(Perhaps one of the things that is both a curse and a blessing in life is that we have no idea what repercussions a choice will have if we make it. Many people have said at several points in their lifetimes "I didn't know…" or "if only I had known then what would happen, then I'd never have…".)
(Everybody says this; yet is this really true? If you knew beforehand what the full consequences and rewards of each action and choice you made would be, would you still be able to act freely? Or would you allow yourself to be ruled solely by fear, doing only the things that would cause the least repercussions?)
(And in a situation such as war, there are no actions that can be taken without costs. If one could see what horrors would follow no matter what they did, they would either freeze up and become useless or go completely insane, no longer caring what happened because of them.)
(It is the uncertainty of life, the not fully knowing what may come next, that makes us able to live at all. The very risk that is living, the seizing of the chance before you and being ready to face whatever may come because of your actions, that is what makes life worth living. Even with the pain and sorrow that these actions often cause, still we continue to strive forward, taking each challenge as it comes as best we can handle. Only then can we truly say that we have lived.)
"Oh, so your parents own an convenience store?"
The purple-haired girl nodded, saying, "Yeah, it's a really nice place. Mom and Dad work really hard to keep it well stocked and clean and everything. One day, when I'm a little older, I'm going to start helping out in the store more. …Well, I was going to," she suddenly faltered, and her soft tan eyes began to waver as she murmured, "But now I don't know what's going to happen…the store might be gone now…and my family too…"
"…Miyako," Mimi murmured, shaking her head slightly, "You can't give up. I'm certain that your folks are all right."
"…Yolei-chan, don't cry," Iori, the young boy with the piercing jaden eyes, added in his strange, quiet voice. Mimi privately marveled at the fact that he could make his whispery voice heard over the din of quietly sobbing and wailing kids.
"…Mmm…you're right, I shouldn't cry, should I?" Miyako said, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. "I mean, we don't even know I they've hurt our parents or not…we don't know…anything at all…"
She started to sob again, softly, and Mimi let out a quiet sigh. This conversation was getting pretty depressing, and she had been hoping to use it to temporarily distract her new friends from the terrible situation they were in. So much for that plan…
A crash just outside the locked door caused both girls to jerk their heads up. Iori looked up more calmly than the girls had, and all three ignored the continued wailing of the other captured children as they listened to what was happening outside.
"…captured…one of….destined…"
Although that was all that Mimi could make out, that was all it took for her face to go completely pale. Miyako and Iori stared at her, started by how white she had become, and when she stood and walked over to the door, Miyako started to ask, "Mimi…what are…"
"Shhh," Mimi hushed the younger girl. Brushing her long strawberry blonde hair away from her ear so she could hear better, she pressed her ear against the smooth, cold surface of the door. The two children watched in interest as the girl went totally silent, completely focused on overhearing as much of what was happening outside as possible.
* * *
"You have done exceedingly well, Hawkmon," Myotismon said, curling his lip back slightly in a smile that exposed the gleaming tip of one of his fangs. "I am glad to see that somebody around here has finally made some progress on rounding up those cursed Digidestined children!"
"Yes, master," Hawkmon said simply in reply, keeping his head down as he remained poised on the floor, bowing before the vampire digimon. Behind him, his prisoner moaned and stirred, and the Bakemon tightened their grip on him, digging their claws into his skin.
"The Bearer of Friendship is truly a great prize," Myotismon continued, his cruel smile fading a little as he added with a hint of bitterness, "It is a shame that you could not capture his crest and partner as well."
Hawkmon winced; he had known that comment was coming. Keeping his cold gaze fixed on the floor tiles, he said, "I am sorry, my lord Myotismon. Rest assured that I will find them, along with those other Chosen Children brats. Nothing can stand in your way, master!"
"Hmm…go, and see that you do not disappoint me," Myotismon said, dismissing the avian digimon with a wave of his hand. As Hawkmon walked past his prisoner, the boy stirred and opened his sapphire eyes slightly, and the two locked gazes for a few moments as the Rookie strode past. Suddenly, Hawkmon leaned over so he was right next to the blonde boy's ear.
"I haven't forgotten what you said to me before, chosen brat," he whispered harshly. "The next time I meet your partner, he dies."
Yamato's eyes widened in sudden horror, and an evil grin spread over Hawkmon's beak as he strolled away. The boy tensed as if to struggle, but quickly realized the uselessness of fighting at this point: he would need his strength later. Gritting his teeth with poorly controlled rage, the boy then found himself being turned, forced to stare Myotismon directly in the eyes, face to face with the enemy.
