And did those Feet in Ancient Time.
Disclaimer:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
We don't own Digimon
So please don't sue
This is a fic written jointly by lottie11, miaow227 and claire1308. We are very patriotic (particularly Hannah! HEY CHARLIE THAT WASN'T NECESSARY, sorry) and we don't mind if we get flames, the purpose of this fic is really dedicated to one person. In fact, if we do get good reviews we will be amazed beyond belief. (you're telling me)
No offence meant to anyone not English, this is just our way of putting England on fanfiction.net. You might even find it funny, actually. Just imagine that they all know perfect English. They managed on the world tour so yeah.
Dedicated to Savoan Locc. (our most favorite person on fanfiction. CHARLIE WILL YOU QUIT TALKING WHEN I'M TELLING THE READERS STUFF?)
I (miaow227) used the sites:
And For time differences and flight lengths.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was a fine, sunny morning in Odaiba. The sun shone through the Tachikawa's apartment, lighting up the well-furnished rooms within. The faint sound of traffic and the world outside broke the peaceful silence, filling the living room with life and travelling down the hallway towards a door which held a plaque announcing '~Mimi~'. Inside, however, there was no peaceful aura at all.
'Stupid hair straightener! Why doesn't it work? I only bought it two weeks ago!'
A young pink-haired maiden appeared to be having a strange wrestling match with a Babyliss (don't own that either) product, the said maiden was waving it around in the air as though trying to get a signal. Suddenly an interesting thought struck her.
Realizing that she hadn't even plugged the item in yet, the child of sincerity let out a defeated 'oh' and sat down on her soft pink bed.
After catching sight of a particular picture, the hair straightener was dropped to the floor, discarded.
Beautiful brown eyes traced the faces of eight DigiDestined, their partners and their friends. She remembered that day all to well. They had finally defeated evil, and happiness was evident on everyone's faces.
The now teary-eyes lingered on a green plant-like Digimon with a pink flower on her head.
'Oh Palmon.' Mimi missed her friend dearly, she hadn't seen her since the defeat of Malomyotismon which was now three months ago. Her eyes rested in turn on each of her fellow DigiDestined.
Tai.
He had grown up a lot since then. Cuter too, not that Mimi liked him like that. She stifled a giggle when she remembered that Tai was still overprotective of his sister, which caused the unfortunate young girl no end of trouble. At least he was finally happy with Sora.
Sora.
She too had grown, into an even more caring and loving person. Ever since Mimi had moved back to Odaiba, the two had become even closer and shared many secrets. Now Sora didn't mind working in her mother's flower shop, the difference between the two family members was remarkable.
Joe.
Mr. Reliability sure had changed. His glasses were now relatively a better shape, and his hair had changed too. He was a good friend. Mimi hoped that he found true happiness in becoming a doctor.
Izzy.
The computer genius was and still is mainly the brains of the team. If it wasn't for him, none of them would probably be here today. TK and Kari.
At this Mimi smiled. Her two little siblings had finally sprouted, and just after the defeat of Malomyotismon had finally admitted their love for each other. TK was the same height as her now, instead of that little squirt. Kari had become a very beautiful teenager indeed, despite Tai's antics she still managed to attract boys ' attention.
Matt.
Her true love and boyfriend. She hadn't seen much of him recently because of his band, yet her heart remained as fond as it ever was. Mimi was heart broken when she heard that Matt and Sora were going out, but luckily two weeks later they realized that their hearts belonged to someone else. At least now they were together.
The pink haired girl rolled over onto her stomach and buried her chin in a fluffy pink cushion, remembering old times. The new DigiDestined certainly had changed things.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on her door.
'Hon? There's a letter here for you from Aunt Laura. I think she wants you to come and stay.'
A delighted squeal could be heard from within the pink haven of pure pinkness and the door opened quickly.
With a near-trembling hand she took the envelope from her mother, before disappearing into her room. Opening the letter hurriedly, the excited girl read the bringer of joyous news.
Dearest Mimi,
It's been such a long time since I've seen you! How is everyone? I hope things are as good in Japan as they are here (they better be, this is expensive!). I heard from your mother that you have a boyfriend. Congratulations! I need to know details.
As you know I only usually write at Christmas and on your birthday. Well I have some news for you. I have spoken to your mother and she agrees with me that it is high time that I saw you. I haven't seen you with my own eyes for years! So here is what I propose.
Enclosed you will find twelve (ok ok but they have to get there somehow) flight tickets to London, Heathrow. You can choose eleven friends to go with you if you wish, if not I can easily sell the tickets for you. Your flight leaves next week, your parents will give you details.
I hope that your friends can come. Invite whomever you wish. I'll see you next week! You will all be staying at my house in Surrey, so don't worry about accommodation.
Until then,
Aunt Laura
Xxxxxxxxxx Mimi nearly fainted in excitement after re-reading the letter a few times.
'Mum!'
'Yes?'
'Can I make a few phone calls?'
'Yeah sure.'
The girl dived towards her bedside table where a phone covered in pink fluff (think Legally Blonde. No we don't own that either!) lay. She picked it up, hurriedly dialing the numbers which she knew so well.
'Hey, Sora!..'
***********
The week passed, and each day the DigiDestined became more and more excited to their trip. Even Cody was having trouble hiding it. The girls were going on a trip to the shopping centre, just to get a few last minute items.
'Hey Kari I've just remembered, I need a new toothbrush for the trip. Can we go to Boots?' (yet again something we don't own and also we are using English shops, I don't think they have Boots in Japan!)
'Sure, just be quick.'
The two girls walked into the huge boots store.
'Excuse me,' Yolei asked an assistant politely, 'can you tell us where the toothbrushes are?'
The woman pointed over to her right, at the back of the huge shop.
'Thanks." Kari and Yolei walked in the direction they had been told to go past the shower and bath section and through the hair section.
'Well at least I know where to get Matt a birthday present!' Kari joked as she looked at the large range of hair gels, waxes, sprays and assorted hair care items.
Finally Yolei chose a bright blue Aquafresh toothbrush, and so they queued up and paid for it. Kari bought some more batteries on the way for her little clock radio.
(Would it be quicker to say we don't own any brand names in this? Yes, Charlie, it would. Ok well yeah we don't so any other brand names in this fic don't belong to us).
After leaving Boots and popping to WH Smiths for a few stationery supplies and magazines, the girls had been shopping for a few hours and Kari's arms felt like they were going to fall off.
'So Yolei, where do you want to go next?' Kari asked, her hands hurting as the heavy shopping bags cut into her hands.
'Um.I dunno,' the purple haired girl said whilst glancing at her watch. 'Er, Kari?'
'Yeah?'
'We were meant to meet Sora and Mimi at the food court ten minutes ago.'
The two walked as fast as they possibly could without looking like complete idiots towards the bottom floor.
They arrived to find their counterparts doing exactly the same thing from the other direction.
After a quick greeting, they sat down at a table and ordered some drinks, and the conversation rapidly turned to the boys.
Sora glanced around at her friends. Mimi and Yolei were talking hyperactively about their guys, Yolei especially was enthusiastic because Ken only asked her out three days ago. Kari was stirring her strawberry milkshake thoughtfully, choosing to remain quiet.
'So have you and TK been out on a date yet?' The girl in front of her looked up, a pink hue crossing her cheeks.
'We went to the cinema last Friday when you and Tai went to that restaurant.'
'Oh yeah, I remember, he kept on muttering something about TK the entire time. I couldn't get anything out of him!'
She giggled imagining her overprotective brother.
Suddenly Mimi interrupted. 'Hey guys I really ought to get going, I still have to pack for tomorrow.'
The girls finished up their drinks and left the shopping centre for the bus stop, where they saw Mimi off. Sora left for her mother's flower shop a short while later, and after that Yolei and Kari went their separate ways. Each of them couldn't wait for the next day.
***************
'Cody! Cody!' a young boy found himself being shaken awake. Slowly, he opened his serious jade green eyes to discover the face of his grandfather, who was looking very tired himself.
'Grandpa? What time is it?' he asked, stifling a yawn.
'2:30. You need to be at the airport in an hour and a half. Your friend Tai is picking you up. Don't you remember?'
'Sorry Grandfather, I am a little tired. I'll get up now.'
Nodding in an understanding way, the wise old man left the small room to polish his Kendo sticks in the hall. He had always believed in doing something useful when you have spare time.
After brushing his teeth, Cody pulled on a dark green sweater and grey trousers. He double-checked that he had everything he needed in his rucksack, and took an apple and some water from the kitchen for the flight.
'Do you have everything dear?' his mother asked. She did not believe that her son, who had just turned ten, was going all the way to Europe with a bunch of teenagers.(1)
'Don't worry Mum, I'm sure I do.' Mrs. Hida looked sceptical.
'Now I want you to be careful, Cody. Europe, England especially, is a very different place to Japan.'
Cody's grandfather cut in: 'Don't worry Mira, I'm sure he'll be fine.' He gave his grandson an encouraging smile just as the doorbell rang.
Mira opened the door to find a bedraggled looking Tai. It appeared as though his hair had refused to be tamed at this time of the morning, and his eyes were red and puffy.
