Chapter 4 - Reunion
"Mimi! Over here!"
She blinked at me, then smiled.
"Hi Izzy! Where is everyone?"
"They're at the park already, getting set up. I volunteered to come get you."
"Oh, well we should hurry then. Come on; let's get my bags and get moving."
She walked over, Palmon in her arms, and we talked about little things while walking to baggage claim. At the carousel, we waited patiently for her bags. I looked over at her. She still had her bright pink hair, and was wearing green blouse and blue jeans.
She's beauti… STOP RIGHT THERE KOUSHIRO IZUMI! She's one of your best friends! That's not how you're supposed to think of her!
Blushing madly from my thoughts, I took her two bags like a gentleman, and almost turned to go.
"Wait, Izzy…"
"Y-Yes?"
"I've got four bags."
I blinked.
Why am I not surprised?
"Um… Mimi? I thought you were only staying a week…"
She looked at me like I knew nothing, which, apparently, I didn't.
"I am."
"Oh."
I think four bags would hold my entire wardrobe. Why can't girls pack light?
We claimed her other two bags, and then walked out to my car. We laughed and talked some more as we headed for the park.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I smiled as Izzy commented on some antic of Tai's. It really was amusing the trouble that he could get himself into and out of in just a couple of days. I glanced sideways at my traveling companion. Izzy was a little shorter than me, his 5' 6" to my 5' 8", but he had really matured in the last year. His face had finally settled into a mature cast, and he seemed to be finally taking an interest in his appearance, if the fact that his hair now was combed instead of the loose tangled fashion he'd had before.
I laughed at another jest of Izzy's.
He's certainly branching out…
The most recent thing that had happened was Matt making a fool of himself at a party. That wasn't unusual. Izzy at a party that had more than just us destined was, however, and I laughed more at that than at Matt spilling an entire punch bowl on himself and Jun in the middle of a room full of at least thirty other people. I smiled.
"So what's really going on here Izzy?"
"What do you mean, Mimi?"
"I mean, the surprise, I couldn't get anything out of Tai when he called."
"Oh, that. There's a new guy joining us this year. I can't tell you much since I haven't met him yet myself. He's living at Ken's place, he's about the same age as the younger kids."
"Really. I wonder what he's like."
"I'm not sure, but TK says his digimon is a dark virus type."
"A dark virus?"
"Yeah. Apparently it doesn't cause any problems though."
"Hmmmm. Well, I'm sure he's okay if Ken's willing to trust him."
"Yes, that was my though as well, though it centered more around Azulongmon than Ken."
I smiled. I also noticed he looked a little tense.
"So, what have you been up to Izzy?"
He spluttered in response, like I had just dropped a bomb on him.
"M-Me?!"
I laughed.
Izzy sure got fun to be around…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is he?! He should have been here a half hour ago!"
"Oh, quit worrying so much Tai! He'll get here when he gets here."
"Easy for you to say Kari. You're not the starving on here."
"Calm down, Tai. Matt will get here."
"Gee, Thanks for backing me up Agumon."
"No problem Tai!"
Agumon's great and all, but sometimes he could be a bit less naïve… or maybe he does it just to bug me.
Then there was the sound of a car engine shutting down, and I looked over to see Izzy helping Mimi and Palmon out of his car.
"Well, two down, two to go."
"Ahem!"
I looked over to see Tentomon and Palmon glaring at me.
"Sorry. Four down."
Then, a dark form darted out of the bushed near them, causing Mimi to freak out and jump backwards into Izzy, who tumbled and fell over, Mimi landing in his lap. They both blushed insanely before Mimi scrambled off of him. The dark form, more formally known as BlackGuilmon, rushed up to me.
"Tai, Takatomon says to tell you that he and Matt are coming, but making the food took him longer than he thought."
"Takato's helping with the food?"
"Uh-huh. Takatomon gets up real early and works in a food place."
"Right. Well, tell him to hurry."
The little thing cocked his head like he was listening to something.
"Takatomon said something I don't understand."
"You were talking to him?"
"Uh-huh. BlackGuilmon and Takatomon always together."
I sighed. Any straight answers would obviously have to come from Takato himself. I crouched so that I was face to face with the large rookie.