"Well met, child of Friendship," the vampire said mildly, his dark eyes dancing with taunting laughter. Yamato glared coolly at his enemy, and Myotismon's fang-bearing sneer appeared again as he continued, "I grow weary of this game we have been playing. All you must do is tell me where the lost Digidestined child is…where all of your little friends are. Then, the game will end…the only way that it ever could end."
He chuckled slightly, the cruel smirk still twisting his thin, purple lips, and waited for the boy's response. Yamato glared silently up at the digimon, sapphire eyes cold and unreadable behind sweat-soaked bangs of blonde hair. The Bakemon holding the boy in place waited nervously, and one dug his claws a little deeper into the boy's wounded arm to evoke some response. Myotismon began to lose his patience.
"Well, boy?" he hissed, "where are they?"
"Somewhere where you'll never get to them, creep," Yamato snarled, his voice dripping with hatred. Myotismon snarled, enraged by the boy's fearless tone, and Yamato actually smirked silently to himself, although the smile faded into a pained grimace as the Bakemon angrily dug their claws deeper into his arms.
"We'll see, boy," Myotismon snarled, angrily motioning for the ghost digimon to take him away, "we'll see. Take him to suffer alongside that traitorous cat!"
As the ghost digimon dragged Yamato away, Demidevimon flapped up behind his master and shouted, "Boss! Hey, boss, I've got something I want to show you! Boss!"
"What is it, Demidevimon?" Myotismon snarled. "This had better be good…"
"Oh, it is, boss, it is," the flunkey promised, his yellow eyes gleaming with anticipation, "it's very good. Come on, there's someone I want you to meet…"
* * *
"M-Mimi? Are you okay?" Miyako asked, staring at the older girl in concern. Mimi's face had gone totally white, her tan eyes wide and wavering with shock, and she seemed on the verge of collapsing where she stood pressed against the door. Getting up, the purple-haired girl walked over and offered a supporting shoulder to her new friend.
"Are you okay?" she repeated, and Mimi appeared to suddenly snap out of a trance, for she turned a blank stare on the younger girl. Miyako recoiled at the terror she saw in the other's eyes, even though she didn't know what the cause was.
"…Not really…" Mimi whispered, slowly shaking her head as if she could clear out the horrible things she had just overheard. With Miyako's help, she made her way back to where Iori was still sitting. The young boy's jaden eyes fixed on the pair of girls, simply watching with curiosity. Miyako sat down, but Mimi remained standing, causing both children to stare up at her.
"…What's wrong, Mimi?" Miyako asked again, a tight knot forming in the pit of her stomach as she studied the expression on the other's face, one that mixed equal parts of fear and…determination? Anger?
"…Yolei…Iori…I think…" Mimi faltered, then her hand reached reflexively under her nightgown and grasped at something under her neck, concealed by the soft pink fabric. Her wavering caramel eyes suddenly seemed to lose most of their fear, although traces of it remained submerged in their shimmering depths, and she took a deep breath to steady herself.
"There's something I have to tell you, but we need to be somewhere a little less…conspicuous first." She looked around, long strawberry blonde hair whipping around her face, and noted an unguarded door. The Bakemon didn't bother with guarding it since it only led to a closet, and there was no way anyone could use it to get out of the building.
But Mimi wasn't trying to get out of the building. Yet.
"This way," she said, and motioned for her two new friends to follow her as she slipped through the crowd without drawing any attention to herself. Miyako and Iori glanced at one another in surprise, and then the girl shrugged and took the younger boy's hand.
"Well, let's go see what she wants to tell us," she whispered, and led Iori into the crowds, trailing after Mimi.
* * *
"Hey, Izzy, you've got mail!" Tentomon said, and the frizzy-haired genius turned to glare at his partner.
"You just interrupted me, Tento, and HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT MY NAME IS KOUSHIROU? NOT IZZY!"
Tentomon sweatdropped, along with Sora, Biyomon, and Wallace, the latter of which had been sitting and listening to the older boy's tale with wide, shocked green eyes. Hikari was playing with Gummimon and Kokomon in one corner, and Armadillomon just rolled his eyes and snickered.
Koushirou got up and snatched his laptop away from his digimon partner, and then he glanced at the screen and his onyx eyes widened.
"Hey, it's a message from Gennai!" he announced. Sora, Biyomon and Tentomon instantly surrounded him, then were forced to make room as Wallace, the twin In-Trainings, Hikari and Armadillomon all crowded around as well, curious. Wallace was especially interesting in seeing what the old man looked like after hearing what Koushirou had told him about Gennai.
