Digimon: Conquering Middle Ground
Episode 6:
"Digi in KC"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
She fell into the darkness, screaming his name. Matt reached out to his bride hopelessly, but couldn't possibly reach her. Tai and Tyler gabbed his arms and pulled him away from her, yelling things like 'You have responsibilities' and 'You shouldn't let your personal feelings get in the way of your duties'. At that moment, he didn't give a crap about responsibilities; his one true love just dropped into a bottomless void. His whole world collapsed around him in terrible slow motion, and he was completely powerless to stop it.
"June!" He sat up violently in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. A few seconds passed before he realized what happened had only been a nightmare. He looked around his room, the calm and quiet disturbing him more than any demon would.
Once his heart began to slow to a more normal speed, he picked up his cell phone and called his fiancée. He had a strange feeling she was in undescribable pain.
"H-hello?" Her sweet voice sounded choked. Not a good sign.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, Matt! It's just terrible! I came home from work and found this note, and... Davis ran away!"
So that was it. "I'm so sorry. Do you know where he went?"
"No, I don't! That's the bad thing. He could have jumped off a bridge or something, and I'd never know! He's mentally ill, you know. He can't think for himself very clearly."
Matt took a deep breath. "Calm down. I'm sure wherever he is, he's okay."
"I-I-I just wish he could have said good-bye first!" Then June wailed really loudly into the phone, making him hold it away from his ear. So much for calming down. Some distant part of his mind asked him why he fell in love with this hysterical girl, and he didn't know the answer. But the moment passed. She blew her nose and regained control. "I really wish you were here, Matt. I miss you so much!"
He smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "I miss you too, June. I can't sing a thing without it reminding me of you."
"I still don't understand why you changed your mind about me."
"Neither do I, really. One day, I don't know, something just clicked. You're not as bad as you used to be. I guess once you stopped chasing me, I realized I missed running from you...Or something like that."
She laughed. It sounded just like music. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you did."
He chuckled to himself too, at the absurdity of their situation. "Me too, June. Me too. Will you be okay now?"
"No, but I'm much better now. Thank you so much."
"No problem."
"Say, wait a minute. What time is it there? How'd you know I needed to talk to you?"
He checked the time. "It's about one in the morning. I, uh, had a bad dream. When I woke, I had this gut feeling you were hurting. So I called you."
"Well, thanks again. Now go back to bed. I know you don't get enough sleep as it is."
"Okay, bye." He hung up and stretched, feeling much better. Still, Davis running away did bother him. Would the kid be okay on his own? He'd never been the sharpest crayon in the box, but now that he was sick, surviving in the real world could be near impossible.
A familiar sound brought him out of his thoughts. Music. 'Destined' music, to be exact. It was their latest single, 'I'll love you till'. They'd just got done shooting it a few days before, so it couldn't have been on TV yet...
He wondered into the darkened living area. Tigermon lay sprawled over the back of the couch, blowing snot bubbles. Tyler sat on the carpet, stuffing his face with popcorn while watching them sing, not noticing Matt's sudden presense. He mumbled to himself, "Man, things seem so much different from this end of the camera."
Matt watched too, and grew more annoyed with the video as time passed. He stayed stationary, singing his little heart out while Tyler ran around in the background in fast-motion, playing all the instruments. Finally, he growled in frustration, "It makes it seem like YOU'RE doing all the work!"
Tyler tossed his bag of popcorn into the air in fright. "Oh, Matt! What are you doing up?"
Matt pushed Tigermon off the back of the couch and sat down. "I'd like to ask you the same question."
"Oh," Tyler changed the channel. "I was watching an old video. It's called..." But he couldn't get it out, because he broke down in hysterical tears (much the same way June had not minutes earlier).
"What'd you do to him, Matt?" Tigermon put himself between the two boys with an accusing look on his face.
"I didn't do anything! He started crying like a girl for no good reason."
Tyler sniffed. "It's called 'KC, DC, and the Captial of Mars'. They just gave us a camera and let us be stupid. And it made millions!"
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Us? Us who?"