"All right. Repeat Takato's exact words. Maybe I'll understand."
He nodded, and frowned, as if concentrating.
"Takatomon said 'Hold your digimon. We're coming.' Why does Takatomon want you to hold your digimon Tai?"
I groaned and fell back on my butt.
I wonder if Takato goes through this daily. I wonder how he does it.
Then Mimi decided that staring stupidly at our exchange wasn't fun anymore. Or she was being polite to wait until we were finished. Either way, she spoke.
"What's going on?"
I just stared at her.
How should I know what's going on!? I don't know much more than you!
Luckily, Ken came to my rescue.
"This is BlackGuilmon, Mimi. He's the partner of Takato, a guy we rescued a few weeks ago from the Dark Ocean. They're originally from the southern quadrant."
"Really? Wow. The stories must be neat."
"If he could tell anyone, Azulongmon doesn't want him tampering with the way things are here."
"Oh. Weird."
"Understatement of the century. And now they're telepathic?"
"Only with each other, Tai."
I spun. There stood Takato, Gabumon, Matt, and Jun, all laden down with food and other things. Matt grinned.
"Give us a hand here!"
"Oh, right, sorry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I looked at the large black rookie who had frightened me earlier. Tai said everyone was a bit frightened at first. Now I couldn't help but smile as he sat under a tree eating. He had a pile of small loaves of bread and an open jar of peanut butter. Some of it was smeared across his face as he chewed on, obviously enjoying himself. I looked over at his digi…
No, tamer.
I had to keep reminding myself about that. When I asked him why, he said that things were done a little differently back home. The word 'tamer' didn't sit right with me. But, BlackGuilmon seemed very happy and well taken care of, so I let it pass. I returned my wandering thoughts to what Sora was saying to me.
"So, Mimi. How are things going in America these days?"
"Oh, pretty good, not much different than here really."
Sora smiled.
"That's not quite what I meant Mimi. How are you doing?"
I had misunderstood the question on purpose. My personal life didn't need to be pried open right now.
"I'm fine Sora. Really."
"Are you sure? The Michael thing not getting to you too much?"
"It's all right Sora. Ancient history."
"All right. I'm here if you need me."
"I know, Sora, I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Poor Mimi.
I sighed and looked around. Mimi was walking over to where Izzy and Joe were discussing something. Tai and Matt were arm wrestling while Davis looked on in adoration. TK and Ken were discussing something as well, laughing as they did so, Kari and Yolie with them. Cody was chatting with some of the digimon, who were in their own groups. The newest arrival, BlackGuilmon was asleep among his food under the tree and his tamer… was nowhere to be found.
Weird. Probably nothing, but still…
I glanced around the clearing again, just to make sure. I spotted him. He was at the edge of the clearing, looking at us. One look in his eyes took my breath away.
How does he get up in the morning?
What I saw was pain. Unbearable pain. Enough it made me want to cry, and I was looking at it from twenty feet away. Suddenly, he turned and made his way through the trees. A hasty decision later, I followed. I found him a short time later, sitting next to the lake, half-heartedly tossing stones in.
"Are you all right, Takato?"
"Sure."
"I don't believe that."
He smiled a little.
"Rika always did say I was a bad liar."
"What's wrong Takato?"
"Nothing. Really. Just a little homesick, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really. I probably shouldn't anyways, what with Azulongmon's warnings and all."
I nodded.
"Will you be okay?"
"Eventually."
He looked back at the lake with a long sigh. I turned to go.
"The beach was one of Jeri's favorite places you know."
I turned back.
"Jeri liked the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. Said it reminded her of when her mother was still alive."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Jeri was really something special. Her partner was a Leomon. He always said she had a lion's heart."
He was still facing the water, but his head was tilted back, looking up into the sky. A small tear came out of his left eye as he spoke.
"I can still remember. Despite everything that happened. I still remember him saying those words as he was deleting."
My breath caught in my throat.
"He was deleted?"
"Yeah. In the digital world."
"What happened?"
"When he was deleted, BlackGuilmon and I… we…"
He closed his eyes and put his head between his knees as he trailed off.
"You did what Takato?"
When he looked back up his face was like a wooden mask. He spoke with no emotion.