Koushirou clicked a few buttons, and then a digital image of the old man appeared on the screen, along with a text box.
"Hello there, children!" the image greeted them with a smile, and the words appeared in the text box as well. As Wallace and Hikari gasped, Koushirou smiled, and his fingers danced over the keys as he typed a reply.
"Hey Gennai," he said aloud as he typed, "I have a question. Why didn't you tell us that there was more than one lost Digidestined child here? Because we've already found two of them: Tai's sister, Hikari," and he inclined his head toward the girl, then tilted it back toward the younger boy as he continued, "and Wallace here."
"I…forgot."
Tentomon face-faulted behind the others, while Koushirou just sighed in annoyance and Sora buried her face in her hands. Hikari and Wallace blinked in perfect unison, both wearing the exact same expression of surprise and confusion on their young faces.
"Anyway, I found something that may be of use to you," the image of Gennai continued calmly. "I'm transferring it over right now…"
A blue light suddenly lit up the laptop's screen, and those gathered around it cried out in surprise and stumbled backward. As they watched in stunned silence, a glowing sphere of azure radiance slowly emerged from the computer screen, and one could just barely make out something moving inside of it. The blue light ball touched down on the ground and flashed vividly, nearly blinding them, then faded away. In its place, a small creature was hopping up and down.
"Ohh…look, how cute!" Hikari trilled. The small digimon looked up at her; blinking huge garnet eyes that nearly took up its entire head, making it seem larger than it was. The tiny, dragon-like creature stood wobbling on its tiny hind legs, its oversized head making it difficult for the little thing to keep its balance.
"That digimon is an In-Training," Gennai's voice explained, "and he belongs to one of the lost Digidestined."
"What?" Koushirou and Sora asked in unison, both looking at the younger children with surprise. Meanwhile, the little digimon had finally regained its balance, and it grinned up at them expectantly.
"My name's Chibimon!" it announced, smiling, then he blinked his wide red eyes again and looked at the small group. "Which one of you is my partner?" he asked innocently, turning his gaze from one face to another.
"Uhhh…" Koushirou and Sora gave each other a strange look, then glanced back at the younger children. Wallace and Hikari stared at Chibimon, looked at each other, and shook their heads in unison.
"Not mine…I already have two, after all," Wallace said, glancing over at Gummimon and Kokomon.
"He can't be mine, either…I already know that my partner is supposed to be Gatomon…" Hikari added, shaking her head. Chibimon stared up at them, obviously distraught.
"Hmm…well then, he must be somebody else's partner, wouldn't he?" Gennai commented, earning a glare from Koushirou.
"That is the obvious answer…the question is, who?" Koushirou asked. The digital image of Gennai shrugged noncommittally.
"Can't really help you there. Anyway, I'll be going now; good luck."
"Now wait just a…" Koushirou started to protest, but it was too late: the image had already faded. A small vein stood out on the back of his head as he muttered, "Gee, thank you so much for clearing everything up, Gennai…"
"Oh boy…" Sora sighed, rubbing her forehead. She had a slight headache, and figured that it was probably going to get worse later on…what with Koushirou ranting, Tentomon and Armadillomon starting to argue about who knew what, and the little dragon digimon seemed about to cry. As she watched, Hikari and Wallace both went to comfort him, but he jerked away from them.
"I don't understand; why isn't my partner here?" he asked, garnet eyes wavering as they darted from face to face. "I'm supposed to have a chosen child of my very own; why isn't there one here for me? Where's my partner?!?"
* * *
"…And this…is the 'someone' you wanted me to meet?"
Demidevimon winced, recognizing a dangerous undercurrent in his master's tone. Fighting off the urge to start shaking with fear, the bat-like digimon gestured at the young boy before him and said, "Well, doesn't he kind of remind you of the leader of those Digibrats? I think it's the hair, or maybe the goggles that…"
"Silence!" Myotismon hissed, and Demidevimon recoiled. Glaring down at the young, brown-haired boy, the vampire digimon hissed, "I cannot believe this: the only reason you dragged me over here was to see this weak little child's slight resemblance to the leader of those idiotic brats? I'm looking for the real thing, not some cheap imitation!"
Gulp… Demidevimon thought.
"I'm not a weak little child!" the boy suddenly shouted, glaring up at the evil digimon from where the Bakemon held his arms. Demidevimon goggled at him, shocked, while Myotismon simply regarded the boy with an arched eyebrow.