'Morning Mrs. Hida. Is Cody r-r-r *yawn* ready?'
After casting an eye over the driver of the car (2) which would be transporting her son, she sighed and motioned towards her son.
Cody hugged his grandfather and kissed his mum goodbye before leaving the house with his rucksack and a small suitcase.
'Is that it?' Tai asked the younger boy, looking disbelieving at Cody's suitcase.
'Yes of course. Why?'
'It's just Kari brought about half the house with her for some reason. I swear she's becoming worse than Mimi.'
The two walked down the steps in silence as the lift was broken. Yolei and TK were being collected by Matt, who was sitting next to Tai in the borrowed people carrier.
They arrived to find the older blonde trying desperately to squash all of Yolei's many things in the boot. Finally he slammed the door shut, and let out a triumphant cheer, before spotting Cody.
'Oh sorry Cody, would you mind keeping that with you? We don't have a lot of room.'
'Sure.' It would be impolite to disagree, considering Matt's hopeful face.
As Cody climbed into the back of the car, he noted the others' positions. Tai and Matt were in the front trying to figure out exactly how to get to the airport, TK and Kari were in the middle flirting with each other and Yolei and Davis on his right were arguing about something.
'Let's go!' Davis yelled like a little kid when Matt turned on the radio. Everyone recognized the main singer as Matt.
Tai lent forward and turned the knob right up to try and wake them all up a bit, and to annoy Matt. And so their journey to Narita airport, Tokyo, began.
**************
'Where are they?' Mimi asked her best friend, Sora, impatiently while tapping her foot. She knew that she should never have trusted Tai and Matt to be the chaperones for most of the younger DigiDestined, they would probably miss the flight now.
'They had better be here soon, check in closes in fifteen minutes,' Ken pointed out.
'Stupid Tai.' Sora now used that as a common expression, causing Mimi to roll her eyes whilst Joe nervously checked all the tickets and flight details. Izzy was working on his new computer program by the largest thing within reasonable distance, their pile of luggage.
Suddenly Ken spotted a small herd of people making their way towards them.
'There they are!'
As the group reached the waiting five, Mimi let out a cry of:
'Finally!' and they began to queue up at the check in desk.
'What took you so long?' Joe asked Matt. He looked as though he needed a large aspirin.
The rock star put his hands up in a 'don't look at me' kind of way.
'Hey relax, we just got a little lost that's all.'
It took them about five minutes to reach a large blue desk with a smiling lady. She seemed to look at them rather strangely, for Matt and Tai were currently occupied with their girlfriends and they seemed to be the leaders of the group in front of everyone else.
'Erm excuse me?'
The sound of her voice brought the group forward, along with their record- breaking amount of luggage.
'Can I have your passports and flight tickets please?'
It took a while for everyone to hurriedly try and discover their passports in their pockets, before Joe handed over a large handful. After the lady checked each one, she entered their details into the computer, which Izzy seemed rather excited about. Apparently it was a special edition Microsoft V100 (made that up).
'How many of you are there?'
Joe did a quick head count.
'Twelve altogether.'
'You're lucky, there aren't many people on the flight so you can all sit together. Has anyone interfered with your luggage since you packed it?'
A chorus of shaking heads greeted her.
'How many bags for the hold?' she asked, eyeing the large pile in front of her.
The amazed women weighed each bag in turn. Luckily even Mimi's bags were within the weight limit, just.
She gave the important items back to Joe, and informed them:
'The departure lounge is just through there, the gate closes half an hour before boarding. Have a nice flight.'
Joe nodded his thanks, and led the group away from the amused employee and her fellow workers.
They queued up for quite a while to get through security, and luckily they all got through with no problem apart from Mimi having her hand luggage searched, which she wasn't very pleased about.
A short while later all twelve DigiDestined were seated in the Departure Lounge, completely bored, seeing as hardly any shops were open at that hour and no one was really hungry.
'So er, who are we flying with again?' Matt asked his girlfriend who was sitting on his lap, and quite comfortably considering that his arms were around her waist. She drew out a ticket from her small black leather handbag.
'British Airways. My aunt recommended them, apparently they're quite good.'
Then once again the group fell into an uneasy stupor.
~This is illogical,~ Izzy thought. ~It should take us exactly eleven hours and forty seven minutes on the flight, what are we going to do then?~
Sora stood up.
'Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to stretch my legs while I still can. I'll be back soon.'
'I'll go too!' Tai announced, following his girlfriend in the direction of the escalators.
'So, um where are we going Sora?' Tai asked as they reached the escalators.
'I don't know, just wondering around, my legs are stiff from just sitting. I don't know how I'm going to manage on the plane, I don't think I've ever sat that long in my life.'
'Oh, don't worry Sora' Tai said mischievously, 'I'll massage your poor stiff legs.'
'Taaaaiiiiiii' Sora said laughing 'You're so annoying, but sweet'
'And handsome?' interjected Tai.
'And handsome' Sora agreed, watching Tai puffing out his chest with the remark.
'I love you' Sora said gently.
'I love you too, baby,' Tai replied. He leaned down and gave her a soft, sweet kiss.
'We'd better head back,' Sora murmured.
'I guess,' Tai said, 'but I could spend forever doing this.'
'So could I' said Sora softly.
Slowly hand in hand they headed back.
***************
Meanwhile Mimi snuggled deeper into Matt and fell asleep. He soon followed her. Izzy was reading an article in a magazine that had been lying on the table. Joe kept on checking that everything was safe and that they had all their hand luggage. Cody and Ken were reading their books quietly. Davis was snoring loudly whilst Kari was leaning on TK's shoulder, both suddenly interested in the dark blue floor.
Around them a few people wandered about, buying coffee and talking quietly. It appeared that at this time in the morning terminal two was rather dilapidated in it's usual busy existence.
Joe stood up and went over to the television screens, which were hanging from the ceiling. He was still trying to find their flight when a strange noise came from some speakers overhead.
'Flight 227 now boarding at gate 38'.
'That's us!' he yelled, and practically sprinted back to the tired group. Tai and Sora had apparently arrived back, and everyone was waking up from their mesmerized state and had begun to get their bags from the pile.
It was not a too long walk to the gate, and they soon reached it with no problem due to the well sign posted directions.
'Not more security?' Kari stated rather than asked as she spotted airport workers checking passports and flight details near to another scanning machine and doorway.
'Well Kari we are travelling to a country under great terrorist threat,' Izzy informed her.
'What about America?' Mimi asked slightly frustrated. 'What about the twin towers?' (God bless the souls of those who died)
'Well yes America is probably most under threat, I believe that several flights from Europe have already been cancelled because of it. However what people can forget is that Britain is also under great threat too.'
'Yeah whatever,' Matt interrupted as they went through security.
The gate lounge was spacious and comfortable, squashy blue seating was the main focus of the room, and the sound of Japan News 24 (made it up, if it is actually a channel, we don't own it) quietly came from some speakers.
They had hardly sat down it seemed when they were called on for boarding. There were very few people apart from them, mainly businessmen and an old couple of ladies joined the queue to board where they were once again checked for passports and flight tickets.
As they stepped onto the plane, they were greeted by three smiling stewardesses and a steward dressed in dark blue, red and white uniforms.
'Good morning and welcome to British Airways!' was being said to everyone, mainly acknowledged by a nod from the other passengers.
Following the directions he had been given, Tai lead his team down the aisle and managed to find their seats.
'Here we are! Ok, um who's sitting where?'
The eventual order is as follows: On one row - Sora and Tai by the window, Mimi, Matt and Davis in the middle and Ken and Yolei next to the other window, in the row in front of them Kari and TK by the window (the same side as Sora and Tai) and Izzy Cody and Joe in the aisle.
Cody looked around nervously. He had only ever been on a plane once before, and that one had to have a crash landing because of an unfortunate incident with a Digimon (mentioned in 'Samurai of Sincerity', episode 14 of series 2).
'What's wrong Cody?' Joe asked, concerned.
'I'm just a little nervous that's all.'
'It's ok. I used to be nervous too. You'll get over it. When we take off try and think about something else, or read you book. It keeps your mind off it.'
'Thanks Joe I will.' He unzipped his bag and pulled out the book, and was about to start reading when something interrupted him.
'Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking, we will be taking off very shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts, make sure that your seats are up and you tables are in a locked position and put any hand baggage in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front of you. The safety demonstration will begin shortly.'
There was a slight rummage around as everyone put their bags safely away somewhere.
'This is Sharon, on behalf of the cabin crew I would like to welcome you all to this flight of British Airways. Mobile phones or other electronic communication items may not be used on this flight, other electrical items may be used but when the seatbelt sign is off.'
Izzy groaned.
'Laptop connection plugs can be borrowed from the cabin crew upon take off.'
A smile broke out on the genius' face.
'.please take your time to read the safety guideline booklet and we wish you a pleasant flight!'
Suddenly the small television screens in front of them came on. The DigiDestined watched the safety video with either amusement, boredom, curiosity or taking very careful note in their heads.
Cody glanced out of the window. They were not where they were before.
'We're moving!' Yolei cried, it appeared she had realized too.
The television screens went black.
'Cabin crew get ready for take off.'
