Disclaimer: You may have noticed by now, but I don't actually own digimon. If you didn't know that, you are an idiot. If you don't know what digimon is, then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HER
Chapter 7 - Jealousy is not a myth
"Mimi?"
As the warm morning sunlight filtered through the cover of ivy, Mimi stirred and slowly began to wake. It was so hard to get up in the mornings sometimes. Her eyes felt like they were glued shut, and moving her arms seemed harder than climbing a mountain holding a lead weight in one hand and a week's worth of shopping in the other. Finally, Mimi lifted her head and opened her eyes to see Palmon looking at her with a concerned expression on her face.
"Mimi, you're awake!" Palmon exclaimed, smiling.
"Uh... yeah." Mimi replied, with her usual intelligence and wisdom.
"I was looking for you all night, Mimi, and I didn't know where you were and I ran off when the others were still fighting the Roachmon so now I've got lost so I don't actually know where we are but it really doesn't matter because I found you!" Palmon finished triumphantly. "And who's that?"
"Oh, this is, um..." Mimi looked down at the sleeping bird in her lap. She really wasn't a morning person. "Oh yeah, this is Quetzalmon! Isn't he cute?"
As she was speaking, Quetzalmon himself ruffled his feathers and woke up. He squawked in surprise when he saw Palmon staring and fluttered backwards, getting himself tangled in the ivy again.
"Quetzalmon!" Mimi cried. She quickly untangled the little bird from the thick vines and turned back to Palmon, who was now wearing a rather confused expression on her face.
"What are you?" Quetzalmon demanded, glaring at Palmon.
"I'm Palmon, Mimi's digimon partner." Palmon replied, trying to cover her confusion with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Quetzalmon."
Quetzalmon ignored Palmon and turned to Mimi. "You didn't tell me you had a digimon."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you last night, Quetzalmon." Mimi said, in a tone that made Palmon ever so slightly suspicious. "I was so tired from running, and so..." Mimi blushed, remembering how she had run from the Roachmon the day before. "Anyway, the point is that you get to meet Palmon now. I love her hair, don't you?"
Palmon smiled at Mimi's comment, but her smile soon disappeared when Quetzalmon leaned forward to look at the flower atop her head, then sneezed and fluttered backwards with ruffled feathers and a frown on his face.
"Don't like flowers." he announced, stubbornly.
Mimi sighed and looked helplessly at Palmon. Palmon, however, was busy glaring at Quetzalmon.
"Is that all you have to say?" Palmon demanded, angrily, towering over the little bird. "That you don't like flowers? I though digimon were usually nice when they met someone new. Polite digimon with manners, anyway."
"Palmon!" Mimi said, shocked and angry. "I'm ashamed of you. How can you speak of manners to Quetzalmon, when you're being so unbearably rude yourself? He's only a young digimon, and there you go scaring the poor dear out of his wits." Quetzalmon had flown up to Mimi's shoulder and was glaring at Palmon from the safety of her (very pink) hair.
"But... I didn't... he just..." Palmon was speechless. That little puffball just came out and announced that he didn't like flowers, which obviously meant he didn't like Palmon, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to be upset, and the Mimi went and blamed her. What had she done wrong?
"Palmon, I want you to apologize to Quetzalmon right now." Mimi said, firmly.
"But he said -"
"He just said that he doesn't like flowers. There's no rule that says he has to, you know. And then you go and scare him like that, just because you can't accept the fact that some people - and digimon - are allergic to them. Which was completely unreasonable. So apologize."
Palmon was about to protest again, because she could see what Mimi couldn't - the smug look on Quetzalmon's face. But then she saw the look on Mimi's face, the look that had brought humans and digimon alike to their knees. If looks could kill, Palmon would be one dead daisy. She lowered her eyes, and scuffed at the dirt.
"Sorry, Quetzalmon." Palmon said, sullenly, still staring at her feet - roots - as though they were absolutely fascinating.
"Well, I suppose that's something." Mimi said, briskly. "Now, I believe we should try to find a way out of here sometime now."
"I can help you find a way out." Quetzalmon volunteered, with a shy sort of look at Mimi. He fluttered back into the air and pointed down the worn path.
