasn't for you gaining your healing power, that's exactly what would have happened. Everyone plays a part in this team. Act stupid, and that maniacal, psycho kid will kill you instead. Got it?"
Yolei sobbed loudly now. Sora finally intervened, feeling like Matt was going way too far with this.
"That's enough, Matt!" she growled, squeezing his shoulder roughly.
Matt glared at her as she pulled Yolei into a comforting hug, softly shushing her like a mother comforting a crying child as Yolei sobbed into the crook of Sora's neck.
"You're being way too soft on her, Sora," he shot back. "It's her fault that Mimi had to jump in and take that attack. Yolei needs to learn to take responsibility for her actions. It's not a game!"
"Mimi didn't die, Matt. She'll be fine."
"Yes, but you almost did last time!" Matt felt tears of his own start to well up.
Sora shut her eyes and sighed.
"So that's what this is about," she murmured before saying, "Matt, I know that incident scared you, but that was not Yolei's fault. If Mimi hadn't jumped down to protect her, then she probably have died. Mimi gave herself up to save Yolei."
Matt snorted a harsh breath and walked away. "Don't pretend you almost dying wasn't scary," he said without thinking. "Sugar coating your almost death, and now Mimi's, will not help her see the gravity of this situation. I will not allow the people I care about to be put in harm's way because of some immature ingrate."
Sora turned as red as her hair. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK, MATT ISHIDA!" she roared.
Matt stopped only long enough to look Sora dead in the eyes with a hint of fear. "No."
The Jedi of Love lowered her eyes, accepting his rebuke. As harsh as his words were, she couldn't deny the truth he spoke.
Yolei lifted her head slightly, her eyes and face red from crying. Some tears still traveled down her cheeks.
"He's right," she murmured. "All I do is cause trouble. If I hadn't been so stubborn and gone down into the crater, Mimi wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Sora patted Yolei on the head and pulled her back in for a hug. She rubbed the back of the girl's head as she cried some more.
Davis looked their way from where he stood next to Joe. As much as he wanted to strangle that lavender-haired girl, he could see through her pain how distraught she was over what she caused to Mimi. Sora was doing her best to comfort her, but something told him Yolei needed proof that she was worthy.
'Proof?' he thought to himself. 'How could I help that bipolar, insecure girl with proof?'
A blue light caught his attention. Davis looked down at his wrist and saw the symbol of Friendship flicker with the azure blue light. It felt like the Force was trying to tell him something.
Davis closed his eyes with a chuckle. Of course! Why hadn't he thought of that before? He knew exactly what to do now.
"What's up, Davis?" Joe asked, noticing the flickering light on the younger boy's wrist.
"I'll be back in a jiffy," Davis replied as he headed for Yolei and Sora.
Unsure on how to interrupt the moment, Davis stood behind Yolei and cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me?"
The two girls turned his way.
"I don't mean to break this up –"
"Great," Yolei spat, wiping her eyes. "Come to rub it in my face too?"
Davis looked to the side nervously. Maybe this wasn't his place to say anything. He rubbed his forearm up and down as he thought of what to say and put it tactfully. He tried again.
"No. Actually, I came to ask for help. Joe gave Mimi an antidote, but I think it would be better if you healed Mimi all the way." Davis looked back at Mimi. ""Call it whatever you like: Penance, team player, playing your part, whatever." He turned back to Yolei. "Anything is better than feeling sorry for yourself. We're a team, Yolei. We all have our gifts, and yours is healing. Use it. But next time, think things through before history repeats again."
Yolei blinked, taking in everything Davis said. She looked up at Sora with hope shining in her eyes. Sora smiled with a nod.
"Thanks, Davis," Yolei murmured. "That really means a lot."
Davis beamed and flashed a thumbs up. "Anytime."
Yolei let go of Sora and slowly walked to where Mimi was resting. The pink-haired girl's peaceful sleeping face was like something out of a fairy tale. The phrase 'death-like' would not have been an appropriate way to describe it after what happened. The medicine Joe had given her knocked her right out.