"M-my brothers and I..." His lip quivered. "Back when we were a band!"
"Oh, okay. I get it now."
"No you don't!" Tyler never raised his voice. He got up and started pacing the room. "Tomorrow is my birthday, okay? I have never spent a birthday away from my family before. I feel really isolated and...Well, I don't know how I feel. I just want to go home!"
There was a minute of silence, in which Tyler turned to look out the window so the other two couldn't see him still crying. Finally, Matt asked quietly, "Why DON'T you go home?"
"What?" He brushed the tears from his eyes and turned to face the other blond boy.
Matt laughed almost bitterly. "It's not like your home is half a world away, like mine. You can just hop on a plane and be there in two hours."
Suddenly, Tyler felt stupid. Feeling sorry for himself was a bit selfish, when his band-partner's native home might as well been Mars for the distance. He could only imagine what that felt like. "We do have the week off, don't we?" Next week they would begin touring; this was their only break. Matt nodded and he made up his mind. "That settles it, then. I'm going home."
"Good for you!" Tigermon yelled enthusiastically, picking some of the popcorn off of the floor and eating it.
Tyler made a semi-disgusted face at his weird digital friend. "Come with me, Matt. I don't want you to be here all alone. Besides, my family wants to meet you, for some unknown reason."
Not that Matt wouldn't mind spending some time by himself... "Where'd you say you lived again?"
A goofy grin spred across his face and he assumed a highly over-stressed Southern accent, "Kansas City! Home of world-famous bar-be-cue, foutains and GALACTIC BOWLING!" Then he sighed. "I miss that place a lot. You'll probably think it's a tiny town, compaired to oh, say Tokyo...But to me, it's home."
Matt didn't hear whatever Tyler said after that, for his mind had drifted home as well.
* * * *
When they stepped off the private jet, the two boys had completely different reactions. Tyler's first thought was of course, 'Oh, man it's good to be home again. I can't wait to see the looks on my brothers' faces when I just pop in!' And Matt's thoughts were more along the line of, 'Oh boy, big woop. This is going to be snooze-ville.' The horizon, the city in distance, even the immedate air around them felt grey. Grey and frankly, asleep. And yet, he could feel that subtle bubbling of evil somewhere under the sleepy exterior. Something evil lurked in that cow-town.
A sudden breeze brushed the hair from over his eyes. He frowned. "I feel demons."
Tyler also frowned. Matt was raining on his parade. "What are you talking about?"
"Can't you sense them? This place is crawling with negative energy." He scanned the dull city-scape, but found nothing. Maybe he was just looking for a distraction.
Tyler was right...Kansas City was a little nothing town. Or so Matt thought as he sat squished between two bodygaurds in the back of a cab. The more he saw out of the tiny window the more bored he became. By the time they reached the suburbs, he'd fallen fast asleep.
*Smack!* "Wake up, man!"
Matt snorted awake. And he'd just reached dreamland, too! He was about to talk to Gabumon..."What do you want?"
Tyler grinned widely. "We're here!"
'Here' was a flat, quaint little house nestled between two other identical houses. Tyler pounded on the door. A kid, about thirteen, (who was eatting ice cream out of the carton) answered the door. His eyes went wide, and the spoon fell out of his mouth. "Tyler?"
"Zeke?"
"Come in, come in already!" Zeke pulled him in so fast, he dropped his suitcases. Matt calmly strolled in and removed his shoes out of sheer force-of-habbit.
"Ohmigosh, Ty, I was just sayin' it would be so COOL if you came home for your b-day! Man, now we can go bowling like we always do! Remember last year when you slipped and cracked your head open and had to go to the hospital and it was all over the news and people thought you'd died and all the little middle school girls dressed in black and sent all kinds of flowers-"Zeke broke off his insane rambling when he spotted Matt. He put his hands on his head in an effort to keep the brains from flying out of his skull in surprise. "FER THE LOVE OF PETE! Are you Matt Ishida? I'm your BIGGEST fan!"
Zeke attacked him in a crazy handshake.
"Uh, no, I believe that title belongs to my financée." Matt threw Tyler a look that said 'Get your wacked-out brother off of me!'