"Thank you, Quetzalmon." Mimi smiled, gratefully. "Isn't he cute, Palmon?"
Palmon, however, didn't really care how cute Quetzalmon was. She was too busy thinking about Quetzalmon, and not just about his manners. She was thinking about how Quetzalmon had spoken to Mimi. How he seemed to adore her so much. And how Mimi seemed to like him just as much.
Palmon was in a dark mood as she trudged down the path behind Mimi and the fluttering Quetzalmon. She didn't realize it just then, but she was just feeling the first few twinges of jealousy.
******
The other digidestined searched for Mimi and Palmon long into the night, until they finally had to give in to their weariness and sleep. Everyone was worn out after the battle with the Roachmon, who dumped their various bits of junk all over the camp, completely destroying all the food they had worked so hard to gather. No one had really minded too much, though, (except Tentomon, of course) as they were all far more concerned with finding Mimi. Sora had noticed Palmon running away while she was wrestling with one of the roaches (not an easy task once they start throwing fridges at you), and yelled out quickly to warn the others. The battle that followed was short but fierce, as the digidestined tried to end it so that could search for Mimi. Even Joe helped, as the need to find Mimi cured him in a way that the herbs could never do. But despite the intense fighting, the quick victory and the long search, no-one could find a trace of either Mimi or her digimon.
"This is hopeless!" Yamato shouted, kicking a nearby microwave in his anger. "We'll never find Mimi in this place, it's enormous!"
The other digidestined nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything. Yamato could sometimes get dangerous when he was in this sort of mood. Taichi would always annoy him when he was acting like this, and it would usually end in a fight.
Except that Tai was still asleep. Apparently eight thirty in the morning was still too early, even when a friend was in danger.
Yamato gritted his teeth and tried to ignore Tai's rather loud snores. "How could she just run away like that? Right in the middle of the battle, she just quits. Just because they're Roachmon, she gives up. How could she?"
"Well, really," Jyou mumbled, nervously, "you can't blame Mimi for being scared, can you? I mean she's always been kinda like that and..."
Yamato silenced him with an icy glare. "Well, a digidestined has to learn to cope with fear. We all have, and if we are going to continue to rely on Mimi, then she will have to learn to as well."
Even Koushiro, who was inspecting some of the electrical appliances the Roachmon had dumped with them, looked up at the coldness of Yamato's voice. Total silence enveloped the digidestined (except for Tai, who continued to snore). They didn't want to believe, they couldn't believe what he'd said. They knew or at least hoped, that he didn't really mean it. That Mimi couldn't take it. That she didn't deserve to be a digidestined.
Yamato himself could hardly believe what he had said. Did he really mean that? That Mimi wasn't good enough? Sure she was all girly, and complained a lot, but did that really mean..?
He turned away. He knew that the others were looking at him. Knew that they didn't believe him. And knew that they disapproved of him saying such things. No digidestined should say such things about another. No matter what they thought.
Suddenly he was angry again. Why should they judge him, anyway? He'd just said what he thought. What was so bad about that? And why did Mimi have to run away?
Angry and confused, Yamato was momentarily lost. He had to do something, hit something, he had to get rid of the anger growing inside him. He noticed Tai, curled up in the midst of the junk, still snoring, and felt a surge of anger so strong he hardly knew what he was doing as he walked up to Tai and kicked him as hard as he knew how.
Taichi leap into the air and tumbled down the pile of junk to land on the ground with a thud. Yamato turned around to see the others staring at him, open mouthed. He felt his face burning with shame now, and his anger was gone. He felt drained, tired and dejected, until Gabumon came up and looked at him.
"Yamato," the blue digimon said, "it's okay to be angry, you know. But you don't have to take it out on Tai."
"Shut up, Gabumon." his friend muttered, halfheartedly.
"I know you're angry at Mimi, and I know that's just because you're worried, but can you please just calm down and think? You can't help her if -"
"I said, shut up!"
"Please," Gabumon pleaded. "We need you."