The staff made their way down the aisles, checking everything was how it was meant to be before sitting down and strapping themselves in.
The plane reached the runway and straightened itself out. It began to rumble slightly and the engine noise became louder, Izzy had already taken note of the change in the wings.
Cody closed his eyes, his book forgotten, as the great jet went 254 miles per hour down the concrete runway, speeding past the buildings, the noise growing louder.
With one smooth movement the plane lifted itself from the ground, rising up and up towards the clouds leaving Japan behind far below. The engine noise became smoother and less conspicuous than before as the wheels folded themselves into the bottom of the great aircraft.
Kari leaned back against her seat, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of being in the sky. Her boyfriend watched her, smiling, as some blonde locks fell into his eyes. She had persuaded him to take his hat off for the flight because he 'looked much cuter that way'. He still blushed slightly just remembering the conversation.
'What are you looking at?' Kari asked, her eyes still closed.
'Nothing.'
She nodded showing that she understood. A few minutes later she opened her crimson eyes and looked at him.
'I don't believe we're going to England. Do you think we're going to London? I can take so many pictures for the photography project, it'll be great!'
He smiled again listening to her talking about her photography project 'life in motion'. He had already helped her with some pictures, some situations involving them spying on his brother and Mimi during a date. Despite the leaves in his hair, it was fun.
'So what do you think we're gonna do for eleven hours apart from sleeping?' she asked him, curious as to why he let her do all the talking.
'I dunno. The scenery's much better than usual though,' he told her winking. It took a few seconds before Kari realized what he meant.
'TK!!' she exclaimed, mock punching him in the arm. 'I hate it when you do that.'
'Why?' he asked her, grinning.
'Because it's embarrassing,' she pouted, trying to look cross but to TK she only looked cuter.
'What's embarrassing?' Tai suddenly interrupted, sticking his face between the gap in their seats.
'Oh leave them alone Tai,' Sora said, pulling him back down onto his seat.
'Hey as a big brother, it is my responsibility to make sure that she-' he was cut off my Sora placing her lips on his. She gave him a long passionate kiss. Tai smiled to himself ~ Maybe this flight wont seem so long after all ~ He thought Sora giggled seeing his satisfied smile.
'Now what do you say?' she said still smiling.
Tai just gazed at her, seemingly in a trance.
'I'd much rather be with you.'
She giggled again, watching him.
'Hey what's so funny?'
'Nothing,' she replied, still smirking, and turned another page of her magazine.
Across the aisle Matt was writing a new song and refusing to let Mimi see.
'Come on Matt why won't you let me see?' she whined. She had tried everything, but he refused.
'I've told you, when I've finished it.'
Mimi rolled her eyes, defeated. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn? All she wanted to do was see it. Oh well, at least she would be seeing her Aunt Laura and maybe even her cousins who she hadn't seen in years. She couldn't wait, she had only been to England once before and that was only for a couple of days for a fashion show. The girl was determined to have a good time, even if Matt wouldn't show her that stupid song.
Soon breakfast came and the stewardesses handed out a plastic container of sausages, bacon, black pudding, hash browns, mushrooms, baked beans and tomatoes all in miniature size. Next to that was a small bread bun and butter, and an upside down cup along with sugar, milk and plastic knives and forks.
Davis leaned back in his seat with a bulging stomach and a contented look on his face. He let out a long sigh before patting his lower torso happily.
'Boy do I luuuuuurve these kinda breakfasts,' he stated to no one in particular.
Ken across the aisle countered, 'You know you don't get those breakfasts every day.'
'Yeah, but they sure are good.'
Yolei looked away from Davis' empty plate in disgust. She couldn't understand how he could eat all that greasy food instead of wishing for cereal or toast or even the traditional rice and miso soup. In fact, she wondered briefly where he put it all, before remembering the amount of football he played.
'Davis, even if that stuff is normally nice, ~which I doubt~, plane food sucks. It's a rule of travelling!'
'Um, Yolei, you haven't tried any of yours,' Ken pointed out.
'Yeah but I still know it sucks!' she crossed her arms and faced the window. ~Boys~ she thought. Hmph.
'How can you eat that stuff!' Mimi practically yelled at Davis after spotting his tray.
'What is this? Yell at Davis day?'
'But you have to admit,' Mimi pointed out, dubiously prodding at the baked beans with her plastic fork, 'it's all mushy and gross.'
'STOP IT MIMI!" Davis said, quite an achievement since he had just shoved a load of sausage and baked beans in his mouth, 'your putting me off.'
'Like anything could put you off,' Ken muttered.
Then the voice of the captain came through the speakers above them
'We are now showing our outbound movie, Shrek 2. You can view this in the television screens in front of you. Please ask a member of our cabin crew for headphones or alternatively you may use your own. Thank you.'
'Hey Shrek 2! YES!' Davis yelled, 'it's going to be such a cool film.'
'Excuse me.' TK asked the air steward. 'Can we have two pairs of headphones?'
'Make that four,' Tai cut in, 'Sora and I are gonna watch it too.'
The air steward handed over the headphones and they watched the movie while Matt continued to write his song with Mimi constantly pestering him. Izzy worked on his laptop and Yolei and Ken talked quietly.
Eventually, after the movie had finished and everyone was bored beyond all reason, they somehow managed to get to sleep. Annoyingly they were woken all to soon by the pilot, as he announced that the plane would be landing in less than ten minutes.
Suddenly Yolei let out a squeal.
'Look! There it is!'
This diverted everyone's attention towards the windows. Many of them were breathless by what they saw, great green fields stretched out towards the horizon with little hamlets and villages that looked like tiny dolls villages from the sky. Some houses even had a swimming pool that glittered bright blue in the morning sun. Huge sparkling reservoirs and lakes adorned the beautiful landscape with more variety of colour against the lush green shades of the trees.
Soon they reached London, where the contrast was great. Even from high up they could see the patterns of the streets, some parts of the city perfectly planned, other older parts creating interesting patterns. Some sights they recognized, Izzy especially. The Canary Wharf towers towered high above the surrounding buildings by the river Thames.
'Isn't that the Thames?' Tai asked, pronouncing it as it is written.
'Actually it's pronounced 'Tems',' Izzy informed him. London really was different from Japan, Tokyo had more skyscrapers and tall buildings, it was more modern, like New York, but London was a city packed full of history and wonders way back from the Medieval era. They could see other larger landmarks too like Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. They flew over the large stretch of green that Izzy informed them was Hyde Park and the 'huge ferris wheel' as Davis described, which was of course the London Eye.
'Cabin crew take your seats for landing,' came the captain's voice.
Everyone was really excited now. They were finally here, in a few minutes they would actually be at Heathrow airport, in Europe, in England.
The wheels came out from the bottom of the plane. The runway approached. Soon they were so near to the ground that they could see the trees in detail and the shape and size of the cars in the car park.
In one moment they touched down smoothly onto the runway, the panels in the wings desperately trying to slow the speeding plane as it raced down at a great speed, the sound of the engine trying to slow evident.
Just as they thought it would go on forever, the aircraft slowed and made it's way off of the runway so that the next plane could take off.
'Ladies and gentlemen we have arrived at Heathrow airport, London and the local time is 9:47 am. On behalf of myself and the crew I would like to thank you for flying with British Airways and we hope that you have a safe journey and will fly with us again soon. Please wait until the aircraft has come to a complete stop before taking off your seatbelt, and please take all of your belongings. Thank you and good morning.'
Cody sat there clutching the edges of his seat tightly, breathless. That was his first ever safe landing. Joe gave him the thumbs up as they stopped and the walkway was attached to the side of the plane.
There was a rush when the seatbelt sign fell into shadow as people stood up and started to retrieve their belongings.
The DigiDestined stood up and stretched their legs.
'Man I can't wait to get out of here,' Tai murmured to Matt as they got all their hand luggage out of the overhead compartments for the rest of the DigiDestined. Matt passed Kari's rucksack to her and then tried to get Mimi's pink case from the top.
'It's. stuck.' He said tugging at the handle.
'Hey you guys your doing it the wrong way.' Mimi stepped in to help. To the dismay of both the boys she managed to pull it out without much trouble. 'I guess you just need more practice.' And she gave Matt a sweet smile before helping the boys get the bags down.
The DigiDestined left the plane and walked through the tunnel to the baggage reclaim point. The halls were very busy and it took a while for all the DigiDestined to get enough trolleys to put their bags on. Finally they made it to the baggage reclaim hall. Numerous conveyor belts adorned the hall, and crowds of people waited patiently around them.
After finding out which one was theirs, the group successfully retrieved all of their hold luggage with no damage, despite Davis managing to sit on a conveyor belt as it started. And was then told by the guard to ' move back, children are not permitted beyond the yellow line.'
'Yes Davis.' Matt smirked, and then put on his impression of an over protective mother 'Let the older ones do the work go sit by the trolleys like a good boy.'
Davis pouted but did what he was told none the less.
Matt, Tai, Sora, Mimi and TK managed a joint effort to get the bags off the conveyor belt and Ken, Yolei and Kari loaded the trolleys with Davis watching in the background.
'Shall we go?' Ken asked. They made their way under a blue sign announcing 'Nothing to Declare' and past a last-minute duty free shop.