"I got angry. Really angry. Back then, the connection between BlackGuilmon and myself was just emotions, no words. But my anger carried through. BlackGuilmon went into his corrupted digivolution, out for blood. But I was more the monster than he was. I had every chance to simply end the battle and save us all. But I let my anger run away with me."
The wooden mask started to crack at this point, and I saw the pain again, but mixed with self-loathing this time.
"I made him kill the other digimon slowly, wrapping his tail around him, crushing him. Then, I made him launch an attack, ending it. Only then, after the battle was over, did I fully realize what I had done. But Jeri was more angry with me than anything else. She made us leave, forever."
"Takato… you did the right thing…"
"How could that be true?! I caused them nothing but trouble, and now they all hate me! I was the one at fault. Me!"
"Would whatever it was have been satisfied with killing Leomon?"
"No, but…"
"But nothing. If your old friends can't see that then they don't deserve to be called your friends."
He smiled a little then.
"Thanks."
"Are you coming back now?"
"No. I'm going to stay here a while longer. The party back there reminds me too much of the last time my old friends and I were together before… everything."
I nodded again.
"Cheer up soon, huh?"
"I'll try. I just need some time, Sora."
I turned and walked back to the party.
He'll work it out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I lay there in my bed that night thinking about the day's events. Something significant had happened in my talk with Sora, I was sure of it. I just wasn't sure what.
When I closed my eyes I always saw what happened that day. Between that and the fictional nightmares, I never got much sleep. But this time when I closed them, I was a bit more detached. I saw things that I hadn't before. My imagination? Maybe. I had always concentrated on Jeri's face before, even though I had looked at and to all the others. As I looked with my mind's eye, I realized that I might have been wrong.
Maybe they don't hate me after all…
This time when I looked, I saw confusion and shock on their faces, reminiscent of someone completely stunned. I felt a little better knowing that, or at least opening up the possibility. Stunned I could understand. I had been that way myself when I had come to my senses. I pulled my good-luck charm out from under my shirt and looked at Rika's slightly flushed face again. I smiled and kissed it softly. I lay back, and had my first night in awhile that wasn't plagued by nightmares.
Good night, My Queen.
"Mimi! Over here!"
She blinked at me, then smiled.
"Hi Izzy! Where is everyone?"
"They're at the park already, getting set up. I volunteered to come get you."
"Oh, well we should hurry then. Come on; let's get my bags and get moving."
She walked over, Palmon in her arms, and we talked about little things while walking to baggage claim. At the carousel, we waited patiently for her bags. I looked over at her. She still had her bright pink hair, and was wearing green blouse and blue jeans.
She's beauti… STOP RIGHT THERE KOUSHIRO IZUMI! She's one of your best friends! That's not how you're supposed to think of her!
Blushing madly from my thoughts, I took her two bags like a gentleman, and almost turned to go.
"Wait, Izzy…"
"Y-Yes?"
"I've got four bags."
I blinked.
Why am I not surprised?
"Um… Mimi? I thought you were only staying a week…"
She looked at me like I knew nothing, which, apparently, I didn't.
"I am."
"Oh."
I think four bags would hold my entire wardrobe. Why can't girls pack light?
We claimed her other two bags, and then walked out to my car. We laughed and talked some more as we headed for the park.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I smiled as Izzy commented on some antic of Tai's. It really was amusing the trouble that he could get himself into and out of in just a couple of days. I glanced sideways at my traveling companion. Izzy was a little shorter than me, his 5' 6" to my 5' 8", but he had really matured in the last year. His face had finally settled into a mature cast, and he seemed to be finally taking an interest in his appearance, if the fact that his hair now was combed instead of the loose tangled fashion he'd had before.
I laughed at another jest of Izzy's.
He's certainly branching out…
The most recent thing that had happened was Matt making a fool of himself at a party. That wasn't unusual. Izzy at a party that had more than just us destined was, however, and I laughed more at that than at Matt spilling an entire punch bowl on himself and Jun in the middle of a room full of at least thirty other people. I smiled.
"So what's really going on here Izzy?"
"What do you mean, Mimi?"
"I mean, the surprise, I couldn't get anything out of Tai when he called."
"Oh, that. There's a new guy joining us this year. I can't tell you much since I haven't met him yet myself. He's living at Ken's place, he's about the same age as the younger kids."