He glanced at his digimon, about to make another scathing remark, but stopped when he saw the look on Gabumon's face. Because underneath all his anger and resentment, all shame for the mistakes he had just made in the space of five minutes, he knew that Gabumon was right. He was worried about Mimi, just as he would be worried about any of the others if they went missing. And worrying confused him, and confusion angered him, until he ended up in such a mess that he lashed out and hurt the people he most wanted to help.
"Mimi may be silly sometimes," Gabumon went on, "But it's really no worse that what you're doing now. You're both upset by what is happening, but you have different ways of showing it."
"I know, Gabumon." Yamato said, heavily. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the others who were helping Tai to his feet down at the foot of the junk pile. "I'm sorry, everyone, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean what I said about Mimi. And especially to you, Tai. Sorry."
"Sorry for what, Matt?" Tai asked. "I just fell out of bed, that's all. Not that I had a bed, but I fell down in my sleep, anyway. It's not your fault."
The blonde opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. If Tai didn't remember in his sleepiness, then he certainly wasn't going to remind him. Some things are better left alone.
But as Yamato made his way down to the others while Tai outlined a plan, Sora sidled up next to him with an unreadable look on her face.
"When I saw Tai was still half asleep, I told him he rolled over in his sleep and fell." Sora muttered under her breath. "If you don't tell him, he won't remember."
"Thank you." he replied.
"No problem. Just don't expect me to cover up for you next time."
And she left him to wonder when next time would be - and why she wouldn't cover for him then.
If Tai noticed that his frined was rather subdued that day, he put it down to lack of sleep. Searching for Mimi had worn them all out, and not everyone could be a morning person like Tai was.
"Now we all agree that we have to find Mimi and Palmon as soon as possible," Tai began.
"Duh." someone muttered. Tai chose to ignore it.
"We also need to find a way out of the Labyrinth, and quickly. We can't all roam this maze together, that will take too long. So we will definitely have to split up. What we need to decide is whether we split into two, or whether we all go separately."
"To be honest, I'm not too keen on running around the labyrinth on my own." Jyou admitted, sheepishly. "I've never been a brave guy like Tai, I've never tried to be and I never will be. But... I can almost understand why Mimi ran away." he shuddered "Although I wouldn't want to be her right now."
"I wouldn't want to be her, ever." The next little comment was met with some stifled laughter.
"I'll be with you the whole time," Gomamon piped up. "You won't be alone. Just like Mimi won't be alone with Palmon. We'd be fine."
"There's another thing to think about." Sora said. "Once we find Mimi, or the way out, how will we let everyone else know if we're split up?"
"I suppose the digimon could send a signal of some sort." Koushiro volunteered. Tentomon sent a jolt of his Super Shocker into the air to demonstrate, clumsily zapping his partner in the process. "They'd have to watch where they're aiming, of course." the charred Koushiro said with a completely straight face."
"Sounds good to me," said Taichi, with a laugh.
"The twists and turns of the maze would make it hard to follow, though." Yamato frowned. "What we really need is for the one who finds the way out to go back into the maze and search for the others."
"And running the risk of losing their way again." Tai dismissed the idea quickly.
"Well, Tai, if you found the way out, would you just sit there and wait for everyone else?" Agumon asked. There were a few snickers at the look on Tai's face.
"Just because it's exactly what I'd do, doesn't mean it's right." Tai said, through his teeth. "Jyou, is there anything more from the legend of the Minotaur that could help us?"
"Hmm, let me think." Jyou turned to the wall, running his fingers over the strange carvings, as though looking to them for inspiration. "Ah, here we are." He said at last. Several others crowded round for a look.
It was a large relief carving, with an aerial view of a great maze. In the center of the maze stood a figure which was definitely the Minotaur, or Tauromon to them. Towards the bottom right hand corner was another figure, this time of a human. He was holding a sword, and behind him a thin line snaked through the maze, marking the path he had taken from the entrance.
"We already know about the Minotaur being imprisoned in the Labyrinth because of its uncontrollable wild instincts." Jyou began.
"Well, we know where Tauromon got it." Gomamon said.
