Intertwined Destinies
Previously in Intertwined Destinies:
The digidestined and Jade have left File Island and have arrived on the continent of Server with Whamon's help. The only thing they need to do is gather the seven crests that are scattered throughout Server, and once they have the crests their digimon partners will be able to digivolve to the Ultimate level. The crest of Courage (Tai) has been found, as has the crest of Reliability (Joe). Tai's personality took a turn for the worst and now his positive relationship with Jade looks like it's gone forever. Greymon was forced to dark digivolve into SkullGreymon and Jade drained him of his power, forcing him to then de-digivolve into Koromon.
With Etemon on their trail, they need to leave as soon as possible. They need to work together now more than ever, for true danger awaits on the horizon. Will they have the strength to overcome it? The next chapter of their adventure awaits...
Chapter 11: Sincerity
It became obvious, to Joe at least, that there was more wrong with Tai than he was letting on. They had been walking for what felt like hours through stifling heat but not one word had passed his lips. There were times when Joe feared that they had lost Tai in the desert and would try to be casual about his looks towards the back of the group, just to make sure that he was still with them. Even now, after glancing back at the boy again, Tai was pale and downtrodden.
"Do you think something else happened that we aren't aware of?" Matt asked in a whisper, seeing Joe turn around again. He was also concerned about Tai. Tai had never walked at the back of the group before willingly, and he had never gone so long without looking at Jade either.
"I don't know," Joe whispered back. "I think that he's just lost confidence in himself. We need to figure out a way to pull him back."
"Jade could probably do it," Matt suggested. "How is she, by the way?"
"Jade is more likely to avoid Tai," Joe replied. "You saw her face, when he hit her. The betrayal in her eyes…what Tai did, hurt her more emotionally than physically. Her trust has been shaken."
"But how is she?"
"She hasn't moved since I picked her up," Joe stared at Jade who was still cradled against his chest. "Not a mumble or twitch, it's like she's gone right passed sleeping and fallen into a coma."
"A coma?" Matt asked, alarmed.
"It's what I think, but she's never stayed asleep too long after draining herself."
"She's never passed out either."
"She was unconscious for a while after Phoenixmon disappeared. Who knows what affect that had on her?"
The two boys walked on in silence, Joe looking back to make sure Tai was with them still. Mimi and Sora were walking together just in front of Tai, with Izzy and TK just in front of them. No one was talking, all too exhausted and hot to bother. The only two digimon who weren't walking were Tokomon and Koromon, though while Tokomon appeared comfortable, Koromon was still recovering from being SkullGreymon as he looked horrible. Gabumon was also suffering, but that was due to his fur coat. The other digimon could have also used some time out of the sun, but the only thing surrounding them for miles was cacti.
"Man! This desert is so hot a lizard would need sunscreen!" Matt finally yelled.
"Sora, can you carry me?" Biyomon asked hopefully. Sora looked at her, her face red from the heat, and shook her head.
"The crew cut would look nice on you," Tentomon told Izzy. "And it's cooler."
Izzy wiped his hand across his forehead to wipe away the collection of sweat that was building up. Other than that he didn't say a word to his partner and continued to stumble along.
"Do I look fat?" Gabumon asked Matt, bumping against his side when he stumbled.
"No, you look hot," Matt told him. "Especially with a fur coat. That thing really needs a zipper."
"Or maybe just removable shirt sleeves," Gabumon wished.
Joe rolled his neck slightly and readjusted his grip on Jade. She may have been small and light, but he'd been carrying her for hours and his arms were getting sore. Gomamon looked up at his partner in concern. The heat was taking its toll on all of them. Mimi, surprising everyone, waltzed up next to Joe and offered to carry Jade for a while.
"You want to carry Jade?" Joe asked her, slightly incredulous.
"Yep," Mimi told him. "I won't drop her if that's what's worrying you. Besides, aren't your arms sore? I can carry her on my back for a while, and maybe she'll wake up sooner if she feels that she's being carried by someone who hasn't carried her before."
Mimi did have a point, and Joe's arms were sore, but Jade was still very still. One of the main reasons Joe wanted to carry her was to keep an eye on her health. In the end he agreed with Mimi and the two of them worked to get Jade on Mimi's back. Mimi's hat was large enough that it covered Jade's head where it rested on her shoulder, and Joe couldn't help but sigh as he shook his arms out.
"Oh, she's lighter than Palmon," Mimi observed. "That cannot be healthy for her."
"Jade doesn't eat much," Tokomon pipped up. "When I was Patamon I still ate more than she did."
"I don't think her aunt and uncle feed her," Izzy added. "I may not have joined you guys much at camp, but even I saw her cousin and there's no way that her family could be short on food. He was at least four times wider than she is, and whenever I did see him he was stuffing his face."
