I don't own digimon.

Session 12

Go Ask Alice

The ride back to the digital world wasn't anything that interesting. Mostly due to the scenery consisting of puke tripping out on LSD.

For Alice, it was one of the few reassurances of her failure. Every time she saw this puke, it signaled the loosening of her grip of control. Soon, they would know the truth about her and she wouldn't be able to hide. Once more, the gambler would be all alone, whether she wanted too or not.

*Do you have to be so moody about all of this?* Suiko thought as she stared through 'Alice's' eyes. While she already knew what Alice was going to say, it still felt nice to have her guess be right. That was the hardest part about sharing a body. Even within peace and quiet, there was no privacy. It probably didn't help that she could quite explain why or how she was in this body, not that Alice seemed that much of a hurry to figure that one out.

Before Alice could answer though, bright light invaded her vision as the world began to spin around.

When the light and dizziness finally faded away, the gambler no longer found herself in the bus. Instead, she found herself standing in a city underneath a crimson sky. Once mighty skyscrapers were now just towering pillars of twisted metal and glass. What remained of the ground was mostly ashes and rubble. The only thing of real interest appeared to be a figure out in the distance.

"Hello?" Alice shouted and got no response. "If there is anyone out there, just give me a sign!"

The person then waved their hand, feeling Alice with some hope. Silence now filled her head now, with no sign of Suiko within. Normally, this would be a massive relief. But here, something felt off about it. She wasn't sure what it was or why that may be, but it seemed to gnaw at her.

So, she did the natural thing for this sort of situation. Run towards the person waving at you. Yet no matter how far she seemed to travel in connection to the other person, it seemed to never change at all. It was probably nothing more than a mirage at best. Not that was it was hot enough for such a phenomenon to occur. Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and looked down at herself.

Gone was the overdone 'pristine' dress and body of Alice Zwingli, having been replaced by some large hideous white cat creature.

"How is this even possible?" Alice shouted and began to look all around. For being such a large four-legged creature, this was a lot easier than one would think it would be. It was still the same desolate city as before, with the only difference being everything seeming slightly smaller in proportion to the feline. "Better yet, why am I a massive cat?"

Alice's question got no answer, instead just barely making out a bullet heading right towards her head. If she had her gun, maybe she would have fired back. But alas, that wasn't the case.

She closed her eyes, feeling the bright light and dizziness once more. When it finally faded away, the gambler found herself back on the bus, sitting in her seat.

*There you are!* Suiko announced as Alice took a deep breath, attempting to ignore the voice. "I thought I had lost you!"

"What do you mean?" the gambler thought and gazed around the interior of the bus. Other than the fact they had now landed back in the desert, there wasn't really anything that different from before. "What are you even talking about?"

Suiko didn't answer, instead deciding to just let the gambler explain what had happened to her.

Once she was done recounting her story, Alice made a quick glance down at herself. Gone was the large body of that white feline, with her usual appearance having returned to her. Along with that, a white paper bag now sitting in her lap. While she wasn't quite sure who had left it here, the person in question was nice enough to leave her a note.

Alice,

Joey and I went to grab our bags and stuff. Polly and Aaron along with the digimon are setting up camp not that far from here. Hopefully, you'll join us there.

-Elena

The gambler only sighed and unwrapped the burger, taking a huge bite out of it. While it wasn't anything that exceptional, it would be enough to stave off hunger until the next proper meal.

"That was awfully nice of her." Alice thought as she stared off into space. "May I should spare her... nah."

*Are you seriously still focused on that?* Suiko inquired as she watched the gambler eat. Maybe one day, she would be able to do the same. But for now, she would have to deal with only being able to just look at the delicacies. *You realize there's a whole lot of other ways we could solve this."

Alice didn't answer, instead finishing up her lunch. Once that was done, she tossed the trash into the bag and got up. While her plan was a pipe-dream for the moment, something to keep in the back of her mind for the time being. But for now, there were much more pressing matters to be dealt with. More specifically, getting to this camp her 'friends' had decided to set up. If nothing else, she could just use it as a time to reflect and possibly find the origin of that girl...

