Chapter 15:

Trusting someone is difficult when what they're saying makes no sense. It's even harder when what they say makes perfect sense and the way they're acting does not. I speak from experience on the second one.

The Little Teenaged Geek (not that he would know anything)

Sora shivered: it was not only pitch dark and very wet, but also cold. She tried to remember a time when she was more scared, and, because her memories of the fights with Piedmon, Apocalymon, and Malomyotismon were gone, she couldn't. She kept very close to Tai, as he was the only piece of familiarity in sight. She had known Biyomon and Agumon for a long time, but those memories were gone, so Sora didn't find them familiar.

They had searched for a few minutes, and found a pot of soup---unfortunately, the soup had long since spoiled, and a stench that smelled like a dead skunk drifted up from the open pot. "Okay, not that one," Tai thought out loud, hastily putting the lid back on the pot. He looked through the mess tent, and finally found a loaf of bread in a corner of the tent that was still edible. Sora ate her share of the bread ravenously, and was happy to finally put something in her stomach.

When she was done eating, she stared down at the bare table. She was still scared, and didn't know what was going on. Her trust for Tai and the illogic of what Tai was saying warred in her mind. She wanted to believe him, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Maybe---maybe if she heard more, if she saw more proof, she could believe him… "Tai…tell me more about what happened…tell me more about what happened after we beat Meramon and how we got back home."

Tai spent an hour and a half explaining to her the details of Etemon, Devimon, Apocalymon, Myotismon, the Digimon Emperor, and umpteen dozen adventures that they had had between the time that they were first sucked into the Digiworld and the time when Malomyotismon was defeated.

Then he told Sora about how the Digiworld and Earth had met, and how their economies, cultures, and peoples had intertwined. He told her about the gate that Malomyotismon had created while he was trying to take over Earth, and how it had never shut, and that, for decades, humans and digimon had been able to travel from one world to the other via rocket by going through the portal.

And finally, he told Sora about her company, Takenouchi Textile Corporation. He told her about her idea that not only humans, but also digimon ought to be able to wear clothes. After all, digimon also get wet in the rain, cold in the snow, and hot and sunburned in the summer. He told her everything he knew about the Digiworld being destroyed, and about what she had done for the refugees in devoting her company to making them tents and blankets for four days. She scarcely believed it.

Tai could tell by the look on her face that it was too much to take in and that Sora still doubted what he said, and he also decided that what she needed was a little more proof. He said, "Hold on a second…I bet I know how I can prove this to you." He opened his umbrella, picked up another flashlight, and took her by the hand. He led her outside the refugee camp to a truck that stood motionless, with its backside trailer door open.

"What's the truck have to do with anything?" Sora asked.

"Look at the label on the side." He shone his flashlight on the side of the truck, and it read clearly in Japanese and in English, "Takenouchi Textile Corporation".

Sora's mouth dropped open. "I…I can't believe it, I…"

"That's not all. C'mon inside." Sora and Tai climbed into the trailer, and there were cardboard boxes stacked up to the ceiling. Each one had a different caption: "Cotton Blankets", "Polyethylene Rain Ponchos", "Cotton/Rayon Sweatshirts", and the like. Tai tore one box open and showed her the sweatshirts inside. They were of all sizes, and some of them were clearly not built to fit on a human body: they were meant for digimon. "Sora, you did all this. You don't remember it, but you did it."

Sora covered her mouth with her hand. "This…it's…"

"Too much to take in?"

"Yeah."

"Relax, Sora. You'll be fine. I'm scared, too. I was grown up, and I got turned into a kid, too. We're in the same boat."

Sora covered her face and sobbed.

Tai put his gloved hand on her shoulder. He looked as though he were about to say something, but hesitated. After a pause, he said, "Sora, remember I told you how we beat Devimon, and Piedmon, and Malomyotismon?"

Sora gradually nodded, not taking her face up from where was hidden in her gloves.

"Well, this is just another one of those adventures. This is just another time when we need to fight evil and our own despair and get through this. You don't remember how we came out of all that okay, but somehow we were okay then, and we'll come out of this okay now, too."

