Disclaimer: I wish I could see Gundam Wing. I wish I could see the yaoi in Gundam Wing. I wish... er, maybe now's not the time. I think what I'm meant to say is that I don't own digimon. Now, about Gundam Wing...

Well, yes, I have been getting slack lately. It's nearly the end of school for the year, and although I don't have to have proper exams yet (thank Gabumon) there is still a really big rush to get work done before the end of the year. So, I haven't been updating as frequently.
As for this chapter: as usual, things just spiral away out of control. I never intended to erase Gabumon's memory, and I never meant them to all end up sitting in burning trees (previous chapter) and I definitely didn't plan the strange events of this chapter. And what are these bizarre occurrences? Read on, and ye shall find!

Oh, and by the way, I wish I could see Gundam Wing...

Chapter 12 - Achoo!

"Achoo!"

That was a sound that frequently echoed around the forest when the children woke up soaking wet from the rain last night and the dew this morning. Dead tired and wetter than they had ever thought possible, each of the twelve creatures, human and digimon, were a classic example from one of Joe's medical textbooks, in just the right condition to get sick. And they got sick.

"Achoo!"

"One of the bad things about having big hair, I suppose." Sora said to Tai over his rather loud sneezes. "It can hold an awful lot of water."

"You think?" Tai muttered, miserably. He grabbed a fistful of his messy hair and squeezed it viciously, spraying everyone around him with water.

"Aww, Tai!" Agumon complained, shaking a few drops of water from his head. "I'm trying to light a fire so we can all get warm, then you have to go and... Achoo!"

A breath of flame burst from Agumon's mouth as he sneezed and buried itself in a nearby bush, providing the shivering group with a decent blaze.

"Well, we got a fire." Agumon said, grinning sheepishly, as everyone dragged themselves over towards the warmth.

"Good on you." Mimi said, smiling weakly as Izzy helped her up. With her skimpy clothing she had been the worst hit and could barely move at all, just sitting or lying down, coughing and sneezing from time to time.

In fact, despite the good-natured joking around, it was a grim situation. There was nowhere to find shelter in the forest and without proper shelter, food and care the condition of the suffering kids would deteriorate rapidly. The only one who wasn't sick were Gabumon, and he really wasn't much help as he couldn't even remember his own name. Izzy, Tentomon and Gomamon, although they sniffled a bit, weren't to badly hit and could still help the others. And their help was definitely needed.

Izzy handed around a few fruits he'd found to everyone else for their breakfast. Although none were really hungry, he had to make sure they ate something. Biyomon kept fumbling and dropping hers then having to chase after it as it rolled away down the hill. After a while Sora got fed up and just stuffed a few handfuls of berries down the bedraggled bird's beak.

"Hey, Izzy, could I have a word?" Joe muttered as the redhead passed by.

"What's up, Joe? Am I doing okay? Please tell me I'm doing this right." Izzy begged.

"Don't worry, you're doing fine." Joe smiled. And then he sneezed. "Sorry about that."

"No worries." Izzy smiled. "What's wrong?"

"Well, most of us will be okay after a while, I think." Joe remarked, thoughtfully. "Just a few days' rest and we'll be right. But I'm starting to worry about Mimi."

"I know what you mean." Izzy nodded, grimly. Mimi was lying right up near the fire, seemingly asleep. Several of the digimon had curled up against her, trying to keep the poor girl warm, but she was still shivering constantly.

"Maybe later you could take Palmon and a few others to search for something that can help her," Joe assured the younger boy, "but right now I think the best thing you could do would be to get some food into her."

"I've tried!" Izzy groaned. "She just won't eat a thing, there's nothing I can do about it."

"She won't eat fruit," Joe corrected him. "We've all been living on fruit for the last few days. We've got a fire, do you think you could whip up some hot food?"

"Yeah, hot food sounds good!" Matt agreed from his seat under a tree. "What for breakfast, Izzy?"

"Hang on, I can't cook!" Izzy protested. "There's nothing to cook things in, and nothing besides fruit to cook!" He paused for a moment. "And besides that, I can't cook!"

"Don't be silly, anyone can cook if they're hungry enough." Matt shook his head.