"Really. I wonder what he's like."
"I'm not sure, but TK says his digimon is a dark virus type."
"A dark virus?"
"Yeah. Apparently it doesn't cause any problems though."
"Hmmmm. Well, I'm sure he's okay if Ken's willing to trust him."
"Yes, that was my though as well, though it centered more around Azulongmon than Ken."
I smiled. I also noticed he looked a little tense.
"So, what have you been up to Izzy?"
He spluttered in response, like I had just dropped a bomb on him.
"M-Me?!"
I laughed.
Izzy sure got fun to be around…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is he?! He should have been here a half hour ago!"
"Oh, quit worrying so much Tai! He'll get here when he gets here."
"Easy for you to say Kari. You're not the starving on here."
"Calm down, Tai. Matt will get here."
"Gee, Thanks for backing me up Agumon."
"No problem Tai!"
Agumon's great and all, but sometimes he could be a bit less naïve… or maybe he does it just to bug me.
Then there was the sound of a car engine shutting down, and I looked over to see Izzy helping Mimi and Palmon out of his car.
"Well, two down, two to go."
"Ahem!"
I looked over to see Tentomon and Palmon glaring at me.
"Sorry. Four down."
Then, a dark form darted out of the bushed near them, causing Mimi to freak out and jump backwards into Izzy, who tumbled and fell over, Mimi landing in his lap. They both blushed insanely before Mimi scrambled off of him. The dark form, more formally known as BlackGuilmon, rushed up to me.
"Tai, Takatomon says to tell you that he and Matt are coming, but making the food took him longer than he thought."
"Takato's helping with the food?"
"Uh-huh. Takatomon gets up real early and works in a food place."
"Right. Well, tell him to hurry."
The little thing cocked his head like he was listening to something.
"Takatomon said something I don't understand."
"You were talking to him?"
"Uh-huh. BlackGuilmon and Takatomon always together."
I sighed. Any straight answers would obviously have to come from Takato himself. I crouched so that I was face to face with the large rookie.
"All right. Repeat Takato's exact words. Maybe I'll understand."
He nodded, and frowned, as if concentrating.
"Takatomon said 'Hold your digimon. We're coming.' Why does Takatomon want you to hold your digimon Tai?"
I groaned and fell back on my butt.
I wonder if Takato goes through this daily. I wonder how he does it.
Then Mimi decided that staring stupidly at our exchange wasn't fun anymore. Or she was being polite to wait until we were finished. Either way, she spoke.
"What's going on?"
I just stared at her.
How should I know what's going on!? I don't know much more than you!
Luckily, Ken came to my rescue.
"This is BlackGuilmon, Mimi. He's the partner of Takato, a guy we rescued a few weeks ago from the Dark Ocean. They're originally from the southern quadrant."
"Really? Wow. The stories must be neat."
"If he could tell anyone, Azulongmon doesn't want him tampering with the way things are here."
"Oh. Weird."
"Understatement of the century. And now they're telepathic?"
"Only with each other, Tai."
I spun. There stood Takato, Gabumon, Matt, and Jun, all laden down with food and other things. Matt grinned.
"Give us a hand here!"
"Oh, right, sorry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I looked at the large black rookie who had frightened me earlier. Tai said everyone was a bit frightened at first. Now I couldn't help but smile as he sat under a tree eating. He had a pile of small loaves of bread and an open jar of peanut butter. Some of it was smeared across his face as he chewed on, obviously enjoying himself. I looked over at his digi…
No, tamer.
I had to keep reminding myself about that. When I asked him why, he said that things were done a little differently back home. The word 'tamer' didn't sit right with me. But, BlackGuilmon seemed very happy and well taken care of, so I let it pass. I returned my wandering thoughts to what Sora was saying to me.
"So, Mimi. How are things going in America these days?"
"Oh, pretty good, not much different than here really."
Sora smiled.
"That's not quite what I meant Mimi. How are you doing?"
I had misunderstood the question on purpose. My personal life didn't need to be pried open right now.
"I'm fine Sora. Really."
"Are you sure? The Michael thing not getting to you too much?"
"It's all right Sora. Ancient history."
"All right. I'm here if you need me."