But Tyler just stood there with that stupid grin on his face and let the boy babble a bit more."I just loved your last album! I'm learning Japanese just so I can understand the lyrics! I just loved 'Door', it was so interesting...Instrumentally speaking, that is since I don't know too much Japanese. You've inspired me to start learning how to play bass guitar!"
"He's not very good at it," a slightly deep voice informed him from the doorway leading into the kitchen. A boy about sixteen, with sandy, mad-scientist hair thrust his hands self-consciously into his pockets. "He should just stick with keyboards."
Tyler gave the boy a bear hug, much to the boy's total terror. "Ian! Good to see you too! Keeping busy?"
Ian shrugged casually. "I've written two hundred and seventy-four angsty songs since the band broke up."
Tyler nodded. "As usual, of course."
Zeke turned and whispered to Matt loudly, "And you think he's joking...But let me tell you, he's the serious one in the family. He don' kid around, man!"
Ian frowned. "I'm going insane...Stuck in the same freakin' house as Mr. Hyper, here."
But Zeke didn't notice the comment. He pulled out a pirated copy of Matt's CD and a silver pen and looked expectedly at his idol. "Could I get your autograph?"
Matt mentally shook his head. Fanatics, oy. "Sure..."
Ian's eye twitched. "I'm glad you're home. Now we can maybe get out of here for a while."
"Sure." Tyler looked around. "Say, where's my favorite person in the whole wide world?"
Ian cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Jenny! Tyler's home!"
A little frosty-blond girl ran in and tackled Tyler. "You're home, you're home, YOU'RE HOME!!!"
Tyler gave her a big squeeze. "I missed you too, Jenny!"
The sight almost made Matt wish he had a little sister. Almost. In the next second, she'd spotted him and whispered to her oldest brother, "Who's THAT?"
He whispered back with a smile, "That's my friend Matt."
She blushed. A lot. Suddenly she didn't have any more to say, either. She just stared and smiled, stared and smiled, swaying slightly on her feet. Finally, she ran away giggling.
"Uh-oh, someone's got a new crush!"
Matt rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to bang his head against the wall.
Ian looked around nervously and asked, "So where's the Digi-thing?"
"Yeah," Zeke chimed in, giving Tyler the evil eye, "What'd you do with the flea bag?"
"Here I am, boys! I knew you'd miss me!" Tigermon jumped out of Tyler's bag and landed neatly on Zeke's head (without even messing up his hair!).
"Yeah, baby!" Zeke took off into the dinning room, yelling like the weirdo he was, ran into the wall and bounced off. Both Ian and Matt slapped their foreheads.
"Can we get out of here now?" Ian groaned.
"Yep." Tyler looked around for the keys. "You can drive now, right?"
His brother growled. "Mom won't take me to get my license. It's driving me mad! I think she thinks once I get it, I'd never come home."
"Which you wouldn't. Right?"
Ian sighed. "Yeah. So lets go already!"
* * * *
Commercial Break!
Cody and Yolei are staring at a phone.
Cody: *touches Yolei's arm gently* You can do this.
Yolei: *grimaces* But you know I'm afraid of commitment.
Cody: *mumbles to himself* Yeah, I know. *To Yolei* But this is different. There's no commitment involved. Just dial.
She picks up the phone and stares at it in total fear.
Yolei: What's that number again?
Cody: *Laces fingers behind his head, sighs, and recites* Just call 10-10-3273927527568200 for all your calling needs. Simple. Easy. Cheap. Only two hundred cents for the first 10 minutes, and only 50 cents a minute after that.
Yolei: *grumbles* Cheap my foot. *Starts dialing* You should have a career in the radio commercial business, you know that?
Cody chuckles to himself as she waits for the operator.
Yolei: Yeah, I'd like to make a collect call...To Ken Ichijouji from Yolei *mumbles inaudibly*
(At the Ichijouji residence...)
The phone rings and Ken's mother answers it.
Operator: Collect call for Ken Ichijouji from Yolei *says extremely quickly* Themoviesateightbringenoughpopcornforeveryone.