"I've got something you can cook in." Joe rummaged around in his bag (that good old faithful mega bag) and fished out what looked like a small tin bucket.

"What on earth is that?" Sora asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that's the thingy we brought back from Australia." Gomamon explained. "Whaddaya call it again?"

"A billy." Joe remarked, handing it to Izzy. "Used for boiling water, or vegetables, or just about anything, really." (A/N Sorry, I just couldn't resist putting this in. I love camping, and you just can't go camping without a billy to put stuff in. And I really love billy tea!)

"And what, exactly, am I going to cook in this billy?" Izzy demanded.

"Here, I'll show you!" Gomamon waddled up. "Gabumon, put your fur back on and come over here.

Gabumon, who had been keeping Mimi warm but found it too hot near the fire and had taken his fur off, put the coat back on and hurried over to Gomamon. "Uh, yes?"

"Hold this, will you?" Gomamon handed the billy to Gabumon and positioned him underneath a tree. "Marching Fishes!"

A stream of water suddenly seemed to shoot out of a knothole in the tree, and three or four fishes with it. The fish and the water slopped into the billy, which Gabumon nearly dropped in surprise.

"I hope no-one objects to fish for breakfast." Gomamon said to his shocked audience.

"We're going to eat Marching Fishes?" the incredulous Palmon asked, distracted from Mimi for just a moment.

"Even you, Gomamon?" Tai asked.

"Hey, if it's food, I'm not complaining." Sora shrugged. She and Tai were the only ones who had actually been hungry that morning, which Joe and Izzy had taken for a good sign.

"Are you mad?!" Tai demanded. "We can't just eat those fish, after all they've done for us."

"Yeah, they're Gomamon's friends." Biyomon agreed.

"Well, maybe as friends they'd be willing to help Gomamon." Gabumon suggested. Everyone else just stared.

"Gabumon, letting a friend eat you just because they're sick of fruit is not an act of friendship." Matt said, at last.

"Oh. Ah... sorry." Gabumon apologized, looking perplexed. "There are many things I still do not understand. Like why you keep saying 'Achoo!' all the time.

"It's because we have colds, Gabumon." Joe explained. "Something that you will probably never have to worry about."

"Oh. Okay."

"I still don't think we should eat those fish." Agumon said, changing the subject back to their meals. "Think of all the times they've saved us."

"How do we know they're the same fish?" Sora pondered. "Is it the same fish that appear every time Gomamon calls them, or just whatever fish happen to be in the area?"

"So these fish could be total strangers." Matt nodded. "Would it be so bad to eat them then?"

"For Joe it would." Sora remarked. "He's probably allergic to them."

"Yes, but what about the rest of us?" Tai asked again. "We're the ones who will be doing the eating if we decide to cook them."

"Tai, you eat fish all the time back home!" Sora said, exasperated. "They're not digimon, there no different from the fish back home, which would probably also obey Gomamon, so I don't know what you're - achoo!"

"Please, stop fighting." Mimi whispered, during the brief silence. "I can't stand it. You'll only make yourselves worse."

"And anyway, Gomamon seems to have made up his mind." Palmon pointed to Tentomon, who was hovering above the fire holding the billy full of water and now dead fish.

"They are living creatures, like us." Gomamon shrugged. "And yes, they are my friends, although Sora was right, they're not smart like digimon are. But they won't be able to save the digiworld, which you will. Some things are more important than fish."

"And besides that, we were hungry." Tentomon added.

******

Tentomon spent the next half an hour or so hovering there with the billy full of fish, only landing to refill it every now and again. Everyone ate a little more, even Mimi, although Izzy had to practically shove it down her throat. As Izzy held the billy out for Gomamon to fill one last time, he noticed with some satisfaction that everyone but Gomamon, Tentomon, Gabumon and himself was sleeping soundly.

"One last pot for us." Tentomon said, with a happy sigh, manoeuvring the billy full of water and fish into position above the fire.

"Yes, my dear little fish." Gomamon nodded. "I don't know what you were all fussing about before, whether or not we should eat them. They're just fish."

"But they're your friends, aren't they?" Izzy asked, confused.

"I've eaten fish before. Fish is fish is fish, whether they can march or not." Gomamon rolled his eyes.