They entered through large automatic glass doors to discover a huge hall full of people, with a few shops. They had come into a small cut off area where a few people, mostly car hire companies, were waiting for their relative, friend or client to appear. They boys pushed the trolleys down to the end where the rope left a gap.
There was a tall, slim woman. She had shoulder length chestnut hair and brown eyes, and was wearing jeans and a purple top with a long black coat. She looked about 30, but somehow you knew she was older. Giving a huge smile when she noticed her niece, she rushed over.
'Mimi! Is that you! You've grown so much!' the two embraced each other.
A thin man appeared behind the woman, he had three other men with him. They were all dressed rather smartly.
Mimi introduced everyone to her Aunt Laura. Everyone took an immediate liking to her, she was just one of those people you knew you could trust.
After the introductions, the men took the trolleys and followed the group towards the exit. Mimi was answering all of her aunt's questions with great enthusiasm, she hadn't seen her in years.
When they stopped, the DigiDestined could not believe their eyes.
In front of them were parked two long, white limousines, where the apparent chauffeurs were loading their bags into the boot.
'Whoa, your Aunt owns these?' Davis asked in amazement.
'And I thought my Porsche was smart,' Matt commented.
'No, she doesn't own them,' Mimi said, 'she hired them for us.'
The DigiDestined pilled into the limousines and they were driven off.
On their way into Surrey they noticed fields pass by them with herds of cattle and sheep. Cute little villages with traditional English pubs lined the roads, often near the canals.
After a forty-minute drive from Heathrow airport, they drew up after a long stretch of driveway to discover a large house, with double doors and a porch. It even had a small fountain in the driveway, just like in the films.
The chauffeurs pulled up on the gravel driveway outside the large front doors. They got out and opened the car doors for the DigiDestined. Tai and Matt got out and went to go help get the luggage out. Before they could Mimi pulled them back.
'You're meant to let the drivers do all the work, just watch.' All twenty of the Digidestined's bags were taken from the limousines inside the large front doors.
'Cool.' Matt said
'And then,' Mimi explained, 'you give them a tip.'
'A what?' Tai asked.
'You give them some money but don't worry, my Aunt will see to that.'
The hall was large and bright, two marble staircases led up both sides of the circular room to a landing, above that a beautifully engraved ceiling with a chandelier hanging down.
'Oh don't be fooled,' Laura told the astonished youths, ' this is the best part of the house to impress visitors.' She stood in the hall for a few seconds to let the children stare at the many portraits and decorations that adorned the walls.
'Ah good, children this is my main housekeeper Jane. Jane please can you take the children upstairs and show them their rooms.' Jane nodded she was brunette with blue eyes and was wearing a simple grey skirt and a white shirt.
'This way please.'
Jane led them up the gorgeous staircase and onto the landing. No one really took in where they were going, they were too busy looking at the pictures and sculptures on the way. Eventually they came to a long corridor, where Jane informed them that their rooms were. She pointed out the second door on the left.
'That is the main bathroom, of course all the bedrooms have an en-suite but they are not as large. Oh yes. Mimi mentioned that you would want to have rooms close to each other. This does mean you will have to share. Alternatively we have spare rooms in the East wing.'
Everybody said it was fine sharing rooms so Jane continued, 'The rooms on the first, third and forth on the left are your bedrooms as are the first, second and third rooms on the right. The room at the end of the corridor is the games room. We just had a new pool table delivered last week and there is also a computer desk,' (Izzy grinned) 'and a karaoke machine.' Your bags will be brought up shortly. Sorry, but I must leave you here, I have to arrange the dinner for this evening.'
She nodded to them and left abruptly behind a door, which lead to a smaller, less grand staircase.
So the DigiDestined were left at the end of the corridor, still taking in their surroundings.
'Ok who's sharing with who?' Cody asked, anxious to get organized.
A short while later TK had produced his trusty hat from his bag and everyone put their own name into it. Although Davis was secretly hoping to go with Kari he couldn't care less who he went with if the rooms were nearly as grand as the ones he had already seen.
'OK,' TK said 'I'm going to take out the first two names. He pulled out two pieces of paper. He smiled 'Kari and.' Davis crossed his fingers, '.me.'
Hey Kari go choose us a room?' Kari smiled she really had wanted TK and they now had their choice of all the five rooms. Tai looked a little doubtful, but let it slide.
'Next is Tai and Sora.' Tai smiled at Sora and they went to choose a room. TK continued 'Cody and Davis, Ken and Yolei, Izzy and Joe and that means Matt and Mimi.' (Obvious yes, but some things have to happen).
Mimi pulled Matt into the room on the second right. 'Can we have this one please?' Matt looked around. It was decorated with pink wallpaper with a fancy boarder around the top. Little white angel statues sat in each corner of the ceiling and the furniture in the room was beautiful. Two separate double beds sat on opposite sides with decorate bedspreads.
There was a triple mirrored dressing table by the large French windows. There was a cupboard for all their clothes.
'Wow,' Matt said half stunned, 'you know I really could get use to this.' He sat down on the bed. ' Where does the door lead?'
'The bathroom.'
'Cool.' Matt pushed open the door to the bathroom. ~If this was small compared to the main bathroom, what was the main bathroom like???~. He saw a huge Jacuzzi tub and a shower, a toilet and a large glass sink. There was a town rail with large, white fluffy towels on it. The carpet beneath his feet was super soft and put his own home to shame.
'Lets go see what the other rooms are like.' He suggested, forgetting that Mimi had been here before. He managed a long tour of all the DigiDestined's rooms. They had much the same furniture but none were quite as pink as his.
As soon as he entered the room that turned out to belong to Izzy and Joe, he was greeted by a peculiar discussion about the typical design of the house that was apparently tremendously popular in the early renaissance period. (and you think I don't listen in history! Charlie we know you do but Architecture WAS your subject for our project remember?) He also found a not so peculiar discussion as he found Tai and Sora making out (American alert- oh Hannah shut up, there isn't an English term for it) in their bathroom.
When the DigiDestined had finished unpacking they went looking in the games room. It was every inch as grand as the other rooms, with a chandelier and a proper mini bar with eight counter stools, even the taps that beer came out of that turned out to be empty. In addition to the things Jane had mentioned there was a cupboard of board games, a table football table, a darts board and a wide screen plasma TV with a DVD player, an Xbox, ps2 and a video player with a huge selection of games.
'Doesn't look like we're going to be bored.' TK said to Mimi.
'Yeah we wont get time to do much in here. Aunt Laura is taking us on a tour of the whole city. Every day we're here and we can choose where we want to go.'
Just then Aunt Laura's head came round the door.
'Hi Mimi,' She smiled 'I have the list of things we can do with your friends just tick what you want to do and give in to my Butler Marvin, you know who he is right?' Mimi nodded. 'Good, lunch is in half an hour. No need to get changed. I don't see the point in dressing smart when all your doing is eating.' She smiled and left and all the DigiDestined gathered round the list ticking things in turn of what they wanted to do.
A short while later, when everyone was unpacked, they found their way downstairs and managed to find the dining room.
In front of them was a massive table, covered by a large lilac tablecloth and plenty of food such as BBQ chicken ribs, a large array of sandwiches, salad, fruit, crisps and dips. Also there were numerous bottles of fizzy and non-fizzy drinks at the end of the table, next to the cups, serviettes and plates.
Most of them were ravenous after eating little on the plane. Although they did not want to admit it, they were all also extremely tired.
Dessert came all too soon, and the DigiDestined feasted their eyes on the chocolate crispies and various cakes and biscuits.
It took Cody to fall asleep at the table for them to realise that they needed sleep.
They all drifted off to their various bedrooms, and to get ready for bed, all yawning.
Ken and Yolei walked into their beautifully decorated room and sat down on Ken's bed.
Ken hesitantly wrapped his arm around Yolei's back and Yolei nestled her head on Ken's shoulder.
Ken blushed, enjoying the warm sensation of Yolei against his body. He kissed the top of Yolei's head lovingly. Yolei turned her head to look at him and pushed him backwards onto the bed. She gave him a passionate kiss, which left them breathless.
Ken sat up. 'We really should get to bed,' he said.
'O.K, I am tired' she admitted.
'Yeah and by the sounds of things we'll probably have a long day ahead of us' said Ken.
***************
TK finished brushing his teeth and looked up to find a thirteen-year-old blonde staring back at him from the mirror. It certainly seemed weird brushing your teeth in the middle of the day, even if it did feel late.
He wiped his mouth with a towel and hung it back on the rail. Closing the door, he turned the light off. TK turned around to find Kari already fast asleep on top of the bed, her hair falling gently over her face.
Smiling, he tip toed over to his side and turned the duvet over almost on top of her, before tip toeing back to face her. Placing his arms under her gently, he lifted her up and carefully carried her over to the other side of the bed and placing her there.
Tucking her in, he kissed her quickly on the forehead and returned to his new side of the bed. He climbed in turned on his side so he could watch his angel as he fell asleep.
A few moments later, TK was fast asleep and dreaming of the day so far.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
OK that's the first chapter. Flame if you want to and review if you want to. Next chapter: The DigiDestined start their tour, including the London eye and the London dungeons.