Ken's Mother: Thanks! *She hangs up.*
Ken: *Walks by carrying a box* Who was that?
Ken's Mother: Oh, it was Yolei. She said the movie's at eight...And she wants you bring enough popcorn for everyone.
Ken nods in understanding and walks off.
* * * *
Tyler pulled the mini van into a parking space. "We're here!"
"Where?" Matt asked as he tumbled out and glanced wearily around the parking garage.
"The Plaza!" Zeke chirped. "Home of the expensive shopper."
"It's a semi-decent mall," Ian explained unenthusiastically. "As decent as they get in this forsaken town, anyway."
Inside, the shops were cramped tightly together along narrow hallways. It was enough to make them not want to stay grouped, so they arranged to meet again at noon and parted.
Matt could finally enjoy some time alone to think. No body gaurds, no stupid fans. He walked slowly and aimlessly amung the tiny stores, looking, but not really seeing anything. So it was only a matter of time until he bumped into someone. He turned a corner and bumped into a pile of shopping bags, sending them flying everywhere. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss, let me-" He'd just started to pick up the mess he'd made when he realized who had been under them. "Mimi?"
And she'd been about to clobber him with her purse when he called her name. She blinked in disbelief. "Matt?"
He smiled and fought the urge to give her a big hug. Finally, he could carry on a conversation with a fellow Japanese Digidestined, in their native language. "What brings you here?"
"The shopping, duh!" She whistled, and a group of guys and uniforms appeared out of nowhere and hauled away the bags. Then she took his arm and started walking.
He chuckled lightly to himself. "No, I mean why are you here in Kansas City?"
"Oh. I asked Mummy and Daddy to take me to 'The City of Fountains' for my graduation present...I meant Vinnice, but they brought me here instead because it was cheaper. But it really is just so cute here! And the food's not half bad."
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt noticed a small amount of people following them with cameras. Mimi noticed too, and stepped a little closer to him and waved. "Careful there, Mimi, you'll give the press some bad ideas about us."
"That's the idea!" She winked, and the cameras lit up like fireworks.
He pulled away from her, stunned. "Mimi, I'm engaged!"
"Really? I thought that was just a rumor!"
"Nope, sorry."
She crossed her arms and pouted. "To Sora, I suppose..."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Sora and I broke up almost a year ago, where were you?"
She pointed angry at the ground. "I was in the States! Where else would I be? Sheesh, you guys never tell me ANYTHING anymore!"
"Sorry! I'm now engaged to June Motiyma."
"Davis's sister?"
"The same."
She scratched her head thoughtfully. "But I thought you couldn't stand her..."
"That's a long story. Want to get some coffee and hear about it?"
"Sure! You buy."
The Haston brothers found them some time later in the food court, carring on a funny little conversation in Japanese. Tyler, rather annoyed, said really loudly, "Did someone forget to meet us at noon, or is it just my imagination?"
"Oh my word! You're Mimi Tachikawa, the supermodel!"
She brushed a strand of pink hair out of her eyes and smiled excitedly. "Why, yes I am! And you're Zeke Haston!"
He blushed big time. "She recognized me!" He flew to her side, and offered her a picture of herself in a skimpy bikini and the silver pen. "Could I get your autograph?"
"Sure! I'd love to!"
"Zeke has a thing for the Japanese Imports." Ian sighed. "Dun't know why, though."
Tyler cleared his throat and everyone stared at him. "I spent the past hour talking to the bowling alley and they've agreed to let me have my party there. So everyone's invited to come Galactic Bowling!"
Mimi leaned over and whispered to Matt, "What's Galactic Bowling?"
He shrugged.