"Or picking on the younger kids," Sora added. "He's a bully. He never wrote to me for the Pen Pal Project, but I learnt a lot about him from Jade. She wrote to me instead of him for 'destroying his work'."
Sora looked back at Tai as she spoke, hoping that the topic of conversation would cause him to add in some information. She knew that he knew more about Jade than anyone, and that she knew more about him than she realised. Sora had never read Tai's letters, but she did talk to him about them on occasion. It was only now that she wondered, what was it about Jade that caused Tai to trust her so much after just a few letters?
It was as she was watching her friend that whatever he was fighting caught up with him. He collapsed in a boneless heap, turning slightly on the side so that he wouldn't crush Koromon with his weight. Her startled cry of alarm caused the others to turn as well, and soon they were all crowding around him. Izzy lifted Koromon so that the digimon wouldn't get hurt, while Joe, Matt and Sora rushed forwards to see what was wrong with Tai. Mimi remained where she was with TK, knowing that they would get in the way.
"Damn it Tai," Joe whispered as he rolled the boy onto his back. "Stubborn, mule-headed, self-sacrificing idiot…haven't we had this conversation before?"
"I have it with him at least once a week," Sora told him as she lifted Tai's head so that it could rest on her knees.
"What's wrong with him?" Matt asked Joe in concern. "He's really pale."
"Probably the same thing that's wrong with Jade," Joe muttered. "But whereas Jade is resting it off, whatever it is, Tai thought he'd be strong enough and has now utterly exhausted himself."
"He couldn't have done this where there was shade?" Matt groaned. "We'll all cook out here if we stay here too long."
"Our goal was to get as far away from Etemon as quickly as we could," Sora told him as Joe checked Tai's pulse. "I don't think we would have been able to stop, even if Tai had mentioned something."
"Which is probably why he didn't," Matt muttered. "Stubborn idiot."
"Is he alright?" Mimi asked in concern.
"He needs to get out of the sun," Joe told her, sitting back on his heels. "We all do."
"You know, what we need right is a whole bunch of shade," Palmon stated. "A big umbrella, or a really big tree, or maybe I could grow into a giant cactus and smile down onto all of you as I provide cool, refreshing comfort."
"It's official, the sun has just turned Palmon's brain into a French fry," Matt announced as he looked over at the aforementioned digimon. "Earth to Palmon, come in Palmon."
"Well, staying here isn't going to do us any good," Joe stated before someone else could comment. "Matt, help me get Tai up, we'll drag him to a cactus or something so that we can rest in the shade."
Matt sighed but did as Joe asked. He threw one of Tai's arms across his shoulders, and his other arm went across Joe's. His head lolled against his chest lifelessly, and Matt became even more concerned when he felt just how cold Tai was. A quick look at Joe told him that he'd already noticed it but didn't want the others to worry at that moment. So Matt kept his observation silent, but was unable to mask his concern.
The group continued to move, though it was at a slightly slower pace as they had Tai's dead weight to contend with. Gabumon and Biyomon teamed up to snap Palmon back to reality, and then Gabumon took pity on Gomamon and put him onto his back. Granted, his fur was hot, but Gomamon still sighed in relief at being off the ground. They all knew that when they found somewhere with water they would need to soak their feet, and in the case of the digimon, possibly treat their feet for burns.
"Ow."
Joe and Matt stopped abruptly at the noise that Tai had made. Matt sighed in relief, and not just because it meant he wouldn't have to drag his friend along. Their stopping alerted the others and soon Tai was surrounded with everyone talking at once. Joe silenced them with a glare, and as soon as there was silence he turned to his patient.
"How are you feeling Tai?" he asked.
"Like I was stepped on by a Monochromon," Tai mumbled. "What happened?"
"You collapsed," Matt told him as he helped Tai sit on the ground. "Scared us all half to death when you did. You didn't even make a sound, just dropped."
"I don't feel so good," Tai admitted, resting his head on his knees. "Why do I feel cold?"
"Were you going to tell us that you didn't feel well?" Joe asked sternly. "I know that we've had this conversation before. Didn't you learn your lesson back in Toy Town? If your ribs had actually been broken you could have died and there was nothing that we could have done about it."
"I just thought it was because of what I did to Greymon," Tai admitted. "Jade's done it before and she's been fine. I thought it would pass."
"Jade is currently unconscious because of what she did to SkullGreymon," Joe whispered so only Tai, and Matt who was still close by, could hear. "And that's after everything that she's already done. You've never done anything like that before, so it was to be expected that your body would rebel. But because you didn't say anything we had no idea and it wasn't until you dropped from exhaustion that most of us knew that something was wrong."'
"How is Jade?" Tai asked after nodding his understanding.
"Unconscious."
"Not anymore," Mimi corrected. Her gaze was focused on her left shoulder where Jade's head rested, and as everyone was watching they saw how Jade moved and lifted her head.
"Welcome back," Joe called to her. "How are you feeling?"