Disclaimer:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
We don't own Digimon
So please don't sue
This is a fic written jointly by lottie11, miaow227 and claire1308. We are very patriotic (particularly Hannah! HEY CHARLIE THAT WASN'T NECESSARY, sorry) and we don't mind if we get flames, the purpose of this fic is really dedicated to one person. In fact, if we do get good reviews we will be amazed beyond belief. (you're telling me)
No offence meant to anyone not English, this is just our way of putting England on fanfiction.net. You might even find it funny, actually. Just imagine that they all know perfect English. They managed on the world tour so yeah.
Dedicated to Savoan Locc. (our most favorite person on fanfiction. CHARLIE WILL YOU QUIT TALKING WHEN I'M TELLING THE READERS STUFF?)
I (miaow227) used the sites:
And For time differences and flight lengths.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was a fine, sunny morning in Odaiba. The sun shone through the Tachikawa's apartment, lighting up the well-furnished rooms within. The faint sound of traffic and the world outside broke the peaceful silence, filling the living room with life and travelling down the hallway towards a door which held a plaque announcing '~Mimi~'. Inside, however, there was no peaceful aura at all.
'Stupid hair straightener! Why doesn't it work? I only bought it two weeks ago!'
A young pink-haired maiden appeared to be having a strange wrestling match with a Babyliss (don't own that either) product, the said maiden was waving it around in the air as though trying to get a signal. Suddenly an interesting thought struck her.
Realizing that she hadn't even plugged the item in yet, the child of sincerity let out a defeated 'oh' and sat down on her soft pink bed.
After catching sight of a particular picture, the hair straightener was dropped to the floor, discarded.
Beautiful brown eyes traced the faces of eight DigiDestined, their partners and their friends. She remembered that day all to well. They had finally defeated evil, and happiness was evident on everyone's faces.
The now teary-eyes lingered on a green plant-like Digimon with a pink flower on her head.
'Oh Palmon.' Mimi missed her friend dearly, she hadn't seen her since the defeat of Malomyotismon which was now three months ago. Her eyes rested in turn on each of her fellow DigiDestined.
Tai.
He had grown up a lot since then. Cuter too, not that Mimi liked him like that. She stifled a giggle when she remembered that Tai was still overprotective of his sister, which caused the unfortunate young girl no end of trouble. At least he was finally happy with Sora.
Sora.
She too had grown, into an even more caring and loving person. Ever since Mimi had moved back to Odaiba, the two had become even closer and shared many secrets. Now Sora didn't mind working in her mother's flower shop, the difference between the two family members was remarkable.
Joe.
Mr. Reliability sure had changed. His glasses were now relatively a better shape, and his hair had changed too. He was a good friend. Mimi hoped that he found true happiness in becoming a doctor.
Izzy.
The computer genius was and still is mainly the brains of the team. If it wasn't for him, none of them would probably be here today. TK and Kari.
At this Mimi smiled. Her two little siblings had finally sprouted, and just after the defeat of Malomyotismon had finally admitted their love for each other. TK was the same height as her now, instead of that little squirt. Kari had become a very beautiful teenager indeed, despite Tai's antics she still managed to attract boys ' attention.
Matt.
Her true love and boyfriend. She hadn't seen much of him recently because of his band, yet her heart remained as fond as it ever was. Mimi was heart broken when she heard that Matt and Sora were going out, but luckily two weeks later they realized that their hearts belonged to someone else. At least now they were together.
The pink haired girl rolled over onto her stomach and buried her chin in a fluffy pink cushion, remembering old times. The new DigiDestined certainly had changed things.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on her door.
'Hon? There's a letter here for you from Aunt Laura. I think she wants you to come and stay.'
A delighted squeal could be heard from within the pink haven of pure pinkness and the door opened quickly.
With a near-trembling hand she took the envelope from her mother, before disappearing into her room. Opening the letter hurriedly, the excited girl read the bringer of joyous news.
Dearest Mimi,
It's been such a long time since I've seen you! How is everyone? I hope things are as good in Japan as they are here (they better be, this is expensive!). I heard from your mother that you have a boyfriend. Congratulations! I need to know details.
As you know I only usually write at Christmas and on your birthday. Well I have some news for you. I have spoken to your mother and she agrees with me that it is high time that I saw you. I haven't seen you with my own eyes for years! So here is what I propose.
Enclosed you will find twelve (ok ok but they have to get there somehow) flight tickets to London, Heathrow. You can choose eleven friends to go with you if you wish, if not I can easily sell the tickets for you. Your flight leaves next week, your parents will give you details.
I hope that your friends can come. Invite whomever you wish. I'll see you next week! You will all be staying at my house in Surrey, so don't worry about accommodation.
Until then,
Aunt Laura
Xxxxxxxxxx Mimi nearly fainted in excitement after re-reading the letter a few times.
'Mum!'
'Yes?'
'Can I make a few phone calls?'
'Yeah sure.'
The girl dived towards her bedside table where a phone covered in pink fluff (think Legally Blonde. No we don't own that either!) lay. She picked it up, hurriedly dialing the numbers which she knew so well.
'Hey, Sora!..'
***********
The week passed, and each day the DigiDestined became more and more excited to their trip. Even Cody was having trouble hiding it. The girls were going on a trip to the shopping centre, just to get a few last minute items.
'Hey Kari I've just remembered, I need a new toothbrush for the trip. Can we go to Boots?' (yet again something we don't own and also we are using English shops, I don't think they have Boots in Japan!)
'Sure, just be quick.'
The two girls walked into the huge boots store.
'Excuse me,' Yolei asked an assistant politely, 'can you tell us where the toothbrushes are?'
The woman pointed over to her right, at the back of the huge shop.
'Thanks." Kari and Yolei walked in the direction they had been told to go past the shower and bath section and through the hair section.
'Well at least I know where to get Matt a birthday present!' Kari joked as she looked at the large range of hair gels, waxes, sprays and assorted hair care items.
Finally Yolei chose a bright blue Aquafresh toothbrush, and so they queued up and paid for it. Kari bought some more batteries on the way for her little clock radio.
(Would it be quicker to say we don't own any brand names in this? Yes, Charlie, it would. Ok well yeah we don't so any other brand names in this fic don't belong to us).
After leaving Boots and popping to WH Smiths for a few stationery supplies and magazines, the girls had been shopping for a few hours and Kari's arms felt like they were going to fall off.
'So Yolei, where do you want to go next?' Kari asked, her hands hurting as the heavy shopping bags cut into her hands.
'Um.I dunno,' the purple haired girl said whilst glancing at her watch. 'Er, Kari?'
'Yeah?'
'We were meant to meet Sora and Mimi at the food court ten minutes ago.'
The two walked as fast as they possibly could without looking like complete idiots towards the bottom floor.
They arrived to find their counterparts doing exactly the same thing from the other direction.
After a quick greeting, they sat down at a table and ordered some drinks, and the conversation rapidly turned to the boys.
Sora glanced around at her friends. Mimi and Yolei were talking hyperactively about their guys, Yolei especially was enthusiastic because Ken only asked her out three days ago. Kari was stirring her strawberry milkshake thoughtfully, choosing to remain quiet.
'So have you and TK been out on a date yet?' The girl in front of her looked up, a pink hue crossing her cheeks.
'We went to the cinema last Friday when you and Tai went to that restaurant.'
'Oh yeah, I remember, he kept on muttering something about TK the entire time. I couldn't get anything out of him!'
She giggled imagining her overprotective brother.
Suddenly Mimi interrupted. 'Hey guys I really ought to get going, I still have to pack for tomorrow.'
The girls finished up their drinks and left the shopping centre for the bus stop, where they saw Mimi off. Sora left for her mother's flower shop a short while later, and after that Yolei and Kari went their separate ways. Each of them couldn't wait for the next day.
***************
'Cody! Cody!' a young boy found himself being shaken awake. Slowly, he opened his serious jade green eyes to discover the face of his grandfather, who was looking very tired himself.
'Grandpa? What time is it?' he asked, stifling a yawn.
'2:30. You need to be at the airport in an hour and a half. Your friend Tai is picking you up. Don't you remember?'
'Sorry Grandfather, I am a little tired. I'll get up now.'
Nodding in an understanding way, the wise old man left the small room to polish his Kendo sticks in the hall. He had always believed in doing something useful when you have spare time.
After brushing his teeth, Cody pulled on a dark green sweater and grey trousers. He double-checked that he had everything he needed in his rucksack, and took an apple and some water from the kitchen for the flight.
'Do you have everything dear?' his mother asked. She did not believe that her son, who had just turned ten, was going all the way to Europe with a bunch of teenagers.(1)
'Don't worry Mum, I'm sure I do.' Mrs. Hida looked sceptical.
'Now I want you to be careful, Cody. Europe, England especially, is a very different place to Japan.'
Cody's grandfather cut in: 'Don't worry Mira, I'm sure he'll be fine.' He gave his grandson an encouraging smile just as the doorbell rang.
Mira opened the door to find a bedraggled looking Tai. It appeared as though his hair had refused to be tamed at this time of the morning, and his eyes were red and puffy.
'Morning Mrs. Hida. Is Cody r-r-r *yawn* ready?'