"Yep. Well, this didn't quite solve the problem. Minos, who the monster was named after, was the ruler of the area. He found that casting the Minotaur into the maze didn't quite solve the problem. There wasn't much food to be found there, so Minos created laws to provide the Minotaur with adequate amounts of food. Every few years, his people send children as sacrifices to the Minotaur to convince him to stay in the Labyrinth and not go searching elsewhere for food."
"F-food?" several others were starting to pale. "You mean he... he ate..."
"Uh huh." Jyou nodded grimly. "The Minotaur was a cannibal of sorts. Every few years, groups of children would be cast into the maze for him to eat."
"Groups of children like us, you mean." Sora said, too quietly.
Jyou sat down, hard, making his glasses fly of. "I never thought of that." he whispered, turning dead white. "you don't really think Mordremon meant us to -"
"No." Tai cut him off. "Mordremon did say she wanted us to have a fair go. Having us eaten by the first monster we meet isn't exactly fair, is it?"
"And even if Tauromon did decide you were a nice change from grass, you've still got us digimon to protect you!" Agumon smiled, triumphantly.
"It's nice to know that, I'll admit." Tai rubbed Agumon's head affectionately. "although I'd hope that we wouldn't need protection from a danger like..." Even the straightforward Tai had to stop at the thought of such a gruesome death.
"People can't have just let this go on, can they?" Koushiro asked, returning to Jyou's story. "You'd think they'd have something to say about children being... sacrificed."
"I don't know, humans are rather strange at times." Tentomon muttered.
"Strange or not, we don't allow that sort of cruelty." Sora replied, with an angry gleam in her eye. "they did do something about it, didn't they, Jyou?"
"Absolutely." Joe agreed, pointing to the man with the sword in the carving. "This man here is Theseus. He was horrified by such cruelty as well, so he set off into the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur."
"But how did he find the Minotaur and manage to get out of there?" Gabumon wondered. "If the Labyrinth is so big and confusing that this monster could be held captive there, how could Theseus have a chance?"
"That's what I wanted to show you," Jyou straightened his glasses and indicated the line leading from Theseus back to the entrance of the maze. "Theseus carried with him a ball of string. He tied one end at the entrance and let it unravel as he went on through the maze. Once he had killed the monster, he simply followed the string back to the entrance, and he was a hero!"
There were smiles all around. Here was the answer to their problem. Sort of, anyway. It wasn't a sure fire way to get everyone out safely, but it would help. It would definitely help.
"We're agreed then." Tai announced at the cross point where Mimi and Palmon had last been seen. "If anyone finds Mimi and Palmon, then travel with them and find out if they've learned anything. If you find the way out of this place to the other side, then you're to try to gather a little food from outside the maze and then come back in to search for others, marking your way so that you can find your way back out. Any questions?"
"Yeah, I do, actually." Jyou's hand shot up in the air.
Tai groaned. "Jyou, you were the one that cam up with this plan. What questions could you possibly have?"
"What if we run into trouble? You know, a fight or something."
"Have Gomamon send up a signal and someone's sure to see it, or at least hear it."
"Besides, fights aren't really all that hard to notice." Sora agreed, putting that problem out of the way."
Jyou mumbled something else, but just about everyone else was ready to go.
"Not too keen on traveling alone, eh?" Gomamon asked, his usual chirpy self.
"No, I guess not."
"C'mon, Jyou." Gomamon urged. "Just think of all the others and how they're going by themselves too."
Jyou just grunted.
"Think of back home. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can get back to school!"
Jyou sighed and stared at the wall.
"Think of the other kids trapped in Mordremon's castle."
Jyou kicked a nearby stone moodily.
"Think of Mimi, then."
Jyou straightened up so fast that his glasses fell off again. Gomamon chuckled to himself as the boy scrambled around blindly in the dirt.
"Okay, I'm ready to go now!" he said, looking flustered.
"We'll see you later then." Tai shouted, heading off in a different direction. Everybody else followed his action and took a different path, and suddenly Jyou was alone.
"Come on then, Gomamon. We have to find Mimi, and get us all out of this place." he turned and strode purposefully away down the last pathway.
"And Palmon." Gomamon reminded him.
"Who?" Jyou asked, distractedly.
"Palmon. Mimi's digimon. You know, green, flowery kinda girl."
