Chapter Four

His eyes watched the girl with interest. Her cloak swaying slightly in the breeze. The small plant Digimon departing to her home deeper in the forest. The girl was on the plump side, a good sign that she came from a wealthy family. She kept to the path but Beelzebumon didn't mind. That meant if she ran, he could follow easily.

Nimbly, he leaped in front of Mimi, scaring her from going any further. Beelzebumon bowed slightly, trying to feign courtesy. His claws stretched warmly towards the young girl. "Where are you going in such a rush, little girl?" Beelzebumon asked Mimi, trying to keep the hunger out of his voice.

Mimi tried to go around him but he kept in front. "To my grandmother's house, Mr. Digimon," she said. Beelzebumon gave her a toothy grin which made her wince slightly.

"What's in the basket?" Beelzebumon asked, eying not the basket but Mimi herself.

"Bread and wine to make her feel better. She's sick in bed, you know," Mimi remarked causally, and tried to move forward again. Beelzebumon continued to block her way.

"Oh? Where does your Granny live?" he asked. "I don't want to sound nosy but I don't want to feel responsible for knowing that someone your age is wandering the woods around midnight."

Mimi's queasiness started to ebb. This Digimon seemed to be of a nice sort, that had to be a good sign. "About a quarter of a league more into the woods," she said, waving in the direction. "Her house lies beside three cherry trees."

Beelzebumon nodded slightly and let Mimi walk past him. Turning around, he started trailing her. "I don't think you should go so fast, little girl," he hissed in her ear. "You're missing all the beautiful sights of the forest."

Mimi turned around, facing Beelzebumon. He stepped back slightly, long tail flicking back and forth. "I can't," she said sadly. "Mother and Father told me to keep to the path, just to the path and not stray. Not to linger and not to delay."

Beelzebumon faked surprise. "Really?" he asked, his voice dripping with fake shock. "That's really too bad... You're missing all the flowers."

With the last sentence, Beelzebumon gestured towards a clump of flowers that were growing just off the path. "The sun won't set for hours, that's all I'm saying," he said. Mimi mulled this over for a minute before setting off to gather some of the flowers the Digimon had mentioned.

Beelzebumon watched her with hunger in his eyes. This was indeed a treat, an old grandmother and her dull witted plum granddaughter. It was going to be a lovely meal. He dared to lick his lips, Mimi had her back to him and didn't notice him eying her. "Perhaps Granny would like a bouquet," she murmured.

Beelzebumon outreached hand almost caught the edge of Mimi's cape when she turned around quick. "Have a good day, Mr. Digimon," she said and started down the path again. Beelzebumon didn't follow her.

Instead, he leaped back into the brush and started to run towards Mimi's grandmother's house. Beelzebumon grinned wildly, he loved a good meal. Young and old meat together, that would be a treat!

-

Taichi wandered the woods in search of Mimi. He had to grab the cloak to get the potion to get a child but at the same time he felt like he shouldn't take something that belonged to a young girl. Sora would steal it, she wanted a child badly and thought that, in the end, the child would justify it. Maybe Taichi would have to bargain with the girl... Would she like some baked sweets in exchange for the cape? He doubted it.

Then he saw her coming up the path. "Oh hello, little girl," Taichi said. "What a lovely cape you have."

Mimi, puzzled, nodded in greeting. "It is lovely, isn't it? My grandmother made it for me," she said, a very confused expression on her face.

"Oh how I would love to have a cloak like that," Taichi said, edging towards Mimi.

"You'd look pretty silly," Mimi said, stepping backwards. Taichi decided it was time and lunged at her, unbuckled the cloak. Taking it, he ran off into the woods. Mimi blinked for a moment then started to cry loudly. She liked the cloak very much and Granny always said it looked splendid on her.

Taichi, not far away, heard Mimi's crying and sadly returned the cloak. "Don't cry," he said. "I was, um, just making sure that, er, you love that cloak."

Mimi yanked her cloak back and glared at him before running down the path to her grandmother's house.

Taichi watched her and sighed. He had the cloak for a few minutes and he let it slide through his fingers. "Forget the girl!" Yoshino snapped. Taichi leaped in fright. The witch had sneaked up on him. "Get the cloak!"

"If you want it, why don't you get it?" he asked, anger replacing his sudden fright.

"If I could," Yoshino said slowly, as if she was talking a slow-witted child. "I would, but since I can't, you have to! If you want a child, that is."

Taichi was bit put back by this response and hurriedly followed Mimi down the path. He wanted to get as far away from the witch as possible.

-

"Hello, Granny?" Mimi called into the dark cottage. Away from the baker and the strange Digimon, Mimi felt somewhat braver. Although, if Palmon was there, it probably wouldn't be so frightening.

The cottage was unusually dark and Mimi could only vaguely see the form of her grandmother asleep in the bed in the corner. "Yes. Come in my dear," Mimi's grandmother said, her voice unusually gravelly. It was probably her sickness that made her sound like that, Mimi reasoned.