Jade, who had come to consciousness slow enough that she had heard most of the conversation with Tai, looked at Joe without making a sound. Her eyes flickered to everyone to make sure that they were still together, except for Tai. Her dismissal of him caused Tai to flinch and withdraw further into himself. Jade's eyes returned to Joe's and she nodded.
"Oh wow!" TK suddenly cried. "I've never seen a cactus that big before!"
Everyone followed TK's gaze to see a giant cactus. It was huge. They all looked at each other before deciding that it would be in their best interests to rush over to it for the shade that it no doubt created. However, as soon as they got close enough they all realised that the giant cactus wasn't real. It didn't create shade, or block the sun, it was just a mirage that everyone could see. Before their eyes it disappeared, and just about everyone groaned.
Tai's right arm was across Matt's shoulders, at the other boy's insistence, so that he could keep up with everyone. He and Jade were the only ones who didn't groan, and that was because the two of them lacked the energy to do so.
"It was just a mirage!" Matt stated angrily. "We've been tricked!"
No matter what they thought about the mirage, they all dropped to the ground in despair. Jade slid off Mimi's back and sat next to her, cross-legged on the ground. Tai allowed his body to fall backwards so that he was lying down, and it helped the dizziness he was feeling because the ground wasn't moving.
"Well, well, it's about time you got here. I was just about ready to give up on you."
The ground in front of them broke apart to reveal another metallic device, like the one Gennai had used when they were still on File Island. Jade looked at the device curiously, being the only one who hadn't seen it before, and crawled forwards so that she was directly in front of it. The image of an old man appeared hovering over the device, and it was only Matt's cry of recognition that Jade realised the man before her was Gennai.
"Gennai?! What happened? You got old!" she cried before she could stop herself. TK giggled behind her as Joe made to silence her, embarrassment clear on his features.
"Little One! It's good to see you as well," Gennai told her happily. "You've grown, not much, but you've grown."
"I'm nine now," she told him with a wide smile. The others were amazed to see the change that had come over her. She'd never looked this cheerful before.
"Nine? Goodness, so it's only been three years? The timeline here is really out of sync."
"Out of sync?" Izzy asked curiously, but both ignored him.
"Why'd I forget you?" Jade asked desperately. "I'm only remembering now because I'm here, but otherwise it was just a dream."
"How much do you remember?"
"You let me help look after the baby digimon, and there was an angel who carried me around to see all the digimon, and there was an egg," Jade explained.
"Your memory will return when you are ready for it," Gennai promised her. His eyes turned to the others, taking in their appearance and despondent attitude.
"Gennai, we found the tags and a couple of crests like you wanted," Matt told him, looking down at Tai who had not moved since lying down. "But when we got into trouble our digimon couldn't digivolve. They ended up worse off than when they started. Koromon's having trouble recovering, although, I suppose this heat isn't really helping matters."
"I think those thingies are more trouble than they're worth," Mimi added with a frown.
"Calm down kids, let me explain," Gennai told them. "The tags and crests are extremely important, please make sure no one else gets a hold of them. Phoenixmon risked her life to hide them from the enemy a few centuries ago. In the end you shall see that they will work together to help you create total harmony."
"In English?" Mimi requested as everyone looked quickly at Jade before looking away again. As she was at the front of the group, Jade never saw the stares.
"Just trust me," Gennai told them. "After all, I'm the floating glowing guy! As for Koromon, he wouldn't be so helpless if you'd known to take care of him in the proper way."
"What?!" Tai demanded, sitting straight up and ignoring the dizzy spell that the move caused him. "I've done the best I could!"
"Patience is what you need to learn my friend," Gennai told him. "And you will learn it in time. Giving into your anger is something else that you will need to work on not doing. The consequences are more than you could understand."
"But-!" Tai began before cutting himself off. He lay back down again. "Oh, I don't feel good."
"I'm starting to lose my connection," Gennai warned them. "Jade, you especially need to be extra careful. You are in great danger, and it is my wish that the one who hunts for you will not find you."
"Who?" Jade asked, slightly apprehensive at the thought of someone, other than Dudley, hunting her.
"That's something you're going to have to figure out by yourself," was all Gennai said. "Good luck."
Jade frowned. Maybe this digimon that was hunting her was the same one the others had told her about. Who was this Him that Gennai was so afraid of? Why would she be in danger? She hadn't done anything yet. It was the other children and the Sovereign throwing a crimp into the plans of the dark digimon, not her.
"That, like usual, was as clear as mud," Tai muttered to the sky. "Typical."
"Are we being cared for properly?" Biyomon asked Gabumon, who was the closest to her. The winter digimon looked at her and shrugged.
"If we were, Agumon wouldn't have digivolved backwards."
"Come on! Don't freak me out!" Matt told his partner. Jade swivelled and looked at the two digimon in confusion.