Yolei trailed a hand across Mimi's cheek.
'I'm so sorry, Mimi,' she glumly thought. 'If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I'll do it.'
Yolei looked at the hand, now resting against Mimi's neck. Maybe there was something she could do.
Davis' words briefly echoed in her ears before she lightly pressed against the soft skin of Mimi's neck. She closed her eyes and concentrated as much energy as she could into the hand. The symbol of Love's red light glowed softly and stayed like that for several moments. Once she felt it was enough, Yolei stopped the power in her hand and pulled it away from Mimi's neck.
Mimi moaned in her sleep and turned over to her side. Yolei smiled softly.
Tai and Davis watched as smiles slowly rose up their faces. Davis couldn't believe that it actually worked. The Jedi of Courage turned to face him, a proud look bled into the smile on his face.
"Nice work, Davis," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "That was good thinking on your part."
Davis accepted the praise with a nod. "Thanks."
TK looked over at them and didn't say a word. A sharp look glossed over his features for a slight moment.
With everyone else, they were struggling to wrap their heads around what had happened. Izzy was especially distressed by this turn of events, which gave Tai the opening to tease him about liking Mimi.
"I do not!" The red-haired boy denied vehemently, but the blush on his face only made Tai smirk more.
"Then why is your face so red, Izzy?"
"Shut up, Tai," Izzy grumbled before projecting to everyone else, "With all of this, why don't some of us go off and search for the Emperor's base? If we don't find it by sundown, we'll all come back and try again tomorrow."
TK nodded. "Good idea, Izzy."
"I'll stay and watch Mimi," Sora replied. "You guys go on ahead."
"Okay, but if something happens, get yourselves out," Tai said. "We'll be in touch with you guys through our communicators. If you get in trouble, leave and we will come as soon as we can."
Sora nodded with a shy smile. "Right."
The rest of the group split off into two teams and went into the forest to search for the Emperor's base. Sora let go of Yolei and sat down beside the sleeping Mimi. The girl breathed softly in her sleep, which made Sora chuckle. Who knew someone could look so peaceful while in such a state of agony.
"Is she okay?" Yolei asked hesitantly.
The auburn-haired Jedi nodded. "Yeah, she's just sleeping," she replied, which earned a sigh of relief from her charge. "Yolei, don't let what Matt said bother you. He just gets distressed when any of us are hurt. He's always been like that, I guess."
"It's not what he said," Yolei sniffled. "Matt's right. It was because of my reckless behavior that we got into that mess. And I'm sorry for yelling back at you too. I just want to do my part to help the group in our quest to defeat the Emperor."
"I know you are," Sora replied with a nod. "But I think you're going about this the wrong way. None of us can do this alone; we all have to pitch in. That doesn't mean you can take the burden on yourself either. Let us all share it with you."
Yolei thought about that for a good few moments, then nodded. "Right."
"Any luck on your guys' end?" Matt asked Tai through the communicator.
"Nope, nothing," Tai replied. "How about you guys?"
"Same. Let's go back. The sun's starting to come down, and I don't want to be out here at night."
"Copy, Matt. We'll meet you in a little bit."
"Roger."
The Jedi of Friendship turned back to his group, which comprised of TK, Joe, and Cody.
"Tai and the others couldn't find it either," he said. "I think it's best if we just go back to camp."
TK shook his head. "We've barely covered a tenth of this area," he argued. "It's vital that we find the base. We have to keep looking."
"TK's right," Joe agreed. "Let's keep going just a little bit longer. Maybe we'll find the base by then."
"It's going to get dark soon, guys," Matt pushed back. "I don't want to be out here when it does. There's all sorts of dangerous things that come out in the night."
"Just because you're scared of the dark, Matt –"
"I am not scared of the dark!"