*And I'm just gonna leave it at that...Stupid writer's block! There is a point to this episode, I swear! It's kinda continued in the next episode. Oh, yeah, the 'Japanese Imports' are the term used to describe the sudden wave of Japanese artists in America. Matt and the Three Lights (from Sailor Moon, long story, almost a cross-over there...) for example. I guess Mimi kinda fits that catagory...Stupid dreams...*
Episode 6:
"Digi in KC"
By: Shmeilia Rockie
She fell into the darkness, screaming his name. Matt reached out to his bride hopelessly, but couldn't possibly reach her. Tai and Tyler gabbed his arms and pulled him away from her, yelling things like 'You have responsibilities' and 'You shouldn't let your personal feelings get in the way of your duties'. At that moment, he didn't give a crap about responsibilities; his one true love just dropped into a bottomless void. His whole world collapsed around him in terrible slow motion, and he was completely powerless to stop it.
"June!" He sat up violently in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. A few seconds passed before he realized what happened had only been a nightmare. He looked around his room, the calm and quiet disturbing him more than any demon would.
Once his heart began to slow to a more normal speed, he picked up his cell phone and called his fiancée. He had a strange feeling she was in undescribable pain.
"H-hello?" Her sweet voice sounded choked. Not a good sign.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, Matt! It's just terrible! I came home from work and found this note, and... Davis ran away!"
So that was it. "I'm so sorry. Do you know where he went?"
"No, I don't! That's the bad thing. He could have jumped off a bridge or something, and I'd never know! He's mentally ill, you know. He can't think for himself very clearly."
Matt took a deep breath. "Calm down. I'm sure wherever he is, he's okay."
"I-I-I just wish he could have said good-bye first!" Then June wailed really loudly into the phone, making him hold it away from his ear. So much for calming down. Some distant part of his mind asked him why he fell in love with this hysterical girl, and he didn't know the answer. But the moment passed. She blew her nose and regained control. "I really wish you were here, Matt. I miss you so much!"
He smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "I miss you too, June. I can't sing a thing without it reminding me of you."
"I still don't understand why you changed your mind about me."
"Neither do I, really. One day, I don't know, something just clicked. You're not as bad as you used to be. I guess once you stopped chasing me, I realized I missed running from you...Or something like that."
She laughed. It sounded just like music. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you did."
He chuckled to himself too, at the absurdity of their situation. "Me too, June. Me too. Will you be okay now?"
"No, but I'm much better now. Thank you so much."
"No problem."
"Say, wait a minute. What time is it there? How'd you know I needed to talk to you?"
He checked the time. "It's about one in the morning. I, uh, had a bad dream. When I woke, I had this gut feeling you were hurting. So I called you."
"Well, thanks again. Now go back to bed. I know you don't get enough sleep as it is."
"Okay, bye." He hung up and stretched, feeling much better. Still, Davis running away did bother him. Would the kid be okay on his own? He'd never been the sharpest crayon in the box, but now that he was sick, surviving in the real world could be near impossible.
A familiar sound brought him out of his thoughts. Music. 'Destined' music, to be exact. It was their latest single, 'I'll love you till'. They'd just got done shooting it a few days before, so it couldn't have been on TV yet...
He wondered into the darkened living area. Tigermon lay sprawled over the back of the couch, blowing snot bubbles. Tyler sat on the carpet, stuffing his face with popcorn while watching them sing, not noticing Matt's sudden presense. He mumbled to himself, "Man, things seem so much different from this end of the camera."
Matt watched too, and grew more annoyed with the video as time passed. He stayed stationary, singing his little heart out while Tyler ran around in the background in fast-motion, playing all the instruments. Finally, he growled in frustration, "It makes it seem like YOU'RE doing all the work!"
Tyler tossed his bag of popcorn into the air in fright. "Oh, Matt! What are you doing up?"
Matt pushed Tigermon off the back of the couch and sat down. "I'd like to ask you the same question."
"Oh," Tyler changed the channel. "I was watching an old video. It's called..." But he couldn't get it out, because he broke down in hysterical tears (much the same way June had not minutes earlier).
"What'd you do to him, Matt?" Tigermon put himself between the two boys with an accusing look on his face.
"I didn't do anything! He started crying like a girl for no good reason."
Tyler sniffed. "It's called 'KC, DC, and the Captial of Mars'. They just gave us a camera and let us be stupid. And it made millions!"
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Us? Us who?"
