Common Goals
The following day, the members of the Heroes' Helpers club were gathering supplies such as food, toys, games, and decorations for the club. At Serena's house, Rini was packing a backpack with some of her favorite toys and snacks. In the village in Feudal Japan, Shippo packed up his little toy-like weapons along with his sketchpad and crayons which Kagome gave to him. Kagome gave Rin and Kohaku some snacks and goodies she brought with her from the modern era when they told her they were going to see their friends. Their parcels contained candy, cookies, potato chips, and instant noodles.
Rebecca was filling her backpack with some of her textbooks for her studies. Palmon was carrying a backpack full of snacks. The blonde also packed a few spare notebooks and pens for when she would use the clubhouse lab and chemistry set. Leon packed his backpack with some of his favorite fairy tale books while Labramon filled his pack with some games and toys to play with. Mokuba pretty much packed the same things. Guilmon's backpack was empty, however. He was going to use it to pack some of Emily's baked goods to bring back to the clubhouse.
Kaiba stepped into his brother's room with Agumon. "So what's all this?"
"I'm seeing my friends today in the Pure Valley," Mokuba answered. "We found a great spot where we can have our own club and we're going to get together to get all organized."
The elder brother cocked his head to the side. "Do you need any help?"
"Thanks, but, I'm good," the younger brother replied.
"Where's the club, if you don't mind me asking?"
Mokuba figured it wouldn't hurt to tell his brother. "At the northern border of the Valley," he answered. "Just next to Half Moon Pass."
"We're going to stop at Emily's house first to get some goodies to celebrate," Guilmon said.
Agumon was happy to hear that. "I've always liked Emily's baked goods."
"Why don't you come with us, Agumon?" Guilmon asked. "We can ask her to make you something."
Kaiba had a better idea. "Why don't I take you to her house? I'm thinking about seeing her, actually."
This piqued Mokuba's curiosity. He wondered why his brother would want to see Emily. Maybe it was confidential hero business. But he accepted his brother's offer. With that being settled, the Kaiba brothers and their Digimon arranged to get a ride to Emily's house. They knew that since she didn't have to work today, she'd likely be at home baking for fun.
And so she was. At home, Emily was working on a new recipe: a pie made of mixed berries and marshmallows. There were strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and boysenberries. There was also a cup of miniature marshmallows. The berries and the marshmallows had been mixed together with the filling and were now being placed into the pie crust. Once done, Emily placed a layer of crust over the pie. Now it was time for it to bake.
Emily pulled out her list of recipes. It was full of ideas she wanted to try and some she had already worked on. Some were good, but others needed a little adjustments.
Gatomon was at the table drinking a glass of milk. "Have you thought of ideas for different flavors of ice cream, Emily?"
"Sometimes," she answered. Her young calico cat Avalon walked into the kitchen and rubbed herself against her legs. The blonde got down and petted her.
There was knocking at the door. Gatomon got up from the chair. "I'll get it." She jumped as she reached for the knob and opened the door. To her delight, she saw the Kaiba brothers and their partners. "Hey, guys," she greeted. "Mokuba, you got your hair cut. It looks nice."
Frightened at the sight of the dragon Digimon, Avalon ran from the kitchen and headed to Emily's bedroom.
"Welcome, Kaiba brothers," Emily greeted. "And to you too, Agumon and Guilmon."
Mokuba was the first to step inside after removing his shoes. "Hi, Emily," he returned. "I was wondering if you baked anything today."
"Well, I've got a pie baking in the oven right now, but I've also made strawberry cupcakes if you want some," she said, looking at the tray on the counter.
Mokuba counted and saw that there were eighteen, more than enough for him and his friends at the club. "Would it be all right if I took all of these for me and my friends?" he asked.
"Certainly," she said. "I figured you'd want something, so I made sure to make enough for you."
"Thanks, Emily," he said, taking the cupcakes from the tray and putting it in a bin and securing it in Guilmon's backpack. Guilmon and Agumon also began to help themselves to the leftover berries Emily had on her table.
Kaiba could smell the pie that was baking in her oven. He detected the tart smell of berries along with something sweet like sugar. Maybe it was the sugar from the filling or the pie crust. "Hey, Briar, I realize you're busy right now, but do you think that when you have time, you could let me into headquarters?"
This piqued Emily's curiosity. "Do you think you might have new information about the Dark Masters?" she asked him. That got Mokuba's attention. He remembered that his brother was doing some investigating on those villains and he wondered if he should share this information with his friends at the club.
But it wasn't that at all. Kaiba was curious to know if any doors to any new worlds had opened up recently; secret doors that he and his friends didn't know about yet. He told Emily about that and she agreed to help him. But she wouldn't be able to take him there right away. She didn't want to leave her house while her pie was baking in the oven.
"We don't have to go right now," Kaiba told her. "I'll tell you what, why don't you call me and let me know what would be a convenient time for you?"
"Okay," she said.
Mokuba also remembered. "Hey, Emily, that song you sing. You know, the one I hear you sing as I see you in the Secret Garden gathering food. How does it go, exactly?"
She didn't need to ask him which song he was talking about. It was the one sung by the Children of Millennia who came before when they were invited to come to the Pure Valley. "It goes like this." She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and began singing.
Listen, listen to what I sing
Pass, pass on through as you walk the secret path
Go on ahead, will you ever make it back?
Though you may be afraid to pass on through
Pass, pass you must, Pure Valley waits for you
Pass, pass on through, Pure Valley waits for you
Pass, pass on through on the secret path
As Mokuba listened, he wrote the lyrics down on a piece of paper, since he wouldn't be able to memorize them.