"Oh. Yeah. Palmon too."
******
Mimi, Palmon and the newcomer Quetzalmon were not having the best day ever. After hours of struggling around the labyrinth at Quetzalmon's direction, the girls were tired, frustrated, hungry and, in Palmon's case, extremely doubtful about the bird's navigating skills.
For example, Quetzalmon had given them no warning at all about the muddy waterway that they were suddenly plunged into when they rounded a certain bend. Palmon thought it might have been nice to know it was there, especially when she discovered that the sharp-fanged fish in the little stream were vegetarians and found the flowery one was a rather tasty treat, considering they usually have to live on water weeds. Mimi, although rather annoyed at getting mud on her clothes, seemed completely ignorant of the fact that while the pair were floundering around getting soaked, Quetzalmon was high and dry in the air and didn't offer so much as a word of advice.
After building a fire of sorts (another of the Quetzal's talents) Mimi dried off and Palmon nursed her many fish bites. She'd found the rest of the day's travel extremely uncomfortable, despite Mimi's reassurances that she'd feel better after a good night's sleep. Somehow Palmon found it hard to get any comfort from Mimi's words when Quetzalmon was nestled in that pink hair.
"Sometimes I think he does it just to annoy me." Palmon muttered to herself as she plucked another giant mushroom from a cluster in a corner. One of the few useful things the feathered one had done was to find a section of the maze that was littered with mushrooms and toadstools for the trio to eat. Palmon immediately set to work using her skills, separating the edible mushrooms from the poisonous - after Mimi had finished praising Quetzalmon for finding them in the first place.
Still, Palmon had to admit she was enjoying the foraging for food. She popped a smallish mushroom in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Not a terribly strong flavour, but she could jazz it up with some of the basil and rosemary growing in a different corner. Boil up some of the water that had collected in that hollow over there. Bung the mushrooms in with the herbs, stew them for a bit, and they'd have a feast fit for Azulongmon. She'd never mentioned it before, but Palmon quite liked cooking.
"Palmon, this is delicious!" Mimi exclaimed, as she tried one of Palmon's mushrooms. "I never knew you liked cooking."
"You see, when I first came to your world, I saw your mother cooking, and it seemed like loads of fun." Palmon explained. "When I got back here, I thought I'd give it a go. After I experimented for a while and had some lessons with Digitamamon, I pretty much figured out how to make a meal out of anything."
"A totally vegetarian meal, of course." Mimi reminded her.
"Of course." Palmon agreed, with a smile.
Quetzalmon was eyeing his plate suspiciously, poking at the mushrooms with his claws as if he were going to find a nasty surprise waiting for him underneath.
Yeah, that'd be right, Palmon thought. won't touch a thing, just because I cooked it. I'll bet if Mimi had made it, that picky bird brain would have eaten the lot in a gulp and come back for three more helpings.
"Please, Quetzalmon, you really should try some." Mimi coaxed the stubborn little bird. "Palmon's a really great cook, it's delicious."
"I always just had the mushrooms on their own," Quetzalmon answered, cautiously. "not with all this other funny stuff."
Palmon was suddenly hit by a confusion of emotions. She was swelling with pride at Mimi's praise, and yet indignant of Quetzalmon's reluctance to trust her. She looked down at the pile of mushrooms on her plate, the special recipe she had made up just for tonight. Just for the three of them. Suddenly the delicious smell didn't seem so wonderful. Palmon couldn't eat a bite. It just didn't matter.
"Why won't you try it, Quetzalmon?" Palmon asked, looking up suddenly. "Just because it's different? Or because I made it? You don't seem to like anything at all about me, not even the fantastic food I made for you."
"Palmon, I never meant -" Quetzalmon tried to apologize, but Palmon was gaining momentum and becoming almost unstoppable.
"I'll bet it would have been different if Mimi had cooked this lot up, wouldn't it? You love her, and yet you're not even gracious enough to appreciate when I've done you a favour. You're an ungrateful little feather-brained fool, Quetzalmon, and if you don't care about me, then you might as well stay with Mimi and the two of you can leave me here. But I won't sit around and be treated like this!"