"M-my brothers and I..." His lip quivered. "Back when we were a band!"
"Oh, okay. I get it now."
"No you don't!" Tyler never raised his voice. He got up and started pacing the room. "Tomorrow is my birthday, okay? I have never spent a birthday away from my family before. I feel really isolated and...Well, I don't know how I feel. I just want to go home!"
There was a minute of silence, in which Tyler turned to look out the window so the other two couldn't see him still crying. Finally, Matt asked quietly, "Why DON'T you go home?"
"What?" He brushed the tears from his eyes and turned to face the other blond boy.
Matt laughed almost bitterly. "It's not like your home is half a world away, like mine. You can just hop on a plane and be there in two hours."
Suddenly, Tyler felt stupid. Feeling sorry for himself was a bit selfish, when his band-partner's native home might as well been Mars for the distance. He could only imagine what that felt like. "We do have the week off, don't we?" Next week they would begin touring; this was their only break. Matt nodded and he made up his mind. "That settles it, then. I'm going home."
"Good for you!" Tigermon yelled enthusiastically, picking some of the popcorn off of the floor and eating it.
Tyler made a semi-disgusted face at his weird digital friend. "Come with me, Matt. I don't want you to be here all alone. Besides, my family wants to meet you, for some unknown reason."
Not that Matt wouldn't mind spending some time by himself... "Where'd you say you lived again?"
A goofy grin spred across his face and he assumed a highly over-stressed Southern accent, "Kansas City! Home of world-famous bar-be-cue, foutains and GALACTIC BOWLING!" Then he sighed. "I miss that place a lot. You'll probably think it's a tiny town, compaired to oh, say Tokyo...But to me, it's home."
Matt didn't hear whatever Tyler said after that, for his mind had drifted home as well.
* * * *
When they stepped off the private jet, the two boys had completely different reactions. Tyler's first thought was of course, 'Oh, man it's good to be home again. I can't wait to see the looks on my brothers' faces when I just pop in!' And Matt's thoughts were more along the line of, 'Oh boy, big woop. This is going to be snooze-ville.' The horizon, the city in distance, even the immedate air around them felt grey. Grey and frankly, asleep. And yet, he could feel that subtle bubbling of evil somewhere under the sleepy exterior. Something evil lurked in that cow-town.
A sudden breeze brushed the hair from over his eyes. He frowned. "I feel demons."
Tyler also frowned. Matt was raining on his parade. "What are you talking about?"
"Can't you sense them? This place is crawling with negative energy." He scanned the dull city-scape, but found nothing. Maybe he was just looking for a distraction.
Tyler was right...Kansas City was a little nothing town. Or so Matt thought as he sat squished between two bodygaurds in the back of a cab. The more he saw out of the tiny window the more bored he became. By the time they reached the suburbs, he'd fallen fast asleep.
*Smack!* "Wake up, man!"
Matt snorted awake. And he'd just reached dreamland, too! He was about to talk to Gabumon..."What do you want?"
Tyler grinned widely. "We're here!"
'Here' was a flat, quaint little house nestled between two other identical houses. Tyler pounded on the door. A kid, about thirteen, (who was eatting ice cream out of the carton) answered the door. His eyes went wide, and the spoon fell out of his mouth. "Tyler?"
"Zeke?"
"Come in, come in already!" Zeke pulled him in so fast, he dropped his suitcases. Matt calmly strolled in and removed his shoes out of sheer force-of-habbit.
"Ohmigosh, Ty, I was just sayin' it would be so COOL if you came home for your b-day! Man, now we can go bowling like we always do! Remember last year when you slipped and cracked your head open and had to go to the hospital and it was all over the news and people thought you'd died and all the little middle school girls dressed in black and sent all kinds of flowers-"Zeke broke off his insane rambling when he spotted Matt. He put his hands on his head in an effort to keep the brains from flying out of his skull in surprise. "FER THE LOVE OF PETE! Are you Matt Ishida? I'm your BIGGEST fan!"
Zeke attacked him in a crazy handshake.
"Uh, no, I believe that title belongs to my financée." Matt threw Tyler a look that said 'Get your wacked-out brother off of me!'