After casting an eye over the driver of the car (2) which would be transporting her son, she sighed and motioned towards her son.
Cody hugged his grandfather and kissed his mum goodbye before leaving the house with his rucksack and a small suitcase.
'Is that it?' Tai asked the younger boy, looking disbelieving at Cody's suitcase.
'Yes of course. Why?'
'It's just Kari brought about half the house with her for some reason. I swear she's becoming worse than Mimi.'
The two walked down the steps in silence as the lift was broken. Yolei and TK were being collected by Matt, who was sitting next to Tai in the borrowed people carrier.
They arrived to find the older blonde trying desperately to squash all of Yolei's many things in the boot. Finally he slammed the door shut, and let out a triumphant cheer, before spotting Cody.
'Oh sorry Cody, would you mind keeping that with you? We don't have a lot of room.'
'Sure.' It would be impolite to disagree, considering Matt's hopeful face.
As Cody climbed into the back of the car, he noted the others' positions. Tai and Matt were in the front trying to figure out exactly how to get to the airport, TK and Kari were in the middle flirting with each other and Yolei and Davis on his right were arguing about something.
'Let's go!' Davis yelled like a little kid when Matt turned on the radio. Everyone recognized the main singer as Matt.
Tai lent forward and turned the knob right up to try and wake them all up a bit, and to annoy Matt. And so their journey to Narita airport, Tokyo, began.
**************
'Where are they?' Mimi asked her best friend, Sora, impatiently while tapping her foot. She knew that she should never have trusted Tai and Matt to be the chaperones for most of the younger DigiDestined, they would probably miss the flight now.
'They had better be here soon, check in closes in fifteen minutes,' Ken pointed out.
'Stupid Tai.' Sora now used that as a common expression, causing Mimi to roll her eyes whilst Joe nervously checked all the tickets and flight details. Izzy was working on his new computer program by the largest thing within reasonable distance, their pile of luggage.
Suddenly Ken spotted a small herd of people making their way towards them.
'There they are!'
As the group reached the waiting five, Mimi let out a cry of:
'Finally!' and they began to queue up at the check in desk.
'What took you so long?' Joe asked Matt. He looked as though he needed a large aspirin.
The rock star put his hands up in a 'don't look at me' kind of way.
'Hey relax, we just got a little lost that's all.'
It took them about five minutes to reach a large blue desk with a smiling lady. She seemed to look at them rather strangely, for Matt and Tai were currently occupied with their girlfriends and they seemed to be the leaders of the group in front of everyone else.
'Erm excuse me?'
The sound of her voice brought the group forward, along with their record- breaking amount of luggage.
'Can I have your passports and flight tickets please?'
It took a while for everyone to hurriedly try and discover their passports in their pockets, before Joe handed over a large handful. After the lady checked each one, she entered their details into the computer, which Izzy seemed rather excited about. Apparently it was a special edition Microsoft V100 (made that up).
'How many of you are there?'
Joe did a quick head count.
'Twelve altogether.'
'You're lucky, there aren't many people on the flight so you can all sit together. Has anyone interfered with your luggage since you packed it?'
A chorus of shaking heads greeted her.
'How many bags for the hold?' she asked, eyeing the large pile in front of her.
The amazed women weighed each bag in turn. Luckily even Mimi's bags were within the weight limit, just.
She gave the important items back to Joe, and informed them:
'The departure lounge is just through there, the gate closes half an hour before boarding. Have a nice flight.'
Joe nodded his thanks, and led the group away from the amused employee and her fellow workers.
They queued up for quite a while to get through security, and luckily they all got through with no problem apart from Mimi having her hand luggage searched, which she wasn't very pleased about.
A short while later all twelve DigiDestined were seated in the Departure Lounge, completely bored, seeing as hardly any shops were open at that hour and no one was really hungry.
'So er, who are we flying with again?' Matt asked his girlfriend who was sitting on his lap, and quite comfortably considering that his arms were around her waist. She drew out a ticket from her small black leather handbag.
'British Airways. My aunt recommended them, apparently they're quite good.'
Then once again the group fell into an uneasy stupor.
~This is illogical,~ Izzy thought. ~It should take us exactly eleven hours and forty seven minutes on the flight, what are we going to do then?~
Sora stood up.
'Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to stretch my legs while I still can. I'll be back soon.'
'I'll go too!' Tai announced, following his girlfriend in the direction of the escalators.
'So, um where are we going Sora?' Tai asked as they reached the escalators.
'I don't know, just wondering around, my legs are stiff from just sitting. I don't know how I'm going to manage on the plane, I don't think I've ever sat that long in my life.'
'Oh, don't worry Sora' Tai said mischievously, 'I'll massage your poor stiff legs.'
'Taaaaiiiiiii' Sora said laughing 'You're so annoying, but sweet'
'And handsome?' interjected Tai.
'And handsome' Sora agreed, watching Tai puffing out his chest with the remark.
'I love you' Sora said gently.
'I love you too, baby,' Tai replied. He leaned down and gave her a soft, sweet kiss.
'We'd better head back,' Sora murmured.
'I guess,' Tai said, 'but I could spend forever doing this.'
'So could I' said Sora softly.
Slowly hand in hand they headed back.
***************
Meanwhile Mimi snuggled deeper into Matt and fell asleep. He soon followed her. Izzy was reading an article in a magazine that had been lying on the table. Joe kept on checking that everything was safe and that they had all their hand luggage. Cody and Ken were reading their books quietly. Davis was snoring loudly whilst Kari was leaning on TK's shoulder, both suddenly interested in the dark blue floor.
Around them a few people wandered about, buying coffee and talking quietly. It appeared that at this time in the morning terminal two was rather dilapidated in it's usual busy existence.
Joe stood up and went over to the television screens, which were hanging from the ceiling. He was still trying to find their flight when a strange noise came from some speakers overhead.
'Flight 227 now boarding at gate 38'.
'That's us!' he yelled, and practically sprinted back to the tired group. Tai and Sora had apparently arrived back, and everyone was waking up from their mesmerized state and had begun to get their bags from the pile.
It was not a too long walk to the gate, and they soon reached it with no problem due to the well sign posted directions.
'Not more security?' Kari stated rather than asked as she spotted airport workers checking passports and flight details near to another scanning machine and doorway.
'Well Kari we are travelling to a country under great terrorist threat,' Izzy informed her.
'What about America?' Mimi asked slightly frustrated. 'What about the twin towers?' (God bless the souls of those who died)
'Well yes America is probably most under threat, I believe that several flights from Europe have already been cancelled because of it. However what people can forget is that Britain is also under great threat too.'
'Yeah whatever,' Matt interrupted as they went through security.
The gate lounge was spacious and comfortable, squashy blue seating was the main focus of the room, and the sound of Japan News 24 (made it up, if it is actually a channel, we don't own it) quietly came from some speakers.
They had hardly sat down it seemed when they were called on for boarding. There were very few people apart from them, mainly businessmen and an old couple of ladies joined the queue to board where they were once again checked for passports and flight tickets.
As they stepped onto the plane, they were greeted by three smiling stewardesses and a steward dressed in dark blue, red and white uniforms.
'Good morning and welcome to British Airways!' was being said to everyone, mainly acknowledged by a nod from the other passengers.
Following the directions he had been given, Tai lead his team down the aisle and managed to find their seats.
'Here we are! Ok, um who's sitting where?'
The eventual order is as follows: On one row - Sora and Tai by the window, Mimi, Matt and Davis in the middle and Ken and Yolei next to the other window, in the row in front of them Kari and TK by the window (the same side as Sora and Tai) and Izzy Cody and Joe in the aisle.
Cody looked around nervously. He had only ever been on a plane once before, and that one had to have a crash landing because of an unfortunate incident with a Digimon (mentioned in 'Samurai of Sincerity', episode 14 of series 2).
'What's wrong Cody?' Joe asked, concerned.
'I'm just a little nervous that's all.'
'It's ok. I used to be nervous too. You'll get over it. When we take off try and think about something else, or read you book. It keeps your mind off it.'
'Thanks Joe I will.' He unzipped his bag and pulled out the book, and was about to start reading when something interrupted him.
'Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking, we will be taking off very shortly. Please fasten your seatbelts, make sure that your seats are up and you tables are in a locked position and put any hand baggage in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front of you. The safety demonstration will begin shortly.'
There was a slight rummage around as everyone put their bags safely away somewhere.
'This is Sharon, on behalf of the cabin crew I would like to welcome you all to this flight of British Airways. Mobile phones or other electronic communication items may not be used on this flight, other electrical items may be used but when the seatbelt sign is off.'
Izzy groaned.
'Laptop connection plugs can be borrowed from the cabin crew upon take off.'
A smile broke out on the genius' face.
'.please take your time to read the safety guideline booklet and we wish you a pleasant flight!'
Suddenly the small television screens in front of them came on. The DigiDestined watched the safety video with either amusement, boredom, curiosity or taking very careful note in their heads.
Cody glanced out of the window. They were not where they were before.
'We're moving!' Yolei cried, it appeared she had realized too.
The television screens went black.
'Cabin crew get ready for take off.'