"Yes, another thing that confuses me: why do you call them Marching Fishes?" Gabumon asked, scratching his ear absentmindedly. "They can't really march if they're fish, can they?"

"Well, it sounds good." Gomamon shrugged. "If I want them to obey me, I gotta sound good, don't I? I mean, would you want to take orders from someone who called you 'Stinky Furball'?"

"Are you saying my fur stinks?" Gabumon demanded.

"It was just a question!" Gomamon snapped.

"Take it easy," Izzy warned, "don't get too worked up. You don't want to be the next ones to get sick, do you?"

"I guess not," Gabumon nodded.

"I wonder why we're not as bad as everyone else?" Izzy wondered, sniffing as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket. "Gabumon has that thick fur and Gomamon's used to water, but why aren't Tentomon and I as bad as the rest?"

"I think maybe being up here above the fire may have helped me." Tentomon suggested. "The heat has been immensely beneficial. I had a few sniffles earlier this morning, but now I feel fine. I think I could even-"

Tentomon stopped abruptly. The other three looked at him curiously, wondering what had happened. His face, as always, was totally expressionless, but if it wasn't it would probably look rather strange. As it is, all that happened was that he want cross-eyed and then -

"Achoo!!!"

Tentomon was blown straight up into the air by the force of his own sneeze - and the billy full of water and fish - flavoured breakfast went straight down, into the fire.

"Yaaaaahhhhhhhh!!" Gomamon cried, running around in a frenzy as several sparks leapt and singed his fur.

Immediately everyone was awake and the campsite was thrown into chaos as the fire started spitting flames at everyone and Gomamon ran around in circles with his tail on fire. The slightly clumsy human staggered around trying to catch the flaming digimon while the other digimon tried throwing various things on the raging fire.

"Er, Gabumon?" Biyomon stopped the blue one as he ran towards the fire. "I really don't think that's a good idea."

"But why not?" Gabumon froze, holding a handful of things above his head.

"Believe it or not, half a live shrub is not going to put out a fire." Biyomon replied, pointing at what Gabumon had been about to throw.

"Oh. Sorry." Gabumon apologized, dumping the junk on the ground. He pulled a toaster from the tangled mess and looked at it thoughtfully. "I suppose this wouldn't have helped much either, would it?"

"No." Biyomon said automatically, concentrating on her efforts to kick dirt on the fire. Then, "Hey, where'd you find a toaster?!"

Gabumon shrugged and tossed it over his shoulder, narrowly missing the frantic Gomamon but knocking Joe to the ground so that first Tai, then Matt, Sora and Izzy ran over the top of him. Finally Gomamon, still panicking, ran right over the top of Joe setting him on fire as well, and the two of them ran around blindly, bumping into things and making things worse.

Naturally, Gabumon didn't notice a thing.

"You know," Biyomon panted, covered in dirt, "this would be a lot easier if you just used your Blue Blaster."

"What's that?" Gabumon asked, looking confused.

"Your attack, stupid!" Biyomon snapped. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you forgot that as well!"

"Er, yeah." Gabumon answered, looking rather stupid. He just stood there for a minute or so. The fire got bigger. Biyomon got dirtier (I mean she got more dirt on her, you sickoes!). Joe and Gomamon ran around like to paranoid idiots who think the house is on fire every time the smoke alarm goes off, even though it's just their toast getting burnt and they happen to be in the kitchen at the time.

Finally Gabumon thought of something to say. "Biyomon, how do I use it?"

"Use what?" snapped the bird, giving him a dirty look.

"What do you think? Blue Blaster, of c-!" Gabumon stopped talking in shock as a stream of blue shot out of his mouth, put out the fire and ricocheted off a tree to hit Joe and Gomamon, who stopped running, looked at each other stupidly for a moment and then collapsed with exhaustion.

Gabumon stood as still as if he had been blasted by Cockatorimon, (we all remember what the big bad bird did, right? No, we don't? Well, he turned people and digimon to stone on occasions.) his eyes wide with shock.

"Not bad for a digimon who can't even remember Garurumon." Biyomon said with a wicked grin, whacking Gabumon on the back. "Not bad at all."