"But I was the one who forced SkullGreymon to de-digivolve," she told them. "That was my fault."
"It's more of digivolving the wrong way," Gabumon told her. "Dark digivolving is something that we've only heard about, but if that's the result I think I'd rather be deleted."
"Gabumon!" Matt cried in a shocked tone. "Don't say things like that!"
"I'm better with computers," Izzy sighed in despair.
"That's ridiculous," Tentomon told him. "As far as I'm concerned, I think you're the best."
"You look bummed," Gomamon told his partner. Joe did look depressed, shoulders hunched and eyes downcast, but when he spoke it was with care of Gomamon.
"How am I supposed to take care of you? Is there a handbook somewhere? I feel very inadequate."
"Me too," Gomamon told him supportively. Jade watched them all incredulously.
"What's the matter with all of you?" she asked. "You're acting like it's the end of the world or something! Gennai only told you that to make you understand that your partnership goes both ways. You have to look after each other instead of one doing all the work. You have two crests! There's only another seven out there to find!"
"Seven?" Izzy asked. "Don't you mean five?"
"No," Jade told him, tilting her head to the side in contemplation. "There are definitely another seven out there, as well as the two you already have. There's one that's close by actually, maybe a day's walk that way?"
Jade pointed just off to the left of their current travel path. It was the green one, but still too far away to be picked up by the tags, so she had no idea who it belonged to.
"You can sense the crests?" TK asked. "That's so cool! What do they feel like? You said the Black Gears were cold, does this mean that the crests are cold too, or are they different?"
"They feel safe and warm," Jade told him. "They all have different colours too. I don't know what they are, but as soon as they're found I could tell you what they represent and how to make them work."
"What's mine?" Joe asked, perking up slightly.
"Reliability," Jade told him with a grin. "You have to believe that you are reliable in order to make your crest work. You need to believe in yourself, the way that others believe in you."
"No pessimism then," Matt quipped. "Be confident, Joe."
"Brilliant, mine's never going to work," Joe moaned.
"What about Tai's?" Sora asked, seeing as Tai wasn't going to ask for himself.
"Courage," Jade told her, not looking at Tai. "His will shine when he shows true bravery."
"True bravery? What's that?" TK asked. Jade shrugged.
"Maybe it's doing the right thing even if you're afraid," Mimi guessed. "No false bravado or anything like that."
"That explains a lot," Tai muttered quietly, even though everyone could hear him. "No wonder it didn't work."
"Are you saying that you aren't brave, Tai?" TK asked curiously. "You sure seem brave when we're in trouble."
"If people think that you're not afraid, they don't really bother you," Tai told him, his eyes closing. "My mother constantly informs me that I'm a disappointment, and that everything I do is selfish and arrogant."
"What?" Sora asked in disbelief.
"I don't blame her," Tai continued, his voice becoming steadily softer. "No matter what I do, someone gets hurt. Kari, Jade, Koromon…I never learn."
Jade finally looked at Tai, not that he could see it, and frowned. The boy had mentioned in his letters that he was reckless, but he hadn't ever hinted that his mother thought him a disappointment. It was quite the opposite; Tai always spoke about how loving his mother was to him, and how he loved her. For Tai to reveal such a low self-esteem meant that he had reached the limits of his ability to cope with what was happening. He had probably been acting from the moment he had arrived in the Digital World. It might have been his thought that if he pretended that everything was alright, sooner or later he would actually believe it as well.
At that moment the children looked up in horror as they realised they were being approached by something that definitely wasn't a mirage. Without thinking about what they were doing they stood up and ran to the side, Matt and Joe dragging Tai along as he made no effort to get up.
It was a cruise ship, though Jade had only ever seen pictures of them before, and this one was massive. It was so tall that Jade had to crane her head back all the way so that she could see the top. She grabbed Sora's arm and as the other girl laughed she realised that her mouth had dropped open in awe. From the deck appeared a familiar green digimon, this one wearing a sailor's outfit. It was a Numemon.
"Ahoy there!" he called. Jade giggled at the greeting. It was certainly different from the last greeting they had gotten from the Numemon. That time they had been running in the sewers from the Numemon who were throwing clumps of pink sludge at them. It had been icky. This Numemon seemed a lot nicer.
Koromon whimpered from where he was still resting in Izzy's arms. Tai lifted his head in alarm after hearing the whimper, but as he could barely hold himself up he had no chance to rush over to his partner. He could, however, yell up to the Numemon.
"Hey! Could all of us come aboard and freshen up?"
The Numemon frowned and shook his head, clearly unwilling to let the group aboard. Almost everyone sighed in disappointment. Mimi strode forwards confidently with a smile, as if she had a secret that could save them. Jade watched her curiously. When Dudley smiled like that she knew that it was time to run and hide.
"Excuse me," she said as she waltzed passed Matt. "This needs a woman's touch."