And with that, Palmon wheeled around and marched off into the maze, which was full of lengthening shadows as the sun sank lower and lower.
"Palmon, please, wait for me!" Mimi cried. She turned to Quetzalmon, who was staring at her with sadness and confusion in his eyes.
"I didn't mean it." he murmured, staring at the ground.
"I know." Mimi said, trying to comfort him. "Can you please stay here while I go and find Palmon? She shouldn't be out in the Labyrinth on her own, not with night coming on."
Quetzalmon nodded unhappily and watched Mimi dashing off into the darkness after Palmon. What had he done wrong? It was never meant to be like this.
******
"Palmon! Please, come back, Palmon." Mimi sank to her knees on the ground next to the sulking sprout. Palmon sat with her arms (leaves) wrapped around her legs (roots) and stared off into space, not even turning to look at Mimi, who seemed just slightly exhausted from her dash through the maze.
"What have I done wrong, Palmon?" Mimi pleaded. "I don't want you to leave me."
"Why?" Palmon asked, loftily, still refusing to look at the panting girl. "You seem quite happy with that Quetzalmon. What would you want a little weed like me for?"
"Palmon, it's nothing like that and you know it."
"All I know is that Quetzalmon, who you rescued from some ivy, has suddenly taken center stage while I, who came after you when you ran away, am getting pushed aside. Excuse me for being annoyed."
"Quetzalmon is just grateful. Can't you handle that?"
"If he's so grateful and nice to you, then why can't he show just a tiny bit of respect for me as well?" The calmness was gone from Palmon's voice now, and every word trembled. "Ever since I found the two of you this morning he's been rude towards me, and yet he adores you. First thing he ever said to me was that he didn't like flowers. That's just like saying he doesn't like me! And then he leads me through that water, where I nearly got eaten alive, and after all that he decided he didn't want to eat the food I cooked you. Grateful or not, he just can't do that."
"Quetzalmon doesn't mean anything, I know it." Mimi's voice was trembling now, too. "He can't help it if flowers make him sneeze, I got wet in that water too, by the way, and the poor thing's lived in this Labyrinth all his life and has probably never seen a cooked meal before tonight. Give him a break."
"Oh, and by the way, he's taken quite a liking to you. Compared to the way he treats me like scum."
"Well, you haven't exactly been nice to him, either! He's a fantastic little digimon, and all you do is bag him."
"You see?" Palmon sighed. "All you can see is the good in him. He's... I don't know, enchanted you with his cuteness. You may as well keep him for a traveling buddy. I know I can't compete with a feathered beanbag."
Mimi shook her head. Sometimes Palmon could be as stubborn as her human friend. As stubborn as Quetzalmon even.
"Palmon, I don't know why you're jealous of Quetzalmon," Mimi said, standing up. "but you can't just run away like this. Like it or not, you are digidestined, just as I am, and you can't escape that. I'll see you later."
And with that, Mimi turned and walked away. For the first time during the whole conversation, Palmon turned around and looked back. Mimi was right, she knew it. Too right. Palmon was jealous of Quetzalmon, and the jealousy was like some flame burning away inside her. But she was so sure that there was another side of Quetzalmon that Mimi just wouldn't see. Oh, what had she done? Everything was wrong. Palmon lay down on the ground and tried to sleep, but every time she did she saw Quetzalmon, flying above Mimi's head, perched on Mimi's shoulder, or nestled happily in Mimi's arms.
If only Palmon had run back after Mimi, she would have seen another sight that the pink haired girl watched silently. Quetzalmon was asleep by the fire, which was beginning to dwindle. The little bird lay flat on his back, with beak, claws and a bulging stomach sticking right up in the air, and smudges of food on his snoring face.
There was not a single mushroom left.
~~~~~~
::whistles:: Well, that chapter was a surprise, even for me! A jealous Palmon, an angry/worried Yamato, and an almost profound statement from Mimi. Sometimes I think I get just a bit carried away... And by the way, everything Joe said about the Minotaur is true. Let it never be said that I don't do my research. Next chapter will be here at the scheduled time, one week from now. And please remember, R&R is not just my initials.