Tentomon was picking through the ashes of the fire. He fished out a small, flat, blackened object and peered at it closely, brushing a bit of black stuff off the end. Spearing the slightly foul - smelling thing on the end of his claw, he held it up and looked around. "Charcoal Marching Fish, anyone?"

******

"I can't believe you just took off like that," Tai shook his head, more at Joe than his monster. "Joe, you're supposed to be the smart one."

"Oh, and that means I can't panic?" Joe snapped, grabbing his jacket and wrapping it tightly around himself. "What would you have done."

Tai blushed suddenly and started stammering.

"It's okay, Tai." Matt grinned, enjoying his friends discomfort. "We all know you don't have sensible hair on your head..."

"Shut up." Tai remarked, glowing an even deeper red.

"...which is quite an incredible feat, seeing as you have so many other hairs..." Matt continued, drawing a few tentative giggles.

"Shut up, Yamato." Tai growled, pushing Matt away.

"Hey, watch it!" Matt pushed Tai back, all the laughter gone from his voice.

"Watch it yourself!" Tai growled. Everyone else tensed up, preparing to break up the imminent fight. But then...

"ACHOO!!" Taichi and Yamato sneezed at the same time, then grinned sheepishly.

"Maybe we should all get ourselves bundled up again." Sora suggested, grinning. "Izzy, where did you put the... Izzy? Where did he - oh no. Mimi!"

Sora scrambled away from the boys, cursing herself. How could she have forgotten Mimi? She hadn't even given a thought to the other girl whilst she was helping the others to chase Gomamon and Joe. And just look what had happened now.

Mimi wasn't looking too good. As she was so close to the fire to begin with, she had copped a lot of the sparks jumping from the blaze. She had a few nasty burns and her hair was a mess, but it was her clothes that were the real worry. Fortunately, she'd had her back to the fire, so it had only singed the back of her shirt. But it was still a mess and there were one or two quite large holes in the fabric.

Sora put an arm around Mimi's shoulders and heaved the other girl to her feet. Mimi's eyes flicked open for a second.

"Aw, Mu-um, do I have to get up?" she murmured, looking a little confused.

Sora looked at Izzy, just a little scared. "I'm not her mother!"

"No, but you look like her mother." Izzy replied, brightly, then instantly regretting it.

"You take that back!" Sora snapped, angrily.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Izzy quickly tried to make up for his mistake.

"I've never worn an apron in my life." Sora muttered. "And I'm a much better cook."

"Please Mum," Mimi muttered, closing her eyes again. "I'll get up. Just stop fighting with Dad."

Sora and Izzy froze and stared at each other.

"Dad!?" Izzy repeated. "Okay, there's definitely something wrong with this girl."

"No, ya think?" Sora would have thrown her arms in the air with exasperation - except she was still holding Mimi up.

"I think she could be delirious." Joe suggested, wandering over to have a look. "Let her sit back down again. We'd better start up the fire too."

"Sure thing, Joe!" Agumon volunteered, running about. "C'mon, everyone, let's clean up this place."

As the digimon set to work cleaning up the old fire and finding more wood, Izzy, Sora and Joe settled Mimi on the ground as close to the fire as possible. Joe ripped off his heavy coat and draped it over the other girl.

"Well, what more can we do?" Sora asked, worriedly.

"She'll be okay for the moment." Joe looked grim. "It's only when night comes that there'll be trouble."

"Should we find somewhere else to - achoo!" Sora rubbed her nose and smiled ruefully. "Guess I'm not feeling great either."

"You should probably sit down as well," Joe agreed. And then coughed a bit. "We'll sit down here by the fire with Mimi. There's not much else we can do."

Izzy sighed inwardly. He knew what was coming.

"Izzy, I don't want to put any pressure on you," Joe began.

Yep, just as he suspected.

"Do you think you could go and look for some shelter, or maybe some friendlier digimon?" Joe asked, hopefully. "It would do us all good to have some shelter at night, but if Mimi spends another night out here she'll be in real danger. I don't know if... if we could save her if she spends another night outdoors."

Sora drew a sharp breath and even Izzy was shocked. He hadn't thought Mimi was really that sick. Well, he'd have to do something now.

"Sure thing, Joe." Izzy nodded, stepping aside as Agumon lit the fire again. "Tentomon, let's go!"