But Tyler just stood there with that stupid grin on his face and let the boy babble a bit more."I just loved your last album! I'm learning Japanese just so I can understand the lyrics! I just loved 'Door', it was so interesting...Instrumentally speaking, that is since I don't know too much Japanese. You've inspired me to start learning how to play bass guitar!"
"He's not very good at it," a slightly deep voice informed him from the doorway leading into the kitchen. A boy about sixteen, with sandy, mad-scientist hair thrust his hands self-consciously into his pockets. "He should just stick with keyboards."
Tyler gave the boy a bear hug, much to the boy's total terror. "Ian! Good to see you too! Keeping busy?"
Ian shrugged casually. "I've written two hundred and seventy-four angsty songs since the band broke up."
Tyler nodded. "As usual, of course."
Zeke turned and whispered to Matt loudly, "And you think he's joking...But let me tell you, he's the serious one in the family. He don' kid around, man!"
Ian frowned. "I'm going insane...Stuck in the same freakin' house as Mr. Hyper, here."
But Zeke didn't notice the comment. He pulled out a pirated copy of Matt's CD and a silver pen and looked expectedly at his idol. "Could I get your autograph?"
Matt mentally shook his head. Fanatics, oy. "Sure..."
Ian's eye twitched. "I'm glad you're home. Now we can maybe get out of here for a while."
"Sure." Tyler looked around. "Say, where's my favorite person in the whole wide world?"
Ian cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Jenny! Tyler's home!"
A little frosty-blond girl ran in and tackled Tyler. "You're home, you're home, YOU'RE HOME!!!"
Tyler gave her a big squeeze. "I missed you too, Jenny!"
The sight almost made Matt wish he had a little sister. Almost. In the next second, she'd spotted him and whispered to her oldest brother, "Who's THAT?"
He whispered back with a smile, "That's my friend Matt."
She blushed. A lot. Suddenly she didn't have any more to say, either. She just stared and smiled, stared and smiled, swaying slightly on her feet. Finally, she ran away giggling.
"Uh-oh, someone's got a new crush!"
Matt rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to bang his head against the wall.
Ian looked around nervously and asked, "So where's the Digi-thing?"
"Yeah," Zeke chimed in, giving Tyler the evil eye, "What'd you do with the flea bag?"
"Here I am, boys! I knew you'd miss me!" Tigermon jumped out of Tyler's bag and landed neatly on Zeke's head (without even messing up his hair!).
"Yeah, baby!" Zeke took off into the dinning room, yelling like the weirdo he was, ran into the wall and bounced off. Both Ian and Matt slapped their foreheads.
"Can we get out of here now?" Ian groaned.
"Yep." Tyler looked around for the keys. "You can drive now, right?"
His brother growled. "Mom won't take me to get my license. It's driving me mad! I think she thinks once I get it, I'd never come home."
"Which you wouldn't. Right?"
Ian sighed. "Yeah. So lets go already!"
* * * *
Commercial Break!
Cody and Yolei are staring at a phone.
Cody: *touches Yolei's arm gently* You can do this.
Yolei: *grimaces* But you know I'm afraid of commitment.
Cody: *mumbles to himself* Yeah, I know. *To Yolei* But this is different. There's no commitment involved. Just dial.
She picks up the phone and stares at it in total fear.
Yolei: What's that number again?
Cody: *Laces fingers behind his head, sighs, and recites* Just call 10-10-3273927527568200 for all your calling needs. Simple. Easy. Cheap. Only two hundred cents for the first 10 minutes, and only 50 cents a minute after that.
Yolei: *grumbles* Cheap my foot. *Starts dialing* You should have a career in the radio commercial business, you know that?
Cody chuckles to himself as she waits for the operator.
Yolei: Yeah, I'd like to make a collect call...To Ken Ichijouji from Yolei *mumbles inaudibly*
(At the Ichijouji residence...)
The phone rings and Ken's mother answers it.
Operator: Collect call for Ken Ichijouji from Yolei *says extremely quickly* Themoviesateightbringenoughpopcornforeveryone.
