In-Between-Time
Chapter Nine: You Lose Some
a/n: This episode of IBT was brought to you by three hours of sleep, two glasses of peach chardonnay, and one very nice PM from Rayana Wolfer reminding me that people actually want to know what happens. (Thank you!) Quotes in italics are all Mimi from the first scene of Playing Games, except for the one addressed to Mimi, which is Palmon, and from the same scene. Oh, and guys, thank you thank you for 100 reviews. I guess it's not much, but it's a bit of a milestone for me.
Kari—made almost entirely of golden light—left TK now to walk into the clearing, and he wondered…if he tried, would he be able to touch her at all? She walked past Mimi, unmindful of the paste of leaves underfoot and the way the branches leaned down to meet her, went straight to the thick and knotted trunk and pressed both of her palms against it. Pressed hard, like she wanted to push her way through, to get deep inside the sickly core of Crescent Island. And then it changed. Just for a moment, but it all changed. The trunk stretched tall and straight, the spongy mass of ground pushed out small green sprouts, the dead leaves sloughed away from the branches and fell wetly to the ground, and the strange bud, the strange bud that Mimi reached for with fingers extended seemed to be opening…opening…
Kari staggered back from the tree with a small, wounded sound, and the scene snapped back to its original state. She pulled her hands to her chest as if they'd been burned and her halo of light faded to the flickering brick red of a dying light bulb. Falling into that dull and rotting forest after all that light was like plunging into cold water—it made it hard to breathe.
"No." Mimi gasped.
"It's okay," Kari said, not turning around. "I'll try again."
"Have you both lost your minds?" Tai said loudly, startling everyone. "Let's try something sane like climbing the tree before my sister—"
Kari threw herself forward in an explosion of light, hit the tree with all of her weight, and it burst into bloom. It was spring, summer, fall, winter, spring again, and the undergrowth came up all around them, twined around their legs, sprouted little white bunches of flowers, big pink blossoms, creepers with purple berries, and still Kari pushed herself forward, sending out pulse after pulse of her brilliance until all of the dark was gone.
Kari staggered back from the tree and sat down hard in a bed of moss. On the bark, where her palms had been, were two smoldering handprints. And up on the branch, where Palmon had been, there was a whisper of data, and then nothing at all.
After the initial chorus of exclamations, there was a long, shocked silence, and the only sound was Kari's uneven breathing. She kept her head down until she had her emotions under control, and then looked up over her shoulder. "Oh, Mimi."
"It's okay," Mimi said.
Kari turned away and curled forward on herself. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Mimi said again, coming forward to crouch down next to her, smoothing the back of her hair gently. "Let me see your hands."
Kari showed her one cracked, blistered palm.
"Joe!" Mimi called, and the strange spell that had kept the others waiting on the sidelines was broken. They rushed forward, and TK got down on his knees in front of Kari, who never looked away from his steady blue gaze while Joe doctored her hands.
"These aren't as bad as they look, Kari," Joe said. "Nothing a little Polysporin can't cure. At the very worst you'll be able to ah…commit petty theft without leaving fingerprints. That could be a career maker."
"Joe," Gomamon groaned.
"Right," said Joe, and fell silent.
Mimi stood.
"I have had enough."
She breathed in, breathed out, retied her ponytail.
"Enough."
Izzy came up beside her, and after a moment she reached for his hand.
"Every time we fight we wind up losing another friend."
Izzy closed his fingers around hers.
"I have had…"
Mimi closed her eyes and let Izzy anchor her.
"Enough," she whispered.
And Tai, apart from all of them, fashioned a cross from two sturdy pieces of wood and set it upright in the small mound of dirt he shaped with his hands.
"Look," Sora said.
"Yeah," said Matt. "I see."
The long, quiet moments began to stack up, and the Digidestined drifted, one by one, back to the edges of Palmon's clearing until they were all waiting on Mimi and Tai—waiting, but not so anxiously, for the next leg of their journey to begin.
Mimi stood with her arms wrapped tightly around herself and stared up through the branches of the tree at the darkening triangles of sky peeking through. She wondered, did a small patch of sun ever filter down through the leaves and land on Palmon's face?
Was she warm? Was she ever warm?
"We can take all the time you need," Tai said softly. "If you want to stay for a while."
"I'm ready now," she said, and turned to face him. Added distractedly, "This hurts."
"Yeah," Tai said.
"But it's not forever," she said, echoing his own words.
"No," Tai said.
"Okay."
Mimi smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Let's go."