Cody drowned out their argument with his thoughts. He couldn't say he disagreed with Joe and TK's reasoning. The whole purpose of coming here was to find the Emperor and stop him for good. He wanted this whole thing to end quickly while they had the chance to do that. On the other hand, Matt also had a valid point. It was easier to get lost in the forest at night, even in a group, but it was even more true in a place like the Digital World. There were probably creatures none of them had encountered before, possibly more deadly than the ones they already had met.
The hairs on his neck stood up. A chill ran down his spine. Something dark and evil was nearby. Cody looked behind him. A dark shadow floated along the face of the cliff far behind their position. He thought it looked like a hovercraft. If it was what he thought it was, then…
"Cody, come on," TK called to him. "We're moving."
The boy snapped out of his daze. "Coming," he replied, running to catch up with the others. "Sorry. I guess I zoned out a bit."
"Everything okay?" Joe asked.
The boy shrugged, thinking it was better to just play it cool. "Yeah, everything's fine. Let's keep going."
Mimi moaned slightly as her eyes flickered open. Everything was a little blurry at first, but she slowly became aware of her surroundings. The sun blasted her in the face, causing her to raise a hand to block it.
"Mimi, you're awake!" Yolei exclaimed, catching Sora's attention as the two female Jedi crowded around their friend.
Mimi blinked. "Yolei, Sora? What happened?" She looked around the area. "Where is everybody else?"
"They went off in search of the Emperor's base," Sora replied. "You've been asleep for the past few hours, Mimi, after you saved Yolei. Joe was able to stabilize you before things got bad."
Yolei felt her tears start to come back. The guilt gnawed at her heart, prompting her to say what was on her mind.
"Mimi, I'm so sorry," she said. "It's my fault. You could have died trying to save me. If only I hadn't gone down there. None of this would have happened," she hid behind her hands, sobbing. "I did the best I could to heal you. If you're in pain anywhere else, tell me."
Mimi smiled. "I'm fine. I'm just glad to know you're okay, Yolei."
That threw the younger girl off guard. She had not expected this.
She lowered her hands and wiped her tears. "Huh?"
Mimi slowly sat up, showing off her bandaged midsection. Her obi kept the bottom of her yukata in place, but the top part was piled around the dark green sash.
"I wasn't going to just stand there and let that big, ugly spider get you, Yolei," she continued. "During our first adventure, I was in a position to help Sora from Ogremon, but I wasn't allowed to help her."
Sora chuckled at the memory. "That's right. Gennai called you and Joe off."
Mimi laughed as well. "My point is that I wasn't able to do anything last time. I didn't want to go through that again."
"But you almost died because of my recklessness," Yolei argued. "How could you be so forgiving after that? I'm so stubborn, hard-headed, and -"
"And that's why I like you so much," Mimi interrupted her. "Yolei, stubbornness can be a powerful ally if you let it. It's what makes you not want to give up when things look hopeless. You don't want to feel like you're just along for the ride. You want to feel like you have a purpose on this team."
Yolei nodded. "That's right," she wiped tears from her eyes. "I may not be as powerful as TK or Davis, or as wise as Sora, but that doesn't mean I can't try."
"You don't have to be them. Just be you. If you want any advice, there it is. Just be yourself."
The tears came back, but this time, Yolei let them fall and squeezed Mimi tightly.
"Thanks, Mimi," she whispered. "I appreciate that. I promise I will continue to be who I am and not apologize for it."
The pink-haired Jedi of Sincerity wrapped her arm around the girl's back.
"Sounds like a plan," she replied with a giggle.
Well sounds like Yolei learned her lesson this time hopefully. What awaits the group next as they search for the Emperor? Find out next time on Attack of the Emperor.
Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I knew I wanted one last thing to happen for Yolei to really get some development. Even though she seemed to have cooled down after what happened to Sora, Matt's "pep talk" last chapter forced her to take some action. As you can see, it didn't really work out that well.
Next time: The Emperor plays with things he should not play with, even if he is the most powerful being in the Digital World at the present time. Make sure to leave a review and subscribe as you go if you haven't already.
See you guys again real soon ;-)