The staff made their way down the aisles, checking everything was how it was meant to be before sitting down and strapping themselves in.
The plane reached the runway and straightened itself out. It began to rumble slightly and the engine noise became louder, Izzy had already taken note of the change in the wings.
Cody closed his eyes, his book forgotten, as the great jet went 254 miles per hour down the concrete runway, speeding past the buildings, the noise growing louder.
With one smooth movement the plane lifted itself from the ground, rising up and up towards the clouds leaving Japan behind far below. The engine noise became smoother and less conspicuous than before as the wheels folded themselves into the bottom of the great aircraft.
Kari leaned back against her seat, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of being in the sky. Her boyfriend watched her, smiling, as some blonde locks fell into his eyes. She had persuaded him to take his hat off for the flight because he 'looked much cuter that way'. He still blushed slightly just remembering the conversation.
'What are you looking at?' Kari asked, her eyes still closed.
'Nothing.'
She nodded showing that she understood. A few minutes later she opened her crimson eyes and looked at him.
'I don't believe we're going to England. Do you think we're going to London? I can take so many pictures for the photography project, it'll be great!'
He smiled again listening to her talking about her photography project 'life in motion'. He had already helped her with some pictures, some situations involving them spying on his brother and Mimi during a date. Despite the leaves in his hair, it was fun.
'So what do you think we're gonna do for eleven hours apart from sleeping?' she asked him, curious as to why he let her do all the talking.
'I dunno. The scenery's much better than usual though,' he told her winking. It took a few seconds before Kari realized what he meant.
'TK!!' she exclaimed, mock punching him in the arm. 'I hate it when you do that.'
'Why?' he asked her, grinning.
'Because it's embarrassing,' she pouted, trying to look cross but to TK she only looked cuter.
'What's embarrassing?' Tai suddenly interrupted, sticking his face between the gap in their seats.
'Oh leave them alone Tai,' Sora said, pulling him back down onto his seat.
'Hey as a big brother, it is my responsibility to make sure that she-' he was cut off my Sora placing her lips on his. She gave him a long passionate kiss. Tai smiled to himself ~ Maybe this flight wont seem so long after all ~ He thought Sora giggled seeing his satisfied smile.
'Now what do you say?' she said still smiling.
Tai just gazed at her, seemingly in a trance.
'I'd much rather be with you.'
She giggled again, watching him.
'Hey what's so funny?'
'Nothing,' she replied, still smirking, and turned another page of her magazine.
Across the aisle Matt was writing a new song and refusing to let Mimi see.
'Come on Matt why won't you let me see?' she whined. She had tried everything, but he refused.
'I've told you, when I've finished it.'
Mimi rolled her eyes, defeated. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn? All she wanted to do was see it. Oh well, at least she would be seeing her Aunt Laura and maybe even her cousins who she hadn't seen in years. She couldn't wait, she had only been to England once before and that was only for a couple of days for a fashion show. The girl was determined to have a good time, even if Matt wouldn't show her that stupid song.
Soon breakfast came and the stewardesses handed out a plastic container of sausages, bacon, black pudding, hash browns, mushrooms, baked beans and tomatoes all in miniature size. Next to that was a small bread bun and butter, and an upside down cup along with sugar, milk and plastic knives and forks.
Davis leaned back in his seat with a bulging stomach and a contented look on his face. He let out a long sigh before patting his lower torso happily.
'Boy do I luuuuuurve these kinda breakfasts,' he stated to no one in particular.
Ken across the aisle countered, 'You know you don't get those breakfasts every day.'
'Yeah, but they sure are good.'
Yolei looked away from Davis' empty plate in disgust. She couldn't understand how he could eat all that greasy food instead of wishing for cereal or toast or even the traditional rice and miso soup. In fact, she wondered briefly where he put it all, before remembering the amount of football he played.
'Davis, even if that stuff is normally nice, ~which I doubt~, plane food sucks. It's a rule of travelling!'
'Um, Yolei, you haven't tried any of yours,' Ken pointed out.
'Yeah but I still know it sucks!' she crossed her arms and faced the window. ~Boys~ she thought. Hmph.
'How can you eat that stuff!' Mimi practically yelled at Davis after spotting his tray.
'What is this? Yell at Davis day?'
'But you have to admit,' Mimi pointed out, dubiously prodding at the baked beans with her plastic fork, 'it's all mushy and gross.'
'STOP IT MIMI!" Davis said, quite an achievement since he had just shoved a load of sausage and baked beans in his mouth, 'your putting me off.'
'Like anything could put you off,' Ken muttered.
Then the voice of the captain came through the speakers above them
'We are now showing our outbound movie, Shrek 2. You can view this in the television screens in front of you. Please ask a member of our cabin crew for headphones or alternatively you may use your own. Thank you.'
'Hey Shrek 2! YES!' Davis yelled, 'it's going to be such a cool film.'
'Excuse me.' TK asked the air steward. 'Can we have two pairs of headphones?'
'Make that four,' Tai cut in, 'Sora and I are gonna watch it too.'
The air steward handed over the headphones and they watched the movie while Matt continued to write his song with Mimi constantly pestering him. Izzy worked on his laptop and Yolei and Ken talked quietly.
Eventually, after the movie had finished and everyone was bored beyond all reason, they somehow managed to get to sleep. Annoyingly they were woken all to soon by the pilot, as he announced that the plane would be landing in less than ten minutes.
Suddenly Yolei let out a squeal.
'Look! There it is!'
This diverted everyone's attention towards the windows. Many of them were breathless by what they saw, great green fields stretched out towards the horizon with little hamlets and villages that looked like tiny dolls villages from the sky. Some houses even had a swimming pool that glittered bright blue in the morning sun. Huge sparkling reservoirs and lakes adorned the beautiful landscape with more variety of colour against the lush green shades of the trees.
Soon they reached London, where the contrast was great. Even from high up they could see the patterns of the streets, some parts of the city perfectly planned, other older parts creating interesting patterns. Some sights they recognized, Izzy especially. The Canary Wharf towers towered high above the surrounding buildings by the river Thames.
'Isn't that the Thames?' Tai asked, pronouncing it as it is written.
'Actually it's pronounced 'Tems',' Izzy informed him. London really was different from Japan, Tokyo had more skyscrapers and tall buildings, it was more modern, like New York, but London was a city packed full of history and wonders way back from the Medieval era. They could see other larger landmarks too like Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. They flew over the large stretch of green that Izzy informed them was Hyde Park and the 'huge ferris wheel' as Davis described, which was of course the London Eye.
'Cabin crew take your seats for landing,' came the captain's voice.
Everyone was really excited now. They were finally here, in a few minutes they would actually be at Heathrow airport, in Europe, in England.
The wheels came out from the bottom of the plane. The runway approached. Soon they were so near to the ground that they could see the trees in detail and the shape and size of the cars in the car park.
In one moment they touched down smoothly onto the runway, the panels in the wings desperately trying to slow the speeding plane as it raced down at a great speed, the sound of the engine trying to slow evident.
Just as they thought it would go on forever, the aircraft slowed and made it's way off of the runway so that the next plane could take off.
'Ladies and gentlemen we have arrived at Heathrow airport, London and the local time is 9:47 am. On behalf of myself and the crew I would like to thank you for flying with British Airways and we hope that you have a safe journey and will fly with us again soon. Please wait until the aircraft has come to a complete stop before taking off your seatbelt, and please take all of your belongings. Thank you and good morning.'
Cody sat there clutching the edges of his seat tightly, breathless. That was his first ever safe landing. Joe gave him the thumbs up as they stopped and the walkway was attached to the side of the plane.
There was a rush when the seatbelt sign fell into shadow as people stood up and started to retrieve their belongings.
The DigiDestined stood up and stretched their legs.
'Man I can't wait to get out of here,' Tai murmured to Matt as they got all their hand luggage out of the overhead compartments for the rest of the DigiDestined. Matt passed Kari's rucksack to her and then tried to get Mimi's pink case from the top.
'It's. stuck.' He said tugging at the handle.
'Hey you guys your doing it the wrong way.' Mimi stepped in to help. To the dismay of both the boys she managed to pull it out without much trouble. 'I guess you just need more practice.' And she gave Matt a sweet smile before helping the boys get the bags down.
The DigiDestined left the plane and walked through the tunnel to the baggage reclaim point. The halls were very busy and it took a while for all the DigiDestined to get enough trolleys to put their bags on. Finally they made it to the baggage reclaim hall. Numerous conveyor belts adorned the hall, and crowds of people waited patiently around them.
After finding out which one was theirs, the group successfully retrieved all of their hold luggage with no damage, despite Davis managing to sit on a conveyor belt as it started. And was then told by the guard to ' move back, children are not permitted beyond the yellow line.'
'Yes Davis.' Matt smirked, and then put on his impression of an over protective mother 'Let the older ones do the work go sit by the trolleys like a good boy.'
Davis pouted but did what he was told none the less.
Matt, Tai, Sora, Mimi and TK managed a joint effort to get the bags off the conveyor belt and Ken, Yolei and Kari loaded the trolleys with Davis watching in the background.
'Shall we go?' Ken asked. They made their way under a blue sign announcing 'Nothing to Declare' and past a last-minute duty free shop.