"Where are we going, Izzy?" Tentomon wanted to know.

"To find somewhere to spend the night. So Mimi can get better." Izzy told him.

"Do you think there are other digimon out there?" Palmon asked, coming up to sit next to Mimi.

"Perhaps." Sora shrugged. "I suppose some of them might be able to help."

"We'll ask around." Izzy smiled. "Well, see you later."

"Good luck!" Joe called after them.

"Hi, Michael!" Mimi exclaimed, opening her eyes and staring at Palmon. "So good to see you again. But -" she turned and looked at Joe. "Why did you bring your sister?"

Joe and Palmon stared at each other for a second.

"Izzy?" Joe yelled at the retreating figure.

"Yeah?" Izzy turned back for a second.

"HURRY!!!"

******

Serpentmon smiled thoughtfully to herself as she circled once more around the campsite and slithered off to follow the red-headed one and his pet bug. It seemed that the children had plenty of problems without her interference. It was only this one boy who was practically unharmed, and he was looking for help. Well, he was heading in the direction of the forest's one and only village. Well, maybe she could arrange for the visitors to give them a nice welcome...

******

It was midway through the afternoon when Izzy and Tentomon stumbled upon the little town. It seemed very quiet at first, the streets empty and the buildings locked. It wasn't a particularly gloomy town, like the one controlled my Machinedramon that they'd met the first time they visited the digiworld. But it wasn't exactly very welcoming either.

"Heloooooooooo?" Izzy called out. "Anyone there? We won't hurt you!"

"Especially if you have food!" Tentomon added.

"Tentomon!" Izzy scolded. "That's not going to help?"

"It will help us get some food." Tentomon argued. "And getting some food will help to fill my empty stomach. Which will help me to digivolve. Which will help -"

"Yes, but it's not likely to reassure whoever's hiding in this place."

"So? We've found somewhere to take shelter, let's go back so that everyone else can get here."

"We have to check it out first." Izzy argued. "You never know what sort of digimon might already be here."

Tentomon fluttered off grumbling to himself and started peering through windows. Izzy, on the other hand, dashed down the street, quickly finding his way to the nearest phone and plugging in his computer.

"Now, let's see..." he said to himself, (geniuses just have to let the world know what they're doing) calling up Gennai's map and zooming in on the town, "If I run a scan on local life forms I should get an idea of where we can -" he stopped abruptly and stared at the map in disbelief. "No way! This place is swarming with life. They're just all hiding inside the buildings. But why would they -" he sucked in a sharp breath. "It's an ambush. Tentomon! Don't go near the buildings, it's a trap!"

But it was too late. Even before Izzy had cried his warning, hands had reached out of the window and dragged the little bug inside. As the boy burst out of the phone box, doors flew open and piles of small digimon swarmed out, overwhelming him.

"Izzy! They got you too?" Tentomon asked, carried along with the tide.

"'Fraid so." Izzy cried, fighting the wave of little monster trying to press him to the ground. "You have to digivolve!"

"I'm on it!"

A few seconds later, the little digimon were flying everywhere and Izzy felt himself being lifted out of the smothering mass by one of Kabuterimon's many- jointed arms.

"Get off the ground, quickly!" Izzy ordered.

Kabuterimon's wings buzzed into action and they lifted off the ground. But several of the smaller digimon were already clinging to Kabuterimon's legs and they began climbing up the building as soon as the Champion landed on the roof.

"Don't you ever stop?" Izzy asked in disbelief, clinging to Kabuterimon.

"Absolutely not." one of the digimon (one of the green ones - they looked a bit weird, the eyes were different sizes) answered. "We're under Serpentmon's orders, and none of us dares to disobey orders."

"You're very loyal, I see." Izzy went on, trying to stall them.

"Well... no, not really." another digimon replied. It was smaller than the first with only two limbs, which seemed to double as legs. "We're just a bit scared of Serpentmon, I suppose."

"She threatens you?" Kabuterimon asked, idly. That was how most evil digimon kept their minions under control.

"Well, no she doesn't, actually," one of the green ones answered, "but she's a very powerful digimon, and we've been used before. The digimon emperor controlled us once, and many years ago we were manipulated by DemiDevimon..."

