Beginning a Secret Life
Mokuba woke up and checked the time on his clock. Already it was 3:00 in the afternoon. "Wow," he yawned. "I must've really dozed off. Well, that's what I get for staying up until the break of dawn."
At the bedside, Guilmon was waking up too. "Is it time for lunch?" he asked, yawning.
The boy softly chuckled and patted his head. He also felt his stomach rumble. "I guess we should grab ourselves a snack." So they both got up and left the bedroom.
On their way to the dining room, Agumon stopped and and greeted his housemates. "Hey, guys. You must've been really tired. You were sleeping for hours." He looked at Mokuba and told him directly, "Moki, your brother asked me to find you and ask you for your help regarding a few technical things, but I told him you were sleeping."
Mokuba rubbed his eyes. "Was one of the techies having problems again? Did Seto need me to look at the database and stocks?"
"Just something regarding the amusement park," Agumon answered. "I didn't get all the details, but Kaiba wants you to come by and help."
"Okay," Mokuba answered. "Just let me get something to eat, then I'll see what's going on." So he and Guilmon grabbed themselves a quick snack, then headed to Kaiba's workroom. Since the KC Grand Championship a year and a half ago, the brothers were able to open up a few additional theme parks in Japan and the west and east coasts of the United States. It brought the company's stocks to a satisfying high number and was really increasing their profits by millions. And with all the adventures they had been having in the other worlds, the brothers had been adding additional attractions like Pokémon, and Sailor Moon, and now they were starting to add Digimon to the picture. Mokuba wondered if that was what this was about. His brother had been having these discussions with the board of directors and the lot of them were agreeing with the additions. Still, it didn't mean that the elder brother didn't need to consider Mokuba's opinion.
Mokuba went to his brother's workroom to help him out. He listened to his opinions on how to add Digimon as an attraction for the theme park. Mokuba saw a well-organized list of ideas including stuffed animals folks could win as prizes when playing the games, building rides shaped like Digimon, and showing them as holographic displays in the adventure trails. Each idea seemed great and Mokuba wasn't sure what else to add. He tried to show he was eager to help out, but at the same time, he wanted the day to be over quickly and for tomorrow to come fast so he and Rebecca could meet up and return to the new world. Still, he tried to keep himself focused and motivated for this while.
The next morning, Mokuba was on the phone with Rebecca. "Hi, Rebecca."
"Hey, Moki," her voice said on the other line. "Are you almost ready to go?"
"I will be," he answered. "I just have to finish packing. I'm also going to stop by Emily's to get some more of her baked goods for us, then I'll meet you at the falls."
"Okay," Rebecca told him. "I'm almost all packed too. Meet you there in twenty minutes?"
"You bet," Mokuba replied. "I love you."
"I love you too," the blonde returned. "See you in a little while." And they ended the call.
Mokuba went through his supplies. He had an extra pair of clothes to wear as well as sleep in, his toothbrush and comb, a small first-aid kit, and he made sure he had enough money to last him for the trip. "Okay, I guess this is everything I'll need. And I can always come back if something comes up." And he began putting his things in his backpack.
Guilmon came to the bedroom and wondered what his partner was doing. "What's going on? Why are you packed? Are you going somewhere?"
Mokuba smiled nervously. "I'm going on an adventure in another world," he answered. "Just for a few days."
The red dragon smiled eagerly. "Can I come too?" He wondered if Mokuba was going to see any of his friends from the other worlds.
Mokuba didn't want to disappoint his partner, but he didn't want to put him in any danger either. Other than that, the boy didn't want to break his promise. After putting his backpack on, he tells Guilmon, "Sorry, boy, not this time."
Guilmon was disappointed. "Why not?"
Mokuba was finding that this was getting to be a little difficult. "I just can't bring you along right now. I made a promise. But it wasn't to not bring you to see my friends anymore," he assured him. "It's just a little hard to explain right now." He rubs his partner's head and promises him, "But don't worry, I'll be back in a few minutes." And he leaves his room and walks out the door.
It took Mokuba about ten minutes to find the nearest alley that would bring him to the Secret Garden. He passed through and took the door back to his world to end up in front of Emily's house. He came at a good time too. The older blonde had an assortment of treats already baked. There was bread made with blueberries and some muffins made with blackberries. Mokuba wanted to take all of it, but was worried that Emily might have already made all this for someone else.
It was. The bread was for the bikers, and the muffins were Duke. But Emily still had enough ingredients to make these treats again, so she decided to let Mokuba take them. The boy felt a little bad for taking all this, so he decided to give some of his money to her as thanks. Although Emily told Mokuba that he didn't have to pay her, the boy insisted. Besides, he was always asking her to make treats for himself and his friends. Besides, even sometimes Kaiba would pay Emily to make some of her baked goods for any special occasion and he would pay handsomely too. As such, Mokuba figured that he should at least do the same.
Gatomon watched and wondered why Mokuba wanted all of those baked goods. Surely he wouldn't eat it all by himself. Emily wondered the same thing and figured that maybe he and his friends were going on a picnic. She shrugged it off and went back to baking. At that moment, Emily remembered that she promised to make Guilmon bread again for Guilmon, but Mokuba told her it was all right and could wait. For now, he just wanted to hurry and meet up with Rebecca.