"What does she mean?" Jade asked Sora in a quiet whisper. Sora giggled again and told her to watch as this would be interesting. The Numemon on deck turned back to watch, his cheeks even from this distance turning a pale pink colour.
"Well, hey there big boy," Mimi began. Jade's jaw dropped again. "Your ship looks so, so inviting. How about letting us on board so that we can check it out? Oh, please?"
The loading bridge dropped at their feet moments later, but Jade couldn't figure out why. She quickly darted over to Mimi's side, questions bubbling from her mouth. Mimi led her up the ramp as she tried to keep up with the questions.
"Why did that work Mimi? What did you do? Why didn't the Numemon let us on when Tai asked, but did when you asked? Why were you giggling? Did you have something in your eye? Is that why you were blinking a lot? What's a woman's touch?"
"It's called flirting," Mimi told her. "No man can resist a woman who bats her eyelashes at him, although, if that doesn't work, bursting into tears will. Lucky for us, this Numemon was more than happy to let us on when I asked him."
"Wow," Jade breathed as they reached the top of the ramp. She decided to see if she had the same skill that Mimi did. With a wide smile she knelt down and kissed the Numemon on the cheek, thanking him for being so kind. Once she stood back up the Numemon was completely red, not a hint of green on him anywhere. With a few stutters of "you're welcome" the Numemon disappeared.
"That was excellent, Jade," Mimi praised. "Now, I think it's time for a hot shower, and some food, and a long, relaxing snooze."
Sora agreed with her and the two older girls ran off to the nearest room so that they could get clean. Jade considered following them, but ultimately decided against it. Matt ran off after his brother and Izzy, with Izzy first leaving Koromon with Jade when she held out her arms for him. This left Joe holding Tai up on his own, with Gomamon looking up at him as if asking what they intended on doing.
"Why don't you go on and find the pool to cool yourself down?" Joe asked him. "I'm going to find Tai a bedroom so that he can sleep off his exhaustion. I'll join you once he's settled."
Gomamon grinned brightly and scurried off. Jade looked at Joe, concerned about Tai but still unwilling to get close enough to him that he could hit her again, but she still followed as Joe dragged the almost unconscious boy to the nearest bedroom. Luckily, the room that he had chosen had two beds so while Joe just about threw Tai onto one of them, Jade gently placed Koromon down and walked into the bathroom to grab a handful of washcloths that had been dunked in cold water. One she kept for Koromon, the others she gave to Joe so that he could tend to Tai before leaving.
With the washcloth on Koromon's head, Jade left the room to go and find where Matt, TK, Izzy and their digimon had gone off to. She thought that TK had cried "food!" before leaving, and she knew that Koromon, and Tai, would need something to eat so that they could get better. She could do with something to eat as well to regain what she hadn't regained energy-wise.
Walking into what had to be the dining room, Jade hesitated as she noticed how piggy the three aforementioned boys and digimon were acting. She was disgusted but still crept in further to quickly fill a few plates of leftover food before the boys could devour it all, and left the room. She doubted that they had even noticed her being in the room with them, but it didn't matter. Moments later she was back outside Tai and Koromon's room.
"Oh, Jade, I wondered where you had disappeared to," Joe stated as he exited the room. He smiled at the plates of food that Jade was balancing. "Hopefully they'll both sleep until they're recovered, but the food will help them when they do. How are you recovering?"
"I'm fine," Jade told him. "My nap earlier helped my recovery speed. A bit of food now and I'll be as good as new again."
"Just make sure you allow yourself to recover," Joe warned. "I'll be by the pool with Gomamon if you need me."
Jade nodded and waited until he had disappeared before slipping into the room. Tai was still and silent on his bed, and for a moment Jade feared that he had died. She crept closer to him and was relieved to see that his chest was still rising and falling. She may not trust him anymore, but that didn't mean that she wanted him to die. She put the plates of food down on the bedside table and slid onto the bed behind Koromon. She nibbled on some of the food she'd brought while she watched them sleep.
It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours, but eventually Koromon woke up in a panic. The little pink digimon was able to calm down once he saw Tai on the bed next to him, and only then did he look around to see where they were. He actually jumped when he noticed Jade dozing behind him, curled up like a kitten on the pillow, but at his movement she awoke from her doze and sat up. With her legs crossed and rubbing her eyes with her fists, Jade looked years younger than what she was.
"How are you feeling Jade," Koromon asked.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Jade asked him in response. "You did just recover from experiencing the darkness of digimon."
"Yeah, but I wasn't worried."
"Why not?"
"You were there," Koromon admitted. "You may not realise it, but you have a presence among us digimon. You glow like the sun, and when you're near it's like we know that everything is going to be alright."
"I glow?" Jade asked.
"Yep! Tai and the others don't see it, I don't think, but we can. You make us feel safe."