They entered through large automatic glass doors to discover a huge hall full of people, with a few shops. They had come into a small cut off area where a few people, mostly car hire companies, were waiting for their relative, friend or client to appear. They boys pushed the trolleys down to the end where the rope left a gap.
There was a tall, slim woman. She had shoulder length chestnut hair and brown eyes, and was wearing jeans and a purple top with a long black coat. She looked about 30, but somehow you knew she was older. Giving a huge smile when she noticed her niece, she rushed over.
'Mimi! Is that you! You've grown so much!' the two embraced each other.
A thin man appeared behind the woman, he had three other men with him. They were all dressed rather smartly.
Mimi introduced everyone to her Aunt Laura. Everyone took an immediate liking to her, she was just one of those people you knew you could trust.
After the introductions, the men took the trolleys and followed the group towards the exit. Mimi was answering all of her aunt's questions with great enthusiasm, she hadn't seen her in years.
When they stopped, the DigiDestined could not believe their eyes.
In front of them were parked two long, white limousines, where the apparent chauffeurs were loading their bags into the boot.
'Whoa, your Aunt owns these?' Davis asked in amazement.
'And I thought my Porsche was smart,' Matt commented.
'No, she doesn't own them,' Mimi said, 'she hired them for us.'
The DigiDestined pilled into the limousines and they were driven off.
On their way into Surrey they noticed fields pass by them with herds of cattle and sheep. Cute little villages with traditional English pubs lined the roads, often near the canals.
After a forty-minute drive from Heathrow airport, they drew up after a long stretch of driveway to discover a large house, with double doors and a porch. It even had a small fountain in the driveway, just like in the films.
The chauffeurs pulled up on the gravel driveway outside the large front doors. They got out and opened the car doors for the DigiDestined. Tai and Matt got out and went to go help get the luggage out. Before they could Mimi pulled them back.
'You're meant to let the drivers do all the work, just watch.' All twenty of the Digidestined's bags were taken from the limousines inside the large front doors.
'Cool.' Matt said
'And then,' Mimi explained, 'you give them a tip.'
'A what?' Tai asked.
'You give them some money but don't worry, my Aunt will see to that.'
The hall was large and bright, two marble staircases led up both sides of the circular room to a landing, above that a beautifully engraved ceiling with a chandelier hanging down.
'Oh don't be fooled,' Laura told the astonished youths, ' this is the best part of the house to impress visitors.' She stood in the hall for a few seconds to let the children stare at the many portraits and decorations that adorned the walls.
'Ah good, children this is my main housekeeper Jane. Jane please can you take the children upstairs and show them their rooms.' Jane nodded she was brunette with blue eyes and was wearing a simple grey skirt and a white shirt.
'This way please.'
Jane led them up the gorgeous staircase and onto the landing. No one really took in where they were going, they were too busy looking at the pictures and sculptures on the way. Eventually they came to a long corridor, where Jane informed them that their rooms were. She pointed out the second door on the left.
'That is the main bathroom, of course all the bedrooms have an en-suite but they are not as large. Oh yes. Mimi mentioned that you would want to have rooms close to each other. This does mean you will have to share. Alternatively we have spare rooms in the East wing.'
Everybody said it was fine sharing rooms so Jane continued, 'The rooms on the first, third and forth on the left are your bedrooms as are the first, second and third rooms on the right. The room at the end of the corridor is the games room. We just had a new pool table delivered last week and there is also a computer desk,' (Izzy grinned) 'and a karaoke machine.' Your bags will be brought up shortly. Sorry, but I must leave you here, I have to arrange the dinner for this evening.'
She nodded to them and left abruptly behind a door, which lead to a smaller, less grand staircase.
So the DigiDestined were left at the end of the corridor, still taking in their surroundings.
'Ok who's sharing with who?' Cody asked, anxious to get organized.
A short while later TK had produced his trusty hat from his bag and everyone put their own name into it. Although Davis was secretly hoping to go with Kari he couldn't care less who he went with if the rooms were nearly as grand as the ones he had already seen.
'OK,' TK said 'I'm going to take out the first two names. He pulled out two pieces of paper. He smiled 'Kari and.' Davis crossed his fingers, '.me.'
Hey Kari go choose us a room?' Kari smiled she really had wanted TK and they now had their choice of all the five rooms. Tai looked a little doubtful, but let it slide.
'Next is Tai and Sora.' Tai smiled at Sora and they went to choose a room. TK continued 'Cody and Davis, Ken and Yolei, Izzy and Joe and that means Matt and Mimi.' (Obvious yes, but some things have to happen).
Mimi pulled Matt into the room on the second right. 'Can we have this one please?' Matt looked around. It was decorated with pink wallpaper with a fancy boarder around the top. Little white angel statues sat in each corner of the ceiling and the furniture in the room was beautiful. Two separate double beds sat on opposite sides with decorate bedspreads.
There was a triple mirrored dressing table by the large French windows. There was a cupboard for all their clothes.
'Wow,' Matt said half stunned, 'you know I really could get use to this.' He sat down on the bed. ' Where does the door lead?'
'The bathroom.'
'Cool.' Matt pushed open the door to the bathroom. ~If this was small compared to the main bathroom, what was the main bathroom like???~. He saw a huge Jacuzzi tub and a shower, a toilet and a large glass sink. There was a town rail with large, white fluffy towels on it. The carpet beneath his feet was super soft and put his own home to shame.
'Lets go see what the other rooms are like.' He suggested, forgetting that Mimi had been here before. He managed a long tour of all the DigiDestined's rooms. They had much the same furniture but none were quite as pink as his.
As soon as he entered the room that turned out to belong to Izzy and Joe, he was greeted by a peculiar discussion about the typical design of the house that was apparently tremendously popular in the early renaissance period. (and you think I don't listen in history! Charlie we know you do but Architecture WAS your subject for our project remember?) He also found a not so peculiar discussion as he found Tai and Sora making out (American alert- oh Hannah shut up, there isn't an English term for it) in their bathroom.
When the DigiDestined had finished unpacking they went looking in the games room. It was every inch as grand as the other rooms, with a chandelier and a proper mini bar with eight counter stools, even the taps that beer came out of that turned out to be empty. In addition to the things Jane had mentioned there was a cupboard of board games, a table football table, a darts board and a wide screen plasma TV with a DVD player, an Xbox, ps2 and a video player with a huge selection of games.
'Doesn't look like we're going to be bored.' TK said to Mimi.
'Yeah we wont get time to do much in here. Aunt Laura is taking us on a tour of the whole city. Every day we're here and we can choose where we want to go.'
Just then Aunt Laura's head came round the door.
'Hi Mimi,' She smiled 'I have the list of things we can do with your friends just tick what you want to do and give in to my Butler Marvin, you know who he is right?' Mimi nodded. 'Good, lunch is in half an hour. No need to get changed. I don't see the point in dressing smart when all your doing is eating.' She smiled and left and all the DigiDestined gathered round the list ticking things in turn of what they wanted to do.
A short while later, when everyone was unpacked, they found their way downstairs and managed to find the dining room.
In front of them was a massive table, covered by a large lilac tablecloth and plenty of food such as BBQ chicken ribs, a large array of sandwiches, salad, fruit, crisps and dips. Also there were numerous bottles of fizzy and non-fizzy drinks at the end of the table, next to the cups, serviettes and plates.
Most of them were ravenous after eating little on the plane. Although they did not want to admit it, they were all also extremely tired.
Dessert came all too soon, and the DigiDestined feasted their eyes on the chocolate crispies and various cakes and biscuits.
It took Cody to fall asleep at the table for them to realise that they needed sleep.
They all drifted off to their various bedrooms, and to get ready for bed, all yawning.
Ken and Yolei walked into their beautifully decorated room and sat down on Ken's bed.
Ken hesitantly wrapped his arm around Yolei's back and Yolei nestled her head on Ken's shoulder.
Ken blushed, enjoying the warm sensation of Yolei against his body. He kissed the top of Yolei's head lovingly. Yolei turned her head to look at him and pushed him backwards onto the bed. She gave him a passionate kiss, which left them breathless.
Ken sat up. 'We really should get to bed,' he said.
'O.K, I am tired' she admitted.
'Yeah and by the sounds of things we'll probably have a long day ahead of us' said Ken.
***************
TK finished brushing his teeth and looked up to find a thirteen-year-old blonde staring back at him from the mirror. It certainly seemed weird brushing your teeth in the middle of the day, even if it did feel late.
He wiped his mouth with a towel and hung it back on the rail. Closing the door, he turned the light off. TK turned around to find Kari already fast asleep on top of the bed, her hair falling gently over her face.
Smiling, he tip toed over to his side and turned the duvet over almost on top of her, before tip toeing back to face her. Placing his arms under her gently, he lifted her up and carefully carried her over to the other side of the bed and placing her there.
Tucking her in, he kissed her quickly on the forehead and returned to his new side of the bed. He climbed in turned on his side so he could watch his angel as he fell asleep.
A few moments later, TK was fast asleep and dreaming of the day so far.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
OK that's the first chapter. Flame if you want to and review if you want to. Next chapter: The DigiDestined start their tour, including the London eye and the London dungeons.