"I know, Sora, I know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Poor Mimi.
I sighed and looked around. Mimi was walking over to where Izzy and Joe were discussing something. Tai and Matt were arm wrestling while Davis looked on in adoration. TK and Ken were discussing something as well, laughing as they did so, Kari and Yolie with them. Cody was chatting with some of the digimon, who were in their own groups. The newest arrival, BlackGuilmon was asleep among his food under the tree and his tamer… was nowhere to be found.
Weird. Probably nothing, but still…
I glanced around the clearing again, just to make sure. I spotted him. He was at the edge of the clearing, looking at us. One look in his eyes took my breath away.
How does he get up in the morning?
What I saw was pain. Unbearable pain. Enough it made me want to cry, and I was looking at it from twenty feet away. Suddenly, he turned and made his way through the trees. A hasty decision later, I followed. I found him a short time later, sitting next to the lake, half-heartedly tossing stones in.
"Are you all right, Takato?"
"Sure."
"I don't believe that."
He smiled a little.
"Rika always did say I was a bad liar."
"What's wrong Takato?"
"Nothing. Really. Just a little homesick, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really. I probably shouldn't anyways, what with Azulongmon's warnings and all."
I nodded.
"Will you be okay?"
"Eventually."
He looked back at the lake with a long sigh. I turned to go.
"The beach was one of Jeri's favorite places you know."
I turned back.
"Jeri liked the sound of waves crashing on the rocks. Said it reminded her of when her mother was still alive."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Jeri was really something special. Her partner was a Leomon. He always said she had a lion's heart."
He was still facing the water, but his head was tilted back, looking up into the sky. A small tear came out of his left eye as he spoke.
"I can still remember. Despite everything that happened. I still remember him saying those words as he was deleting."
My breath caught in my throat.
"He was deleted?"
"Yeah. In the digital world."
"What happened?"
"When he was deleted, BlackGuilmon and I… we…"
He closed his eyes and put his head between his knees as he trailed off.
"You did what Takato?"
When he looked back up his face was like a wooden mask. He spoke with no emotion.
"I got angry. Really angry. Back then, the connection between BlackGuilmon and myself was just emotions, no words. But my anger carried through. BlackGuilmon went into his corrupted digivolution, out for blood. But I was more the monster than he was. I had every chance to simply end the battle and save us all. But I let my anger run away with me."
The wooden mask started to crack at this point, and I saw the pain again, but mixed with self-loathing this time.
"I made him kill the other digimon slowly, wrapping his tail around him, crushing him. Then, I made him launch an attack, ending it. Only then, after the battle was over, did I fully realize what I had done. But Jeri was more angry with me than anything else. She made us leave, forever."
"Takato… you did the right thing…"
"How could that be true?! I caused them nothing but trouble, and now they all hate me! I was the one at fault. Me!"
"Would whatever it was have been satisfied with killing Leomon?"
"No, but…"
"But nothing. If your old friends can't see that then they don't deserve to be called your friends."
He smiled a little then.
"Thanks."
"Are you coming back now?"
"No. I'm going to stay here a while longer. The party back there reminds me too much of the last time my old friends and I were together before… everything."
I nodded again.
"Cheer up soon, huh?"
"I'll try. I just need some time, Sora."
I turned and walked back to the party.
He'll work it out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I lay there in my bed that night thinking about the day's events. Something significant had happened in my talk with Sora, I was sure of it. I just wasn't sure what.
When I closed my eyes I always saw what happened that day. Between that and the fictional nightmares, I never got much sleep. But this time when I closed them, I was a bit more detached. I saw things that I hadn't before. My imagination? Maybe. I had always concentrated on Jeri's face before, even though I had looked at and to all the others. As I looked with my mind's eye, I realized that I might have been wrong.
Maybe they don't hate me after all…
This time when I looked, I saw confusion and shock on their faces, reminiscent of someone completely stunned. I felt a little better knowing that, or at least opening up the possibility. Stunned I could understand. I had been that way myself when I had come to my senses. I pulled my good-luck charm out from under my shirt and looked at Rika's slightly flushed face again. I smiled and kissed it softly. I lay back, and had my first night in awhile that wasn't plagued by nightmares.
Good night, My Queen.