Jade sat in silence after hearing that. Sure, the digimon on File Island had spoken of a warm light when they were under the influence of the Black Gears, but she had assumed that it was the Sovereign they were seeing. For Koromon to say that it was her who the digimon were seeing, surely that meant that she was the Sovereign? But how was that possible? She considered asking Koromon, but something about the expression on his face convinced her not to.
"Why are you avoiding Tai?" Koromon asked curiously after Jade had been silent for a while.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's on that bed unconscious, and you're sitting here," Koromon tried to explain. "Ever since you arrived in this world, you and Tai have been almost inseparable. When you disappeared Tai ran off after you before the others could stop him. You were all he cared about. But now, it's like you don't want to be near him anymore."
"Tai and I probably know more about each other than anyone else," Jade told him. "But, now I don't think I know him at all. People who resort to violence when they're angry are bound to do so again."
"Tai regrets hitting you," Koromon reassured her. "I've never seen him look like he did after you ran off. He stared at his hands for a really long time before he punched the ground. The others stopped him before he could hurt himself, but I know that he thought he deserved the pain. The only thing he didn't do was cry."
"What if he does it again?" Jade asked fearfully. "He's already lost control of his anger once, who's to say that the next time I say something he doesn't agree with he doesn't hit me again?"
"I don't think he will."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because, I believe that sometimes people need to know what they have lost, in order to grow stronger. Tai had your trust and friendship, and then he lost it. Now he knows that he needs to control his anger. He will become a better person for it, I know he will."
"I don't deserve your forgiveness," Tai mumbled without opening his eyes. Jade jumped and slid off the bed so that it was between her and Tai. "Not from either one of you. I hurt you both."
"I forgive you Tai," Koromon told him. "I know that you lost control for a moment. Everyone does eventually."
"Jade," Tai whispered. "Please, I didn't mean to hurt you. I promised myself I would protect you, but everything I do only serves to hurt you. I'm sorry."
"Why'd you do it?" Jade asked, twisting her hands in her shirt nervously.
"I guess I was scared," Tai considered, his eyes opened so that he could stare at the ceiling. "My mum did the same thing when I did something stupid. I took Kari outside to play soccer, because she wanted to come with me, and she almost died of pneumonia. Mum hit me when she found out what I had done, but now that I think about it, she was probably scared that Kari would die. I was too, it would have been all my fault."
"What were you scared of?" Koromon asked.
"I was the only one who had found a crest. If I couldn't get you to digivolve so that we could defeat Etemon, we would all be in danger and one of us might die. I don't think I could handle that. You telling me to stop what I was doing, Jade, was like saying that you didn't think I could protect everyone, or that I was the one putting everyone in danger with my actions. That last one I believe though, everything I do has terrible consequences. Why can't I do anything right?"
"Stop trying so hard," Jade told him. "You are a part of the digidestined. You need to work together to succeed, not alone. You are not alone in this world."
"Do you think you could ever forgive me?" Tai asked desperately, turning his head so that he could stare at her. His eyes were so hopeful that Jade couldn't help but see how remorseful he was. She knew that she did forgive him, he had proven that he was scared and only wanted to protect everyone. But she didn't think that she could trust him again.
"I forgive you," she told him. "But I can't forget, not yet."
Tai nodded, but instead of looking happy with her forgiveness he looked even more heartbroken. It seemed that he finally realised the extent of what he had lost. Jade would no longer walk with him when they were going somewhere, she wouldn't sleep next to him when it got cold and night and she needed warmth, and she wouldn't talk with him like they used to. They were pretty much just strangers again. The final nail in the coffin for him was when Jade removed her bracelet, the one that Tai had given to her for her birthday before they entered the Digital World. She put it into her backpack under her blanket, and with one last look at Koromon she left the room.
She walked to where she knew Joe would be, her feet dragging in her sadness. She had liked Tai, and thought that he was different from the others she had liked. While it was true that Dudley had chased away everyone who had wanted to be her friend, there had been one boy who seemed to ignore Dudley's threats and played with her anyway. She had been happy to go to school because she knew that He would be there, Dennis. But one day when she ran over to play with him, he laughed at her and told her that she was gullible. He was one of Dudley's cronies who thought it would be funny to befriend her, and then betray her. He had pushed her into the mud and laughed at her expression. After that she had vowed that she wouldn't be tricked like that again.
But it seemed like she never learnt.
It was as she was walking by the dining hall that she realised there was something really wrong. The sounds of a fight escaped the closed door, but it wasn't a fight between friends. This one was between the digidestined digimon and the Numemon. Jade crept closer and peaked around the corner in time to see a large bird that looked like a turkey enter the room holding Joe and Tai's crests. In horror Jade realised that after she left Tai he had been attacked. She hoped that he was alright, and Joe as well. He had been by the pool.