It was a few minutes before Sora moved again. When she finally did, she wiped the tears off her eyes, pulled up the hood on her poncho, tightened the strings, and said, "We aren't going to get anywhere sitting around here. C'mon. I bet your sister is waiting for us."

Tai wondered: was Sora faking her courage and determination, or was she really over it? He hoped she was really over it, and decided to pretend as though it were real bravery.

Joey bounded into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Davis, joining him in watching a video. It was a martial arts film, and the particular scene that was on right then was one with a great deal of violence. Joey laughed as one of the heroes was hurled twenty feet into the air and landed softly in a garbage dumpster, whose lid appropriately closed over his head. (On his planet, children of his kind threw each other twice that relative height for fun, and landing on the ground didn't hurt at all thanks to his race's dense muscle structure.)

Davis turned to Joey as he was doing his high, squeaky laugh, since Davis hadn't heard a laugh like that before. Noticing how strange it is to see a baby kangaroo covered in petrolatum, he yelled into the next room, "Hey, Yolei, you didn't tell me you had another guest!"

"I don't!"

"Then what's this kangaroo doing here?"

"Oh, don't be so immature and make up some story about a zoo animal in my living room!"

Davis was about to say, "I'm not making this up; come and see it yourself," but thought better of it and, instead, offered the kangaroo some of the chips he was eating.

"Thank yew," the kangaroo answered in a shrill voice and stuffed his face with the chips.

Davis was further disturbed by the fact that this kangaroo could talk, but, once again, didn't say anything and (with an unsettled look on his face,) glued his eyes to the television and the black belt karate fighters that were turning themselves into missiles with fake-special-effects kicks. He also vowed to himself that he wouldn't let Yolei blame him for this, as she undoubtedly would the second she saw it---assuming that the kangaroo wasn't a hallucination.

But there was a way to find out if he was seeing things: shaking his partner out of his nap, he asked, "Hey, Veemon, is there a baby kangaroo sitting next to me, covered in petrolatum, and eating corn chips?"

Veemon looked. "Yep."

"You think we should do anything about that?"

After giving it a moment's thought, he answered, "No."

"Me either."

"Thank yew," the kangaroo said again, begging for more chips.

After a few moments, Tina walked into the room with a pair of big, green, rubber gloves. She looked at Joey and said, "Oh, not on the sofa!"

Joey looked at her and let out an inquisitive squeak.

"Joey! You're getting petrolatum all over the couch!" She scooped him up in her gloved hands. (She wore the gloves to keep the petrolatum off her hands.)

Still not taking his eyes off the TV for more than a few seconds, Davis asked Tina, "Is that little guy yours?"

"Yeah."

"Why is he covered in petrolatum, and why doesn't your mom know about him?"

"Uh…he's a baby digimon, and I found him in the street when it was raining outside." As if to justify herself, Tina cried, "I couldn't just leave him out there! I've been meaning to tell Mom about him, but…I wanted her to be in a good mood. Have you got any ideas how I can butter her up?"

"It's not bad enough that you made that Joey-thing all greasy? You have to do the same thing for your mom, too?"

"Shut up. 'Buttering someone up' is an American expression that means, 'to put in a good mood.' You've probably never heard it in Japan."

"Hmm. Well, I told her about him when I saw him."

Tina gasped. "You did? How did she take it?"

"She didn't believe one word I said. At all."

"Did she see him?"

"Nope. That would be my guess why she didn't believe me."

"Oh, good."

"One question: how do you plan to keep Joey fed without Yolei knowing about him?"

"Ah…that's why I need your help."

"He just had some corn chips."

"How many?"

"Roughly a handful."

"Good, that'll keep him fed for the evening. His stomach isn't all that big."

"Another thing: what's with the petrolatum?"

"He needs it, otherwise his skin gets a rash."

"Weird." After Tina had left the room, Davis asked Veemon, "So…you think that there's going to be trouble?"

"There's trouble now: the sun hasn't risen for days!"

"I mean more trouble than there is now, as a result of this kangaroo."

"…Yeah, probably," Veemon answered, not taking his eyes off the television set.