"Oh?" he asked in a mocking voice. Bending down so that he was eye level with the boy, he smirked patronizingly. "You know, you may be right about one thing, Demidevimon: now that I take a closer look at him, he does bear a certain resemblance to that boy…especially in the eyes. Both of them have the same look of helpless anger, the knowledge that there is nothing they can do to help themselves or their world. Humans are such pathetic creatures…"
He laughed in the boy's face, and got a cold glare in return. Suddenly the boy brought back his head and, much to the shock of all the digimon, spat full in Myotismon's face.
The vampire digimon fell back, sputtering with rage, while his henchmon stared at him and the boy in astonishment. Furiously wiping spittle from his face, Myotismon glared at the youngster with hellfire in his narrowed eyes.
"That just earned you a slow and painful death, brat…" he snarled, baring his fangs in a grimace. The boy seemed to shrug off the threat, dark brown eyes still glaring at the vampire as if telling him that he was perfectly willing to do the same thing again if given the chance. The Bakemon that held his arms seemed torn between being ready to tear him apart and uncertainty, as if they didn't know exactly what their master wanted them to do with the boy.
The vampire digimon got to his feet, cape sweeping behind him, and his cold gaze locked with the ten-year-old child's for a moment. A cruel, cutting smile slowly twisted the edge of his lips, and he whirled away, sneering, "Since this boy seems so intent on resisting me, why don't you take him to where those other rebellious fools we've caught are being held? I'm sure he'll find it…an enlightening experience."
He whirled and stalked away, and Demidevimon couldn't help but toss a superior smirk back at the brat as the Bakemon dragged him away. He'd picked up on the hidden meaning behind his master's words, and was satisfied that the little jerk would get what he deserved for trying to resist. No one would oppose Master Myotismon and live to tell of it…not even those bratty Chosen Children, wherever they were!
* * *
"…And that's the whole story," Mimi finished. Her two-person audience just stared at her, paralyzed with shock, and for a moment the girl sweatdropped, wondering if she had done the right thing. The way these two were gaping at her, they looked as if they were terrified of her, and she wasn't certain that she would be able to blame them if they started screaming and turned her in.
Still, she hoped that this wouldn't turn out to be the case. She had chosen to bear her soul to these two, revealing everything she knew about what exactly was going on simply because she felt as if she could trust them, and that they had a right to know why the world seemed to have gone to hell.
"…Mimi…is that all really true?" Iori suddenly asked, his whispery voice filled with awe. The strawberry blonde girl sighed silently with relief and nodded.
"Hai, it's true," she replied, and to prove it she showed them her crest, taking it off and letting the two children gape at it. Miyako's caramel eyes were huge orbs behind her glasses, and she shifted her astonished gaze up to Mimi's beaming face.
"And you have a digimon too? P-'Palmon'? A-And she can fight against these other bad digimon too? Where is she?"
"I smuggled her inside with me," Mimi revealed, keeping her voice low in contrast with Miyako's steadily rising voice. Taking the hint, the purple-haired girl shut her mouth and kept her shining eyes locked on the elder girl's face as she added, "Right now, Palmon is hiding in a bundle of clothes I managed to keep with me while my parents and I were brought in. I told her to stay there until I came back for her; I didn't want to risk being found out just yet. My friends will probably be attacking here soon, and when they do, Palmon can fight from inside while they take the outside!"
"Wow, that's a good plan, Mimi-san," Iori said, and Mimi stuck out her tongue teasingly and giggled.
"Yeah, I know," she laughed. "I guess hanging out with people like Koushirou and Jyou is starting to pay off a little!"
"Uh…yeah," Miyako replied, sweatdropping a little bit. Shaking her head, she then looked back up with one hand clenched into a triumphant fist as she said, "But anyway, it means that those losers don't have the total control they thought they did! Ha! No matter how hard they try, it just goes to show ya! Humanity will not be eradicated! LOVE AND JUSTICE WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER EVIL!"
"Yolei…you're being rather loud," Iori whispered, his voice even softer than usual. Mimi was just gaping at the younger girl, eyes wide with silent horror. Realizing her error at once, Miyako felt her face flush red, and her glasses fogged up as she dropped her gaze to the floor at once.
"Sorry…I just got a little…overexcited…"
Suddenly something creaked behind them, and the trio froze. Slowly, three pairs of eyes, two pairs of tan and one of jade, turned back towards the door to the closet as it slowly creaked open…
"Uh…oh…" Miyako whispered, "I think I might have blown our cover…"
"It's okay, it'll be okay," Mimi promised, although the sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach told her differently. She stood up, trying to interpose herself between whoever or whatever was coming and her new friends, but Iori surprised her. The five-year-old boy got up, and taking a broom from nearby, held it by the pole and aimed it toward the door.