The bird, Kokatorimon according to Tentomon, was an off white colour with red tips on his tail and black feathers on top of his head. His eyes were a cold red colour, and the top of his beak was yellow. His teeth were sharp looking, but when he glared at the digimon his eyes turned green and beams of green light collided with the digimon. When the light faded, it was revealed that the digimon had been turned into stone. Matt, Izzy and TK were dragged off by the Numemon and Kokatorimon left in order to find the other digidestined. Jade kept her distance, but was still able to follow the Numemon to the pool deck without being spotted. She was alarmed to see that all the boys were tied up on a net above the water in full view of the sun. Joe only had his shorts on as he had been in the water, but still, they were all burning.
Jade waited until the Numemon left, presumably to look for her and the girls, before taking a running leap and landing on the net next to Joe. She quickly worked to untie the ropes holding them in place, and was able to free Joe so that he could help her. The five boys were untied instantly, but without their digimon they couldn't exactly fight against Kokatorimon.
"Where's Sora and Mimi?" Matt asked once they were all on deck.
"I don't know, I followed you here," Jade told him.
"They were going to have a shower," Joe explained. "So unless they heard the Numemon in the room they chose, that's probably where they were caught."
"No," Jade said, her head tilting to the side. "Biyomon just digivolved. The front of the ship, I think."
"Great," Matt stated. "Let's go."
"How would we fight?" Joe asked him. "Our digimon were turned to stone."
"They're both fine," Jade continued, not listening to the discussion with the boys. "Palmon just digivolved as well, so Kokatorimon will be defeated soon enough."
As she finished speaking, Gomamon, who was on the deck next to them, moved as the rock petrifying him disappeared. The little digimon looked around in confusion, even as Joe lifted him in delight. It was decided that the time had come to abandon ship, so while Joe got changed Matt and TK took his bag and filled it with food and check on their digimon partners. Tai went back to his room at a run so that he could see if Agumon, who had digivolved to protect him, was un-petrified as well.
Jade rocked back on her heels and watched as the boys around her disappeared. She casually made her way to the ramp they had used to board the ship and bumped into several Numemon. They looked terrified, shaking in corners with their eyes darting every which way. Jade paused on her walk and knelt down so that she was at eye level with the nearest Numemon.
"What's wrong?" she asked. She had seen the green digimon help to drag off the boys to be tied up, but she could now sense their fear and knew that they had been coerced. The Numemon looked up at her nervously, and several of his friends shrank further back into the shadows.
"He's going to delete us," the Numemon croaked out. "And if we move, the other digimon are going to want revenge for what we did to you humans."
"No they won't," Jade promised. She gently pushed the emotions of comfort and understanding outwards, like she had done with Andromon on File Island, and was amazed to see the Numemon calming down.
"What do we do?" one of the Numemon asked, creeping forward slightly.
"Do you have to stay on this ship?" Jade asked. "You could abandon the ship and then Kokatorimon won't be able to find you. He'll probably be more focused on us humans than you little guys."
"You would, let us go?" the Numemon closest to her asked. "After what we did?"
"It wasn't your fault," Jade soothed. "Besides, this isn't the first time we've been attacked. no hard feelings."
The Numemon all looked at each other in silent contemplation. Some shifted nervously, others glanced around to look for Kokatorimon or the other digimon, but the majority looked decisive. Then, as one, they all threw off their uniforms and dropped the gang plank for use.
"We're out of here!" they all cried. Jade giggled as she watched them leave. TK appeared at her side, curious about what she was giggling about, and stared at the departing digimon with a smile on his face.
"Are they dancing?" he asked her.
"They're excited to be out of Kokatorimon's control," Jade told him.
Sora and Mimi were the next two humans to join them, followed by Matt and Izzy with the food, Joe with Gomamon in his arms, and lastly Tai who was walking with his hand resting on Agumon's head. He still looked pale, but he also looked a lot better than earlier when he was almost unconscious. The other digimon watched the Numemon running and dancing off into the distance, and Gabumon bumped against Jade's side as he asked what they were doing.
"They wanted to be free," was all she said.
"I say we do the same as them and abandon ship!" Tai suggested.
"I guess it is a little late for a mutiny," Izzy remarked without taking his eyes off the fleeing digimon.
"Don't worry, the captain has already been fricasseed," Sora reassured him.
"What?" Jade and TK asked simultaneously.
"It means we've already dealt with him," she explained with a smile. The two young children nodded their understanding before leading the way off the ship. As before, Tai brought up the rear, but this time he didn't look like he was about to keel over. Jade skipped as she walked, her feet covered in torn up sheets, but the heat still got to her. She was following the light of a crest, and it was a lot closer than it had been before.
"Well, the weather certainly hasn't gotten any cooler," Joe informed them all needlessly. Jade glanced over her shoulder at him with a glare, before that glare faded into alarm. She froze in her skip, staring back the way they had come.