.

She was 12 now, wide-eyed and naive. Currently, she found herself in a room. It wasn't anything that remarkable, just a bare with just enough room for a table and some folding chairs. But, it would work perfectly for the purposes of the people here. Normally, Suiko wouldn't have came, but she didn't have anything better to do at the day. For the occasion, she was dressed in a white sailor fuku with a blue skirt. Everyone else was dressed far more casually, making her the odd one out.

"Anyone up for a game of poker?" someone had suggested, with most of the group agreeing as well.

Reluctantly, she sat herself down at the table. The schoolgirl sat right in the middle, focusing her gaze on the only thing that mattered at the moment. The cards in front of her. In that one moment, everything seemed to clicked, and 'Alice' was born.

A year quickly flew by, with the gambler casually juggling school, personal and her gambling. No more did the unimportant schoolgirl known as Suiko Tanaka exist, having become the suave beauty known as Alice Zwingli. She was currently in a underground tournament, with just her and the opponent at the final table. It had all came down to this one hand. The dealer dealt the cards, not at all interacting with either of them. Such a formality could make or break this game. It wasn't something you would leave up to chance. She made a quick glance at her cards, the king and queen of diamonds. Afterwards she turned her attention to the person who dealt it. They were both the angel and the demon of this game, capable of changing the game with a single move.

"Raise." Alice whispered and threw some chips down, watching them go all-in. What followed was the flop, with neither player gaining the edge upon a trio of junk. Next came the turn, which was a similar story as the flop. It would all come down to the final card, the river. Alice took a deep breath and kept her gaze upon the dealer.

The river was the king of spades. While not anything to be amazed by, it was all the gambler needed to secure her victory.

"Good game." the opponent whispered and walked away, seeming quite happy about all of this for some reason. But she pushed that to the back of her mind and went to claim her prizes. More specifically, a portion of the prize money and a large egg.

Once that was all said and done, Alice made her way out.

"Sure it was." the gambler whispered as she headed back to her hotel room. "Truly hollow."

Alice made a quick glance behind her, just catching a glance of a cat. She pushed that too the back of her mind, reaching her room without any more incidents. Once inside, Alice placed the egg on the bed and sat down beside it. For now she just wanted to relax, even if it probably would've been better to answer all the text messages from her parents. But that could wait for later. For now though, her focus was on the egg. How this was a prize at a tournament was beyond her. It was almost as if this was all some elaborate set-up to trap her. But why, exactly? For the moment, it was just another thing to keep in the back of her head. She then leaned back on the egg, only to hear a loud 'crack'. The gambler turned around, finding a small koala-esque creature sitting in front of her.

"I'm hungry!" the creature announced and Alice did a double take, taking another deep breath.

Once more, time rushed forward. This one having occurred just a couple weeks ago. Alice now stood within a hospital room, looking over the bodies of her parents. The one on her left, a blonde haired woman dressed in a hospital gown. The only defining feature for her appeared to be a silver necklace with a shield shaped pendant. Said pendant consisted of a sword and pencil, locked in combat. Her father was a black haired man, dressed in a similar fashion to his wife, necklace and all. As she stared down at them, a feeling of both justice and regret came over her.

"I'll find who did this to you." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath, quickly making her exit. For now, she would just have to move on and uphold that promise. Whether or not she was capable of doing just that was another question.

With that, her memories melded back into the sands of the desert.

.

"Here we are." Alice whispered. "Truce for now?"

The camp wasn't that impressive, consisting of a bunch of tents. And yet, it would work for the group.

*Truce for now.* Suiko answered as Elena ran up to them.

"There you are!" the gale corsair greeted and wrapped her arms around Alice. "I was starting to think I would have to go and fetch you."

"Yeah thanks."

While unable to find what she was looking for, the gambler settled in for the night. For now, she would just have to bide her time and wait...

Notes:

This one was a long time coming. Even then, I am actually quite happy with how this turned out.

.

Next Time: Some things never do change...