"Hey, I fought DemiDevimon and Myotismon!" Izzy interrupted.

"Then you're one of the digidestined." a green digimon smiled. "What are you doing here, in the village? We almost never get visitors."

"I was looking for shelter and food and stuff." Izzy replied. "See, me and my friends were just passing through and there was a storm last night, so now they all have colds. Well, that wouldn't be so bad except that Mimi's gotten really... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Mimi?" one of them asked, in awe. "P-princess Mimi is... here?"

"Princess Mimi?" Izzy and Kabuterimon said at once.

"Oh, yes." another answered "You are all welcome then! It is an honour to serve Princess Mimi and her friends."

Izzy shook his head in confusion. "Who are you?!"

"We're the Gekomon!" a green digimon answered.

"And we're Otarumon." a smaller blue one added.

"And we all love Princess Mimi!" they chorused.

Kabuterimon let go of Izzy and they both sat down abruptly.

"This has been some day." Izzy shook his head wonderingly (Hey, the guy's had a lot on his plate. And if you think back, he never came into direct contact with the Gekomon and Otarumon.).

"Is there some sort of problem?" a Gekomon asked.

"There is, as a matter of fact." Izzy admitted. "All of us got colds from getting wet in the storm last night. But Mimi... she's a lot worse. Joe thinks that if we don't get her some help soon, she might... well, it's pretty serious."

"Don't worry." a whole heap of digimon chorused.

"Yeah," said a particular Gekomon, who seemed to be a leader of sorts. "You lead the way, we'll follow. Then we can bring Princess Mimi and all your friends back here so you can recover."

"We even have shops full of supplies you can use for the rest of your trip." an Otarumon agreed.

"Alright then!" Izzy cried, leaping on Kabuterimon's back. "We'll fly ahead, you follow on foot."

"Sure thing, Mr. Izumi!" the head Gekomon saluted and started to clamber down the side of the building with the rest of the Gekomon/Otarumon army.

As the huge group squeezed through the narrow town gates and Kabuterimon rose into the air, one question hit Izzy with a shock - how had that Gekomon known his name?

******

The rest of the day had passed pretty quietly back at the digidestined camp. Mimi drifted between sleep and delirium. Gabumon ran around asking questions and banging his head on trees trying to get his memory back. Everyone else sat around sneezing occasionally. Business as usual.

"Hey, I think Mimi's waking up again." Sora commented.

"Great. I wish Izzy would hurry up. She's getting embarrassing." Joe muttered.

"You're just saying that 'coz you don't like being my sister!" Palmon accused him, sitting next to Mimi again.

"Oh, and you enjoy playing Michael?" Joe shot back. Both of them had gotten sick of Mimi's mix-ups right away.

"Oh, go away." Mimi mumbled, absentmindedly. Then, "Michael, why'd you let her in anyway?"

"Um, I... just... had to." Palmon replied, lamely.

"Well, tell her to go. We have to go back to the digiworld now." Mimi murmured. "Where's Palmon?"

"Do you think we should just tell her you're right here?" Biyomon asked Palmon, thoughtfully.

"Palmon!" Mimi exclaimed, grabbing Biyomon and hugging her tightly.

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Biyomon sighed.

"Mimi, let Palmon go now." Sora told her. "She has work to do, okay?"

"Okay." Mimi nodded, closing her eyes again. "I'm going back to sleep. 'Night, Mum."

"Goodnight, sweetie." Sora said with a grin.

"You know, if I didn't know better," Biyomon said to Sora, "I'd think you were actually enjoying playing Mimi's mother."

Sora blushed, unable to think of an answer, and turned around to watch Matt helping Gabumon, who had gotten his horn stuck in a tree.

"What I don't understand," said Tai, "Is how Gabumon got stuck to a tree anyhow."

"He was hitting his head on it." Agumon pointed out.

"I just thought that if I hit my head hard enough, I might get my memory back." Gabumon said, eyes closed in concentration.

"Well, now you know," Matt growled. "It doesn't work."

"Nice try, though." Tai shrugged. Then he leapt to the side as Gabumon's horn came free and he and Matt went flying backwards. They landed with a crash near in the pile of spare firewood

"What's that?" A scrap of flying wood hit Mimi and she sat up and looked at Tai. "Davis, did you break something again?"