"Iori…what…" she heard Miyako breathe behind her.
"My grandfather knows kendo," Iori whispered back quickly, the words blending together a little in his rush to explain, "and I've been watching him train. I want to train under him when I am older…"
He left this sentence unfinished, allowing the two females to fill in the rest mentally, and brandished the broomstick again with both hands, keeping it pointed forward as the door opened. A white-sheeted head poked inside, and Iori gritted his teeth as he raised the pole up and tensed. Just as he was about to bring it crashing down, however, the digimon opened its mouth and squealed, in an unusually high-pitched voice, "Wait!"
"Huh?" Mimi asked, startled, then she abruptly realized that the voice sounded familiar, and she cried, "No, Iori, don't!"
Iori froze in place, the stick poised over the digimon's robed head, and his jade eyes flicked back to the girls, reflecting mild surprise. The digimon looked startled as well.
"…Mimi?" it asked, its voice still sounding very odd to the trio.
"…Palmon?" Mimi asked in return, caramel eyes now saucer-sized. When the digimon nodded, she babbled, "What are you doing here, and why are you wearing my mother's good white tablecloth like that? …Oh, never mind, just get in here…!"
And she reached over a startled Iori's head, seized the disguised Palmon by the front of her makeshift Bakemon outfit, and yanked her inside, shutting the door behind them. As she yanked the sheet off of her partner's head, Miyako and Iori stared at Palmon and sweatdropped in unison.
"What's wrong?" Mimi asked, in between scolding her friend for not listening to her instructions.
"…Your partner is a walking weed?" Miyako asked.
"Hey!" cried Palmon, looking insulted. Mimi and Iori looked at each other and sighed in unison.
* * *
"Are we almost to where Hikari and the others are?" Takeru asked, turning his wide-eyed gaze up to Jyou. Beside him, Ken hugged Leafmon to his trembling chest again as the mere sight of the elder boy's face brought back unwilling memories of his elder brother.
"It looks like it…" Jyou said, shoving his sliding glasses back up onto his nose again as he checked his digivice's screen. Pointing straight ahead, he added, "In fact, I think they may be in that building over there!"
"Yay! Let's go!" Patamon trilled, launching off of Takeru's hat in his excitement. Glancing back at Leafmon in Ken's arms, he said, "I can't wait to introduce you to everyone!"
"Yeah, it'll be great! Let's go!" Gomamon agreed, half-running, half-skipping after his flying friend. However, the two had barely gone a few steps before Jyou suddenly reached out and snatched them back, and the little white seal gave his partner a semi-mad, semi-annoyed look as he asked, "Hey, what's your problem?"
"Quiet, someone's coming," Wizardmon answered for the boy, and all three withdrew into the shadows. As they watched, a lone figure came running up, and as it drew closer, Jyou felt his mouth drop open in shock.
What in the…oh, this gives me a VERY bad feeling…
* * *
Jun's breath came in short, forced gasps as she ran blindly, keeping a tight grip on her precious burden. In her arms, the tiny In-Training sweatdropped as he was jounced around wildly.
"Slow down, Jun!" Tsunomon cried, looking up at her with his huge orange eyes. "I know you mean well and all, but I'm going to ruin your shirt if you keep bouncing me like this!"
"I'm sorry," she apologized, but she didn't slow down. She was too frightened to even consider it, scared out of her mind over what was happening to her, to her home, to her family, her brother…
Suddenly a streak of fire seemed to erupt across her back, and she was dimly aware of her own shriek of pain as her legs folded beneath her. She toppled to the pavement, still clutching Tsunomon against her chest, ignoring how his horn scraped against her cheek as they skidded a few feet across the cold, hard ground. Her back throbbed, something warm and sticky flowing out of it, and she knew she was bleeding, maybe fatally.
The sound of deep laughter thundered above her, and she raised her blurring gaze to stare dully up into the cruel, glittering red eyes of a robed digimon. It looked vaguely like a Bakemon, save for the evil intelligence she could see gleaming behind those crimson slits, under a hood of the same bloody color, the same deep scarlet hue of the thick liquid that dripped off of the creature's scythe…
"Found you at last," it hissed in triumph. "Found you at last…"
(The chosen children are beginning to make their bids to reassemble and fight back, but fate may have other things in mind for them…all they can do is follow the paths before them, and hope that they do not lead to destruction.)