Ken's Mother: Thanks! *She hangs up.*
Ken: *Walks by carrying a box* Who was that?
Ken's Mother: Oh, it was Yolei. She said the movie's at eight...And she wants you bring enough popcorn for everyone.
Ken nods in understanding and walks off.
* * * *
Tyler pulled the mini van into a parking space. "We're here!"
"Where?" Matt asked as he tumbled out and glanced wearily around the parking garage.
"The Plaza!" Zeke chirped. "Home of the expensive shopper."
"It's a semi-decent mall," Ian explained unenthusiastically. "As decent as they get in this forsaken town, anyway."
Inside, the shops were cramped tightly together along narrow hallways. It was enough to make them not want to stay grouped, so they arranged to meet again at noon and parted.
Matt could finally enjoy some time alone to think. No body gaurds, no stupid fans. He walked slowly and aimlessly amung the tiny stores, looking, but not really seeing anything. So it was only a matter of time until he bumped into someone. He turned a corner and bumped into a pile of shopping bags, sending them flying everywhere. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss, let me-" He'd just started to pick up the mess he'd made when he realized who had been under them. "Mimi?"
And she'd been about to clobber him with her purse when he called her name. She blinked in disbelief. "Matt?"
He smiled and fought the urge to give her a big hug. Finally, he could carry on a conversation with a fellow Japanese Digidestined, in their native language. "What brings you here?"
"The shopping, duh!" She whistled, and a group of guys and uniforms appeared out of nowhere and hauled away the bags. Then she took his arm and started walking.
He chuckled lightly to himself. "No, I mean why are you here in Kansas City?"
"Oh. I asked Mummy and Daddy to take me to 'The City of Fountains' for my graduation present...I meant Vinnice, but they brought me here instead because it was cheaper. But it really is just so cute here! And the food's not half bad."
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt noticed a small amount of people following them with cameras. Mimi noticed too, and stepped a little closer to him and waved. "Careful there, Mimi, you'll give the press some bad ideas about us."
"That's the idea!" She winked, and the cameras lit up like fireworks.
He pulled away from her, stunned. "Mimi, I'm engaged!"
"Really? I thought that was just a rumor!"
"Nope, sorry."
She crossed her arms and pouted. "To Sora, I suppose..."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Sora and I broke up almost a year ago, where were you?"
She pointed angry at the ground. "I was in the States! Where else would I be? Sheesh, you guys never tell me ANYTHING anymore!"
"Sorry! I'm now engaged to June Motiyma."
"Davis's sister?"
"The same."
She scratched her head thoughtfully. "But I thought you couldn't stand her..."
"That's a long story. Want to get some coffee and hear about it?"
"Sure! You buy."
The Haston brothers found them some time later in the food court, carring on a funny little conversation in Japanese. Tyler, rather annoyed, said really loudly, "Did someone forget to meet us at noon, or is it just my imagination?"
"Oh my word! You're Mimi Tachikawa, the supermodel!"
She brushed a strand of pink hair out of her eyes and smiled excitedly. "Why, yes I am! And you're Zeke Haston!"
He blushed big time. "She recognized me!" He flew to her side, and offered her a picture of herself in a skimpy bikini and the silver pen. "Could I get your autograph?"
"Sure! I'd love to!"
"Zeke has a thing for the Japanese Imports." Ian sighed. "Dun't know why, though."
Tyler cleared his throat and everyone stared at him. "I spent the past hour talking to the bowling alley and they've agreed to let me have my party there. So everyone's invited to come Galactic Bowling!"
Mimi leaned over and whispered to Matt, "What's Galactic Bowling?"
He shrugged.
*And I'm just gonna leave it at that...Stupid writer's block! There is a point to this episode, I swear! It's kinda continued in the next episode. Oh, yeah, the 'Japanese Imports' are the term used to describe the sudden wave of Japanese artists in America. Matt and the Three Lights (from Sailor Moon, long story, almost a cross-over there...) for example. I guess Mimi kinda fits that catagory...Stupid dreams...*