Matt crawled out of the mess and laughed at the look on Tai's face. "Don't worry about it, Tai, that's an easy enough mistake to make!"

"Who's Davis?" Gabumon asked, curiously.

"Oh, you know who Davis is!" Mimi exclaimed. "Don't play stupid, Yolei."

"YOLEI?!" Matt roared with laughter and soon almost everyone else had joined in. Gabumon just stood there, scratching his head in confusion.

"Who's Yolei?"

"Never mind." Matt grinned, "I'm sure you'll remember soon enough."

"Shh!" Sora warned them, sharply, a worried expression crossing her face. Mimi had closed her eyes but she didn't seem to be sleeping. She had curled up into a ball and was shivering, despite the blazing fire and Joe's heavy coat.

"She isn't looking to good." Joe muttered, concerned. Everyone had stopped laughing now and was crowded around Mimi.

"Humans aren't supposed to be that colour, are they?" Gomamon asked. "I mean, I saw Joe a funny colour like that once, but I think that was just because I mixed up some food and put peanuts in the jam scrolls..."

"No, humans aren't supposed to look like that." Joe replied, ignoring Gomamon's last comment. "I think Mimi might be getting worse. If Izzy doesn't come back soon she's going to... well... she might not wake up."

"He'll come." Tai said, firmly. "Izzy will come. If anyone can find us a place to stay, it's him."

"I guess so." Sora bit her lip, still really worried. "I hope so. I just don't know what I'd do if she didn't pull out of this. It was bad enough when Mimi moved to America and I couldn't see her any more. But..."

"Don't worry." Biyomon shook her head.

"Don't even think about it." Palmon added. "Mimi's a lot tougher than you think. We all are."

"I might just put some more wood on the fire." Matt suggested, uncomfortably.

"I might just come with you." Tai agreed. Then they turned to go and...

"Um, guys?" Matt said, shakily.

"You might want to have a look at this." Tai said in the same voice.

And everybody noticed that their little huddle had just gotten bigger. A lot bigger. There were digimon crowding around the campsite, all pushing towards the huddle.

"Hang on!" Sora exclaimed, "I know these guys."

"Yeah, me too." Tai agreed.

"I think I've seen them before." Joe admitted.

Palmon smiled, her eyes bright with joy. "These are the Gekomon and Otarumon!"

"The what?" Matt and Gabumon said at once. No one took much notice, though.

One Gekomon pushed his way through the others to stand next to Mimi.

"Princess!" he cried, "We're back again, Princess Mimi."

"Oh, hello." Mimi murmured. "Can I have a hot chocolate, please?"

"What are you doing here?" Matt demanded, glaring at the Gekomon.

"We are here to help Princess Mimi." he explained. "We have a place where you can all take shelter while you recover from your illness."

"How do we know this isn't just a trap that Serpentmon set up to trick us?" Matt asked, suspiciously.

"Oh, we would never do anything to hurt Princess Mimi!" the Gekomon seemed shocked at such a question.

"Believe me, Matt," Tai put a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "He's telling the truth. Once Mimi's feeling better and comes to her senses, you'll see."

"One last question." Matt pressed on. "How did you find us?"

The Gekomon merely pointed and everyone looked up. It was then that they realised that something had been buzzing around in the sky for several minutes. The Gekomon and Otarumon cleared away as Kabuterimon landed then de-digivolved and Izzy leapt down and ran towards his friends. As the boy skidded to a stop and peered at Mimi, the pink haired one opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she smiled.

"Oh, good." she said. "Daddy's come home at last."

~~~~~~

Big, BIG apologies for taking so long. That didn't really turn out as planned, but that's pretty much the norm for me. I seem to have recently become just slightly obsessed with Mimi. I just think that if she ever had to be a full time digidestined again she'd go back to her old self. Of course, get sick, becoming delirious and mistaking Izzy for her father is another thing altogether... but that was really, really fun. And yes, I do realise that Michael doesn't have a sister.

Oh yes, and if you're going to review, then please answer this one question: Do you think it's a good idea to eat Marching Fishes?

Oh yeah, and about Gundam Wing...