Chapter 2:
Oftentimes, one looks at a person who has accomplished something great and one wonders, "How did they do this?" The answer is no mystery: for a mortal to harness their full potential, what they need is not a belief that they can do it, but an effective motivator to try their hardest. One effective motivator is fear.
The Little Teenaged Geek (not that he would know anything)
"Tina!" Yolei whispered. "Time to wake uu-uuup!" Her daughter didn't want to open her eyes. She was exhausted. "We're at the airport! You slept the whole shuttle ride from the hotel to here!"
"Nnngh…" Tina was reluctant to leave the comfortable mind-state of sleep, but she knew that it was time she woke up. She gradually gathered her senses. The first one that came to her was a soft drumming noise on the roof of the van---it was still raining, which meant that it wouldn't be unbearably hot out. Good. Tina opened her eyes glanced out the window. More reporters were out there. "Isn't there a rule in this country that we can keep reporters at bay if the person they want to interview needs medical attention?"
"You need medical attention?"
"Ah---I'm still feeling a little dizzy from the concussion!"
"Sorry, Tina: the doctor gave you a clean bill of health."
"Too bad."
"Hmm…"
Ken was a little sad-looking. But that is normal for a human being: to feel sad after any big event. There was always a way that the event could've gone better, and, even if there wasn't, there isn't something more to look forward to---or, at least, not something as big (Ken wished). That plus the fact that days of worrying had left him sapped of his strength made him look a year older than he had looked before the Olympic season had begun.
"Ken?" Yolei asked.
"Hmm?"
"You don't think it's safe to even open the door?"
"Oh…sorry, I'll get it." He hopped to the door and opened it up. The reporters weren't happy not to get any answers, and very nearly refused to let them enter the airport.
Yolei shuddered upon entering the heated building from the cold, wet outdoors. "For the summer Olympics, it sure isn't very warm!"
"No kidding," Ken asked, still a little melancholy.
"What're you two talking about?" Tina asked. "I'm burning up!"
"I find it tough to believe that you're too warm, even with your high-energy blood." Hawkmon thought aloud.
Tina shrugged, tying her raincoat about her waist. "I do feel warm."
"Congratulations, Miss Ichijouji!" The voice was unfamiliar to Tina. She looked up at the man. He wore an impressive suit and had flaming red hair. He could be a reporter…
"Uh…thanks…" she was reluctant to shake this stranger's hand.
"Izzy!" Ken said aloud. The name rung a bell in the back of Tina's mind.
"Hey, Ken!" The two hugged, which was an odd custom. But, then again, the two seemed to be on a first-name basis…
"Izzy! Good to see you again!" Yolei added.
"Hi, Yolei!" Turning to Tina, he continued, "So…I saw your win in the Olympics on TV," Izzy said, looking at Tina. "Just what was going through your head right then?"
"You really want to know?"
"Uh…"
"It was: 'It was worth shaving my head for this!' "
"Oh. Congratulations on the medal, and sorry about the accident! You…want to hear the rumors that are going around?"
"Do I?"
"I've heard that you were almost nominated for a Darwin Award(1)."
Tina shook her head. "Who nominated me?"
"I don't know."
Tina sighed. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, which she brushed away.
"So, Tina---do you have any plans now that you're the champ?"
"Go home and sleep, mostly."
"Hmm…" Turning to Ken, Izzy said, "I'd love to stay and chat, but my flight leaves in a few minutes, and I need to get in queue. Do you have it?"
"Yes," Ken whispered. He handed "Izzy" a round, flat, golden-colored object, the like of which Tina had never seen. Even stranger, Yolei was looking on at the exchange disapprovingly. In fact, she was looking very harshly at the fact that Ken had handed Izzy the---thing.
"Thanks," Izzy said. "This really saved our butts; without some new research, we'd have lost our grant money!"
"I just hope the world's ready for it."
One of Tina's eyebrows went up. "What was that thing?"
"We'll tell you later," Ken insisted in a hushed tone. "Pick up your luggage, and let's get to the terminal, already." Tina sincerely hoped that her father wasn't lying through his teeth about telling her later. She had never seen an object quite like that gold-colored dish-like thing, which made her curiosity grow.
One they were on the plane, Tina found that she had to sit next to a man she didn't know, and that her parents were in the row right in front of her. Digimon had to sit in another area of the plane altogether, so she was separated from Hawkmon and Wormmon, as well.
After half an hour, Tina felt the plane moving. It was on its long trek to the runway, and, finally, it was about to take off. She heard the engines whoosh into a loud overdrive, and felt the plane gradually moving faster and faster. The plane tilted back, and she could tell from the suddenly absent grinding noise of the landing gear that they were off the ground. They had risen and risen, and a pinging noise sounded right before the intercom blared, "This is your captain. Welcome aboard Falcon Airlines, Flight 23567, from Paris to St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. It is now safe to walk around your cabin and to use electronic equipment. Enjoy your flight."
Tina was about to reach up into the overhead compartment to get a blanket and pillow so that she could get some sleep, but the man next to her said, in a loud voice and with a British accent, "This is BBC. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to This Evening with Larry Smith." Mr. Smith had a cameraman in a seat two aisles in front of them, and was clearly on the plane for an interview with her. "I am currently on an aeroplane with Olympic athlete Tina Ichijouji, who has just won the first medal for the United States in twelve years and survived a freak accident that occurred during the games. Miss Ichijouji, how does it feel to have broken this down streak for your country with such a high, yet nearly deadly achievement?"
Tina pulled the man's hat down over his eyes, entered the bathroom of the airplane, and locked the door behind her. "How tough can it be for a girl to get some privacy!" She wrapped her raincoat around herself, shut the toilet lid, sat down, and tried to get some sleep there.
"Have your notaries found a solution?"
"Yes, sir. There is a provision in the treaty that allows for scientific research."
"But there is nothing more for us to learn from that system!"
"Nothing of natural science, but there are other courses of study. We have an anthropologist who wishes to study the interactions between different sentient species on the inhabited world."
"Can he deliver the message?"
"Yes. And we know to where he must deliver it."
"Good."
"However, sir…by treaty, we must inform them of this action."
"Do you think they will suspect us?"
"I hope not, but they may."
(1) The Darwin Award, in case you don't know, is an award that goes to people who die in really stupid ways, the idea being that it was so noble of them to die and remove a few of the "stupid" genes from humanity.