Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. I had most of this written and then corona struck and with it went a lot of my motivation, but someone left a really nice comment and I decided to continue onwards! So here we go!

Mimi's bones ached deeply. Even just thinking of moving seemed to hurt, and she instantly wanted nothing more then to cuddle further under her comforter and ignore the rising of the sun outside of her window. Except there was no comforter, no mattress below her, only hard ground and the tickle of grass against her face.

That was plenty to wake Mimi up, her eyes snapping open and trying to adjust to the harsh light of the afternoon sun. She was in a rather unpleasant heap at the base of a tree, several pieces of wood cracked and broken, pink paneling from the train, even a wheel, spread out around her. Sitting up Mimi did a quick once over on herself, assessing the damage. It looked like he had a lot of scratches from probably falling through the tree, but luckily other than that she seemed okay. But the train… she glanced up and wished she could have said she was surprised that the tree had managed to hold almost the entirety of the train up. While it was in pieces, most of the interior car looked like it had been split into two halves. Mimi stood up, and dusted herself off.

"Kari!" She yelled out, cupped her hands to her mouth. "Cody?!" Mimi wracked her brain for who else had been in their train car, but she was relatively sure it was just the three of them, Her head went from one side to the other, trying to find any evidence. She looked at the impossibly large flowers and overgrown foliage and then, almost hesitantly, called out again. "...Palmon?"

There were no replies to her shouts, so she fixed her eyes up the tree to the train car, cracked her knuckles, and began climbing. She was glad she had dressed more for practicality rather than for cuteness (although surely she was doing both at the same time). About halfway to where the the train car was she took a rest on a thick branch, wiping her brow. It was humid and hot here, making her feel sticky. She took a deep breath and continued the rest of the way up, trying not to dwell too long on the memories that flitted through her head. Of watching the other train cars being torn from the track, flying out in the abyss, until only their car was left. Kari sobbing into her shoulder after watching Tai be torn away. Cody huddled close, trembling and silent. How she had kept her eyes trained on the windows, watching the dark shadow of something circle around them until finally it barreled into the side of the train car.

Finally she stood at the opening into one of the train cars. Each step Mimi took inside of the train was cautious, the ground creaking underneath her. There was no sign of life, at least in this half of the train car, but she did find her back pack, the zipper having luckily held strong. She grabbed it and tossed it around her shoulders, and then almost as an afterthought grabbed several of the pillows of blankets.

Carefully she walked from one half of the train car to the other one, having to cross some more branches to reach it. She tossed the blankets and pillows down below as she went, freeing her hands for more climbing. Again she walked down the destroyed train car, looking down each seat. She had come looking for something, but couldn't help the gasp that came from her mouth when she actually found it.

Splayed between two seats like a ragdoll thrown onto the ground by a petulant child was Cody, his hair askew and scratches all over, particularly a nasty one on his head that had crusted over and turned a dark shade of maroon. In a small circle around him was what appeared to be a floating barcode which couldn't be good, but was not something that Mimi was going to worry about at this exact moment.

"Cody!" She cried, hurrying forward and kneeling next to him, cradling his head in her arms. He was so young, so small, he had to be okay. Mimi lightly patted his face, biting her lip as she desperately tried to awaken him. The barcode around him faded into nothingness as she stirred, making a few noises, eyebrows scrunching up before his eyes opened, locking onto Mimi's face.

"Mimi…" He muttered, and closed his eyes again for a moment, taking a few steady breaths.

"Oh thank goodness Cody. Are you okay?" Mimi fretted as Cody got his arms beneath him, propping himself up. His breaths continued to come in deep and even, intelligent eyes scanning the surroundings.

"I- I think so. I think I could use a hand getting up though." She kneeled down and helped him get to his feet, and while at first his legs shook it didn't take long for him to steady himself. He had also brought a pack with him which was still securely around his shoulders, and while he glanced around the train car making sure that nothing important had fallen out, Mimi finished looking around so see if Kari was there.

The answer was no, and an iron pit formed in her stomach.

"We should probably get down." Cody said as the train car groaned beneath his feet, looking over the edge.

"Do you think you're be able to climb?" Mimi asked hesitantly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think I have much of a choice." He replied, licking his lips once or twice as he sized up the distance.

"I'll go first." Mimi offered, and Cody gave a calm nod. "Pay attention to where I put my hands and feet. We'll take it down to… that branch." Mimi gestured to a large sturdy branch about halfway down. "And then we'll go the rest of the way from there."

The process was slow going, and several times Mim had to climb back up the tree after Cody to help steady him through certain portions of the climb. It looked like he hurt on his head, while not serious, had left him light headed. Eventually Mimi took his pack from him, took the breakables into her own bag, and tossed it the rest of the way down the tree, where it landed on the previously thrown pillows and blankets. But, after some trial and error, the pair of them made it. Cody sat heavily on the ground, leaning himself up against a tree and taking even breaths.

"Are you going to be okay?" Mimi asked for the fifth time in as many minutes. Cody, just like every single time, gave a firm nod.

"I'm fine, just out of breath is all." His eyes wandered around the small spot where Mimi had woken up. "Where's Kari?" Mimi bit her lip, looking off to the side.

"I'm not sure, I haven't been able to find her yet, but I also can't leave you here alone like this…" Cody rose to his feet and reached for some of the large leaves and flowers, carefully taking a pocket knife from his pack and using it to cut them, placing them over their supplies.

"Now we don't have to worry about things getting stolen." Cody said, facing Mimi. "We search for her together." A protest was on Mimi's tongue, inching its way across her lips, but she bit down on it quickly when Cody gave her something that approached a glare. Perhaps TK's stubbornness had rubbed off on him, them being friends as well as Jogress partners and all that.

"We'll find her." Mimi says, channeling all the willpower and sureness into her voice as possible, and Cody nods back at her, determination flashing in his eyes.

oOo

"Hey guys!" Tommy shouts, and the was the sound of footsteps as his companions ran over. "Should we be worried about that?" He points and the rest of the digidestined follow the direction of his fingers to the crashed train car in the distance, smoke still rising from the wreckage.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter. I hope to get around to writing more but I am very busy with college and most of my writing time these days goes towards my novel or the podcast I'm writing.

you can check me out on tumblr as the-east-art