When they reached the edge of the forest and stepped into the mango twilight, Gomamon broke free of the group and charged through the sand, becoming Ikkakumon in a burst of light and sound before he hit the surf. He crashed through the waves, dove, and resurfaced as Zudomon, twirling his hammer with a flourish and sending a bolt of lightening out over the water, towards the mainland.
"Come on!" he bellowed. "Server isn't going to conquer itself!"
His raucous laugh boomed across the ocean, and Mimi stifled a giggle.
Tai sent Joe a sly, sideways look. "Are you sure he's yours?"
"You know," Joe said, "I'm really not."
Mimi was the first to cross the sand and wade out to her knees in the fading light of day. The sun bobbed low, and Zudomon reached out a hand so she could climb aboard. By the time they had all settled in on Zudomon's broad shell the world was royal blue, and the sun was lost to the ocean.
Within moments, Crescent Island was nothing but a soft charcoal smudge over her shoulder, but Mimi kept her eyes on it until it disappeared into the night.
"Don't cry, Mimi."
Mimi breathed in, breathed out.
"Don't…"
"What's it like?" Kari asked, perched high above the others on the crown of Zudomon's head. "Dying. Being deleted. Does it hurt?"
"Doesn't hurt," Zudomon said. "It's more just…cold. Tingly, you know? Like when you sleep funny on one fin."
"Is it scary?" she asked, staring down at her bandaged hands. "Do you ever worry you might not come back?"
"Not anymore," Zudomon said. "Not since Joe."
This ocean voyage was longer than the last, but no storm bore down on them in the night. Mostly they slept, and Zudomon glided on, creating ripples in the glassy black reflection of the night sky. Tai and Izzy were awake long before sunrise, talking strategy, talking game plan, but mostly just keeping one another company. When day broke they were already staring off at the distant shore of Server.
"Won't be long now," Matt said, coming up beside Tai.
"It'll be good," Izzy said, "to see Server again."
"We figure we'll try to hook up with Gennai," Tai said. "Hopefully he'll have news."
Sora joined them, and handed each a bag of dry cereal. "Breakfast of champions," she muttered. "Gennai?"
"Yeah," Izzy said. "Be nice to lay low for a while. Feed the fish."
He tossed a piece of cereal into the ocean and watched it float away.
"Mmmm," Sora said, eyes fixed on the promising ribbon of the coast.
"Okay guys, it's been fun, but I'm gonna…you know…head back to Odaiba."
"Excuse me?"
"It's just…you're crazy if you think I'm walking across that bridge."
"I don't think you're walking across it, Mimi. I know."
"Oh, you know, do you? Well, that changes everything, Mr. Big Leader."
"Yeah?"
"No. See you in Japan."
Kari laughed very suddenly in her goofy old way, and Mimi, pleased, turned to catch a glimpse of her recently absent smile.
"Now, for that I'll stick around," she said.
Kari turned pink at the attention and ducked her head, but when she ventured a glance some moments later, Mimi winked at her and sauntered onto the offending bridge.
"This one does magic, I tell you!" Tai announced, giving Kari a quick sideways hug before charging off after Mimi.
"No really," Joe said. "Are we sure this bridge is structurally sound?"
"Does Gennai even live here anymore?" Matt asked, looking over the lake with a skeptical eye.
"He's here," Tai said, and as if on cue, the water split wide on a descending staircase.
"This one does the magic, too," Sora quipped. Tai grinned.
They weren't long on the staircase before it became clear that there was something wrong. The way down to Gennai's stronghold was in horrible shape—all chipped at jagged angles and crumbling away. In some places entire stairs were missing and they had to slide down carefully to reach surer footing. Eventually, the telltale static appeared, sparingly at first, but eventually it covered long stretches so it was difficult to tell whether there was anything underneath to hold a person's weight. But worst of all was the absence of Gennai's colorful fish—the lifeless lake walls to either side of them were the most sure sign that there was trouble ahead.
"Maybe he just…moved," Sora said.
No one answered her.
Gennai's cozy underwater home was in even worse shape than the stairs. Everything was smashed and piled in corners, buried in static, sprouting the beginnings of the eerie ribbon-weeds they'd seen in the meadow. There was no doubt now—the Digidestined wouldn't find any answers here. Just one more friend to mourn.
"What do we do?" TK asked.
"Build another cross," Mimi said," and move on."
"Where to?" This from Izzy.
"Ah…the Diner, maybe," Tai said quietly. "Or Piximon's place. I think I could find it, and Kari…"
"I could open the door," Kari said.
"Sounds great," Matt said. "Only, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps with those plants growing everywhere."
"Yes," said a new voice. "They are a nice touch."
a/n: Et tu! Review!