Although Kaiba had heard the song before, he wondered what it meant. "Is that another one of Millennia's songs?" he asked Emily.
"Yes," she answered. "And to be honest, it was the very same song I heard when she first brought us to the Secret Garden." Emily remembered what happened on that day more than a year ago. She heard Millennia's voice in her head guiding her, telling her where to go. And it was at the moment when Emily and her friends were brought to that alley that she heard the song.
"I once asked about the song," Emily was saying. "The Great Goddess would sing it to her children as a way of inviting them to come to the Pure Valley."
The brunette understood. That was why the song sounded familiar to him.
"Well, I think it's a great song," Mokuba commented.
"Why were you so curious?" Gatomon wondered.
"No reason," the raven-haired lad replied. "I just wondered what it meant."
"We'll see you later, Briar," said Kaiba. "Enjoy your day off." And the brothers left the house with their Digimon. They then decided to head their separate ways. Mokuba and Guilmon headed to meet up with their friends and Kaiba and Agumon returned to KaibaCorp.
Once everyone in the club was assembled in the Secret Garden, they headed over to the cave next to Half Moon Pass. Leon and Mokuba lifted the trapdoor so their friends could pass through the entrance. Rebecca then went to the elevator and began working on setting up the password for entry. She typed 'oracion' on the keyboard and it was saved into the system. Now all she and her friends had to do was say the password verbally and then the doors of the elevator would open.
The club members began working on decorating the clubhouse and putting away their favorite supplies. Leon and Rebecca placed their favorite books on the shelves in the library. The blonde also placed her notebooks and lab supplies in the laboratory. The redhead also put his toys and games in the play area. Rin, Shippo, and Kohaku brought the snacks Kagome gave to them to the kitchen. Mokuba was there too putting away the cupcakes he and Guilmon got. Mokuba also looked at the refrigerator and freezer. He thought about coming back with frozen treats like ice cream and frozen pizzas. He also figured that the refrigerator could be filled with sodas, milk, juice, fruits and vegetables from the Secret Garden, cheese, meats for sandwiches, and other goods. And the cupboards could be filled with other kinds of snacks like chips, nuts, popcorn, bread, jams, cookies, and more.
Olivia didn't bring much with her, considering she was a mouse and anything she had would be too small to share with her new friends. But none of them minded at all. They would be happy to share what they had with the mouse girl.
Everyone stopped to see how the clubhouse looked with the decorations and whatnot. "I'd say this looks really great," Leon said.
Rebecca agreed and felt pleased with herself and her friends. "I think we did a good job."
"So let's celebrate," Rini said.
They all went to the kitchen and picked a cupcake. Leon decided to share his with Olivia and gave her a small piece. "To the Heroes' Helpers club," Mokuba said, raising his cupcake.
"To the Heroes' Helpers club," everyone else cheered and did the same thing.
As Rini bit into her cupcake and chewed, she said, "We'll have to remember to get more food to bring back here with us."
"We can make a list of what to bring," said Rebecca. She left to get a clean sheet of paper and one of her pens. She came back and began writing a list of food everyone liked. Once it was complete, everyone looked it over and said they would bring back which kinds of snacks and goods they wanted.
Mokuba then remembered what he thought about earlier; informing the rest of the club members about the four Dark Masters. "Hey, Leon, Rebecca, can I discuss something with you guys privately?"
Leon set Olivia down on the table and he and Rebecca followed him out of the kitchen and into the library. "What is it, Mokuba?"
"I was wondering, do you think we should tell everyone about the Dark Masters?" he asked his friends.
The blonde and the redhead looked at each other. They had already brought most of their friends with them to Paris more than once and that was the home world of one of the Dark Masters. In addition, the villain of Olivia's world was an employee of those dastardly villains. Maybe it would be in everyone's best interest to know.
"I think we should tell them," Leon answered.
Rebecca agreed. "We could have our own investigations and at the same time, help our friends who are also heroes." She giggled and said, "I'm starting to think that this could be a new purpose for us as heroes' helpers." And her friends laughed with her. It was true.
"Okay," the raven-haired lad said. "My brother's been doing some research. I could ask him if I could borrow whatever information he was able to find and bring it back here."
Rebecca liked the sound of that. At the same time, she also started thinking about Basil. "You know, I wonder how Basil is doing," she said out loud. "I mean, I wonder if he was able to report his own findings to his superiors like he said he would."
"Actually, I was wondering the same thing," Leon admitted. "We also promised him that if we found out anything, we could let him know. He did tell us that any information we had would be crucial to helping him figure out what the Dark Masters are planning and how to stop them."
"But we don't have anything yet," Mokuba pointed out. "We're just going to have to keep doing what we can on our end."
"Well, we'll be going back to Paris soon," Leon reminded him. "I know it will mean that we'll end up confronting the minister again, but hopefully, when we do, we may get some leads."
Rebecca nodded. "Let's gather whatever information we can and inform the others when we come back tomorrow."
The redhead and the raven-haired lad nodded. With that being settled, they rejoined their friends in the kitchen. After enjoying their snacks, they began sharing stories about themselves such as which worlds they came from and their favorite hobbies and interests as well as their adventures.
When everyone decided it was time to return home to their worlds, Mokuba began singing the song Emily sang earlier. He would sing it by himself this once, but the rest of his friends would sing along with him the next day. After all, no one would expect them to learn the song once in just one day. After Mokuba finished singing, everyone left and took their separate paths home to their worlds.