"Do you hear something?" Mimi asked before she noticed Jade. Her eyes looked back the way they'd come just as the ship they had recently vacated blew its horn. Jade screamed as she turned and ran. She was fast and easily left the group behind as she almost flew over the sand. Now that she was paying attention, she could sense Kokatorimon's anger, hate and desire to kill. The bird digimon who couldn't fly had every intention of running them over and grounding their bodies into the sand.
"That's one mad digimon with his feathers out of place!" Matt cried as they ran. Jade thought he'd be better off not talking and saving his breath, but she didn't say that aloud. She just reached back and grabbed TK's hand as he was starting to slow down.
"Hey look!" Palmon screamed. "The giant cactus is back!"
"Oh no! Not another mirage!" Mimi wailed.
"What were you expecting?" Tai asked her. "An outlet mall?"
"It's not a mirage!" Jade called over her shoulder. "It has a shadow!"
It wasn't just the shadow that convinced Jade the cactus was real, it was because the cactus was where she could sense the crest. The warm green light was beckoning to her, strengthening her muscles and causing her eyes to shine that little bit brighter. As they were running, no one noticed the changes in her.
"Hurry! Get over to the other side!" Matt encouraged with a hint of panic in his voice. Jade leapt towards the shadow and lay flat on the ground with her hands protecting her head. TK dropped next to her, and the other children crouched around them.
The ship crashed into the cactus and while the two young ones couldn't see it, the others watched in amazement as the boat defied gravity. When the front of the ship hit the cactus, it stopped, but the back of the boat kept going. It rose high into the air before crashing onto the top of the cactus. The cactus didn't break, instead it acted like a giant catapult and sent the ship flying back the way it came. For the first time the children and digimon were able to see the thick black cable that was attached to the end.
I can fly!
The ship exploded.
Jade looked up in alarm as all sense of Kokatorimon disappeared as he was deleted. A startled gasp escaped her as she had felt all of the digimon's emotions before he was silenced. There was no anger, or hate at the end. He had felt true joy as he felt the wind rushing through his feathers, and his wings worked with the air currents, and then the fire wrapped around him. He died finally knowing what it was like to fly like any other bird-type digimon.
Tears gathered in her eyes but she didn't allow them to fall as she stood up next to TK. Her first instinct was to step closer to Tai, before remembering that she didn't trust him, and instead she moved closer to Joe. Her hand twisted in his shorts as she leant against his side, but he didn't make a big deal about her choice of comfort partner. All he did was rest his hand on her head.
"It's even bigger than a skyscraper!" Mimi cried as she stared at the very real cactus.
"You're right," Palmon told her. "But what's a skyscraper Mimi?"
Jade looked up to the top of the cactus along with everyone else. She could see the glow of pale green light as a pink flower formed. It looked small from the ground, but given the size of the cactus Jade knew that the flower was more than it appeared. The petals opened to reveal a stone tablet with the carving of a tear-drop on it.
"Look up there!" Agumon told them unnecessarily.
"Check it out you guys!" Tai ordered. "It's another crest!"
He sounded happy, and when Jade looked over towards him it was to see that he was radiating happiness. It seemed that the more crests they found, the greater Tai's hope was that they would all make it home alive. His eyes were dancing with joy, and Jade averted her eyes back to the crest in time to see it glow and slowly glide down towards them, getting smaller the closer it came.
A startled gasp from Mimi drew everyone's attention to her. Her tag had lifted from its resting place against her chest without Mimi touching it, and shone green just as the crest slid into place. The tag fell back to Mimi's chest now that it was filled, but Jade still smiled as the crest's message brushed against her thoughts.
The crest of Sincerity – will shine for those who genuine and honest with themselves
"What's mine Jade?" Mimi asked immediately. Her eyes left her tag and crest to look at Jade. Jade smiled at her and answered.
"Sincerity. To make it work you need to be honest and genuine with yourself, not just with others. You have to accept the truth in your heart, and actually believe it."
"What truth?" Mimi asked. "I do consider myself honest with others."
"But you're not honest with yourself," Jade prompted with a smile. "You need to be honest with yourself."
Mimi nodded thoughtfully before looking down at her crest.
"I don't deserve this," she muttered. "But if it will help me take care of Palmon, I'll keep it."
"You do deserve it," Jade promised. "Now you need to believe that."
Mimi nodded at her, and Palmon hugged Mimi's leg with a happy grin. The group decided that they would spend the night next to the cactus, and they set up camp to the west of the cactus so that when the sun rose in the morning it wouldn't cook them and they would be in the shade.
Everyone was exhausted and fell asleep quickly, everyone except for Jade. She remained awake long after the sun had set and stared up at the stars. Her greatest desire at the moment was to know the truth. She had so many questions running around through her mind that she just wanted answers. She wanted to know who she was.
"Who am I?" she asked the stars.
They twinkled back innocently, but they didn't answer.
Next up in Intertwined Destinies:
Chapter 12: Friendship - Knowledge - Truth