She strode to her grandmother's side and laid her basket on the table. Mimi leaned close to her grandmother to see her better. "Oh my," she said. "What big hands you have."

"The better to hug you with," the grandmother said.

"And what big eyes you have," Mimi said.

"The better to see you with, my dear," the grandmother replied.

"Granny!" Mimi gasped. "You have such big teeth!"

The grandmother, who was really Beelzebumon in disguise grinned. "Oh yes," he said. "The better to eat you with, my dinner!"

With that being said, Beelzebumon gobbled Mimi down. She was very hard to swallow, of course, but he was stubborn and within moments she was resting in his stomach. Beelzebumon leaned back in the bed and decided to take a nap.

-

Taichi walked towards the small cottage in the woods. Near it, he peered into the cottage. A grandmother was taking a nap. "That grandmother has a mighty snore," he muttered and was about to continue on his way. Raising the lantern he was carrying to the window, Taichi peered in. "Wait! That isn't a grandmother... It has some red cloth stuck in it's teeth!"

Running to the front of the cottage and in through the open front door, Taichi grabbed a knife from the kitchen. This Digimon had eaten the little girl and the cape. He would cut the cape out of the Digimon's stomach. Throwing off a blanket, Taichi pierced the stomach of Beelzebumon.

Beelzebumon woke up with a cry of pain then leaned back, whimpering as both an old grandmother and Mimi climbed out of his stomach. The grandmother even hit him on the head as she climbed out. "Take that knife and cut off the demon's head!" she growled at Taichi.

He paled slightly. Taichi didn't know two people could fit in a Digimon's stomach and he wasn't about to question that but to cut off Beelzebumon's head? "Sorry..." he said. "And the Digimon is dissolving!"

Indeed Beelzebumon, like most Digimon do, was dissolving. He would be reborn, of course, but he learned that lesson well. Mimi wrinkled her nose at the dying Digimon. "Thanks for rescuing us," she said to Taichi. "It was so dark and damp in that Digimon. Here, have my cape as thanks."

Taichi received Mimi's cloak gratefully. "Anyways," Mimi's grandmother interrupted. "I'll make Mimi a new cape with a skin of a wolf! Come on, Granddaughter! Let's go find us a wolf to kill!"

Taichi left before he could listen to the argument. He started to shake his head outside of the cottage. That little girl had an odd family, to be sure, but at least he got the cloak as red as blood.

-

Milky the cow struggled against Sora's grip. The cow always seemed to want to go in the opposite direction. So when a young woman in a lavender ball gown ran into the small grove and fell down, Sora ran to help her up. That was when the cow ran off into the woods. "Ugh!" Sora cried. "My cow!"

"What were you doing with a cow here, anyways?" Izumi asked as Sora helped her up. Sora shrugged.

"I was taking it home," Sora said lightly. "And you? It seems strange for someone to run in the woods in a ball gown at this late hour. Were you at the ball? I would have went if I had the time."

"Is it that obvious?" Izumi asked, almost laughing as she brushed the dirt off her dress. "Well, yes, I was. They even trumpeted when I entered!"

"And of the prince?" asked Sora, interested.

"Oh, he's..." Izumi tried to find the words to describe the prince. "Well, I danced with him. He was by my side all night."

"You did? What is he like?" Sora asked. When she was younger, she had always dreamed of dancing with a prince. "They say he's charming. Is he?"

"Well... I guess he is," Izumi admitted. "Though, I haven't seen a lot of princes before so I can't really say."

"How long did you dance?"

"All night. Nothing but dancing. My feet are aching so much," Izumi replied, lifting her dress up to indicate her feet. Sora gave a little gasp when she saw her shoes. They were golden.

"Are those really gold?" Sora asked. Izumi sighed and nodded.

"They are beautiful but very impractical. Not good for either running or dancing," Izumi said.

"Oh," Sora said. Sounds of running feet came to the ears of both of the women. Izumi straightened up and swiftly sat behind several trees that were clumped together. Sora dropped to the ground as a man, who presented himself with the air of nobility, ran into the grove.

"You there," he said, noticing Sora on the ground. "Have you seen a woman in a ball gown run past here?"

Sora shook her head. "I'm sorry, my prince," she said. "I haven't seen a maiden like that."

The prince sighed, running his hand through his reddish hair. "Oh well," he said. "She couldn't have gotten far."

With that, the prince left. Izumi walked out of her hiding place when he left and thanked Sora. "Thank you for that," she said. "He's a nice prince, I guess, but I have to get home."

Izumi, after saying that, started running again towards her father's home. She stopped after only a few feet and pointed ahead. "See that?" she asked Sora. "A beanstalk climbing up to the sky next to that tiny cottage!"

Sora was going to ask about Izumi's shoes but she was already out of earshot.