Mokuba made it back to the Secret Garden and hurried over to Celestic Falls where he saw Rebecca. Thankfully, he didn't keep her waiting. Now that they were together, they could finally return to Paris. They went behind the falls and walked through the cave and passed through the door and wound up back in the streets of Paris in their transformed clothes.
"All right, we're back," Rebecca cheered.
Mokuba looked around. Things still looked the same as they did when they left. "I guess time stopped for us here while we were at home," he assumed. "That means we can explore the city like we planned."
"Great," Rebecca said. "And once we're finished, we can head back to the cathedral." Mokuba liked the idea and he and his girlfriend began exploring the city.
While walking, the two young lovers passed through a few bakeries, boutiques, small shops, the marketplace, and they even took a stroll along the river. Feeling hungry, they stopped near the river and sat down to eat. Mokuba took a muffin for himself and for his girlfriend and Rebecca took out some of the fruit she brought with her from the Secret Garden and got an apple for herself and for her boyfriend.
After chewing and swallowing her muffin, Rebecca said, "I gotta admit it, Moki, coming here was a great idea."
Her boyfriend agreed. "Well, they say Paris is the city of romance, so I guess it's fitting that two young lovers like us would wind up here." And they both began giggling at the thought. He also saw the cathedral in the distance. "I can't wait to see Quasi again."
"Me neither," said Rebecca. "But we've still got a few more hours and more of this place to see." Then she muttered to herself, "I wonder what the others would say if we told them we came here and met Quasi."
Mokuba chewed his food and asked, "Hmm? Did you say something?"
That was when another question came into mind. "Moki, I was also thinking, why do you suppose we came to this particular world?" Not that she was complaining. She was just curious.
But not even Mokuba had any idea. "I don't know, but I'm glad we wound up here." He was about to take another bite from his apple until he stopped himself. "Hold on, this is a new world, yet we can come and go between here and the Secret Garden as we please. Does that mean there's no Cobalt Star shard? But then why would a door to this world just appear?" Then he wondered, did it have to do with the wish he made?
"It is mysterious," Rebecca said in acknowledgement. "Mokuba, say there was a Cobalt Star shard in this world. Do you think it would be in Frollo's possession?"
Mokuba looked at his girlfriend. "That's something only Max or Emily would know."
"Do you think we should ask them?" Rebecca asked.
That wasn't a good idea. That meant telling the girls and the others how they discovered the door to this world and came here. It also meant risking their friendship with Quasimodo. "I think for now, Rebecca, we should keep all of this between us."
The blonde agreed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. The less the others know, the better. Besides, whether or not Frollo has a Cobalt Star shard, he is still bad news."
"That's why we have to avoid him as best as we can while we're here," said the raven-haired lad. "Think of it this way, us being here is like an adventure and also somewhat of a vacation. And it's also like a secret life for us since we're keeping it all secret from everyone else."
Rebecca nodded in acknowledgement. "And I guess now that Quasi has met us and let us into his life, he's living a secret life too since he's trying to keep us a secret from that creep."
Mokuba nodded, then faced the cathedral and began thinking about his friend. He was worried because keeping a secret isn't always easy and it eventually becomes discovered. That made the boy worry, what would happen if he and his girlfriend were to be discovered? Well, like they said, they would just have to be careful.
After eating, the children returned to the square. On the way to the cathedral, Mokuba gasped as he saw the evil minister nearby. "Look out," he hissed to Rebecca, pulling her close to him. They watched from the shadows of an alley as they saw him. "He must be making his rounds around the city," Mokuba whispered.
Rebecca growled. "I hate how he's always going around attacking innocent people. It makes me so mad, I just want to…" she growled again, holding a fist and catching it with her other hand.
Mokuba admired his girlfriend's spunk, but he also worried about her. Still, he understood how she felt. "I know. But you have to realize, Becca, he's not the kind of guy you want to mess with."
Rebecca calmed down, seeing that her boyfriend had a point. "Still, I wish someone would do something like stand up to him." She stifled a small laugh. "Even better, humiliate him."
Mokuba snickered at the idea. He peeked from the shadows again and saw the minister leaving. "Good, he's leaving," he whispered. "Come on. We can make it across the square and reach the cathedral without him noticing us."
"I just hope he's not going to change his mind and go our way," Rebecca prayed.
"Maybe if we're lucky, he'll go back to the Palace of Justice," Mokuba whispered. That was one of the places in the city the children didn't stop to see. Not that they needed to. They already saw the Palace of Justice from the balcony at the cathedral. "Stay beside me and try to keep it casual."
So the children came out of the alley and slowly began walking across the square. Mokuba would glance to his side for a short time to make sure the minister wasn't coming their way while Rebecca would hold her hands behind her and whistle while looking around.
They made it inside the cathedral without being noticed. "Whew, that was close," Rebecca said, putting her hand close to her chest.
Mokuba sighed of relief as well. "We got lucky." At first, it didn't make much sense to hide from Frollo when the children did nothing wrong, but they knew he wasn't one to be trusted. Besides, like Mokuba and Rebecca agreed, they did not want to have an encounter with that man, whether or not he was working for the Dark Lord.
