Interlude I
Odaiba, Japan; September 12, 2010 – 3:04 pm
Two weeks later, Tai got a text from Izzy asking for him and Kari to meet with him. Curiously, the text also stipulated that he should come in professional attire as well. And despite Tai's questions, Izzy refused to elaborate further.
"Should I change into something nicer too?" Kari asked, gesturing to her white floral blouse and jeans.
"He didn't say anything about that, so I would think you'll be fine," her brother replied. He dug out his grey suit jacket and slacks that he usually only wore for job interviews, and a white collared shirt which he tried to smooth out the worst of the wrinkles with his hands before putting it on. Lastly, he pulled out a skinny black tie that he managed to wrangle into a crooked half-windsor before Kari insisted on fixing it.
"Honestly, Onii-chan, you really are hopeless," she said affectionately as she straightened his tie. "And aren't you going to do anything about your hair?"
Tai ran a hand over his scalp. "What's wrong with it?"
Kari shook her head, grinning in disbelief as she turned away and let it go.
"It's a real hit with the ladies," he continued. "They love the messy unkempt look."
"Mmm-hmm," she agreed sarcastically.
"You humans and your obsession with your appearance," Gatomon derided, seemingly oblivious to the irony as she fastidiously licked her paws clean, "I'll never understand it."
Kari watcher her partner in amusement, hands resting on hips. "Indeed. Are you ready to go, Tai?"
"Uh, yeah, just a sec." On a last-second impulse Tai opened his drawer, retrieved his goggles, and stuffed them in his pocket.
When they reached Izzy's office, the company president eyed Tai skeptically. "That's the best you got, huh? I guess it'll have to do." Then he noticed his blue tennis shoes. "Come on, Tai! Couldn't you have put on some brown loafers or something?"
"I don't have any, Izzy! This is what I had on such short notice!"
Izzy ran a hand down his face. "I'd let you borrow some of mine, but I don't think your feet would fit in them. And I don't suppose you could have combed your hair for once, either. Whatever. It's fine."
"What are we doing here, anyway?"
Izzy moved past them and shut the door to his office, as if to ensure no passersby would hear, before answering. "I've acquired permission for you to see Menoa."
Tai's mouth fell open. "No way. Seriously? Izzy, you're amazing!"
"She's being held inside the U.N. Detention Unit at Scheveningen Prison in the Netherlands. Here's your clearance paper that you'll need to show to the guards to get inside." Izzy handed him a sheet of paper with a picture of his ID and several lines of text in Dutch. "You wouldn't believe how many favors I had to call in to get this."
"Great work, Iz. I owe you one."
Izzy snickered. "You sure do."
"So how do I get to the Netherlands?"
Izzy gestured to Kari. "That's what she's here for. I put out a request on INDICON for an open digital gate in the surrounding area, and a local Dutch girl named Lieka answered it. Kari will use her D3 to take you to her house a couple of miles from the prison. Oh, that reminds me." Izzy pulled out a small wad of Euros and handed them to Tai. "This is for anything you might need while you're there. There's a bicycle rental shop just down the corner from Lieka's house; I'd suggest taking one of those to the prison."
"Wow, you've really thought of everything, haven't you?"
Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Naturally. It's about 8:30 in the morning there right now, so the prison should be open by the time you get there. Lieka's expecting you any minute."
Tai was abuzz with nervous energy. This was really happening. He turned to Kari, who was watching them both with an inscrutable expression. "Are you up for this?"
She nodded the affirmative. "I'm ready."
"You can use my screen here. I've already got a gate pulled up."
Tai clapped Izzy on the shoulder. "Thanks, Izzy. You did great."
Izzy looked pensive, as if trying to sort through several thoughts, before responding. "You know I don't hate her, right? After she was taken by the FBI, I wouldn't have spared her a second thought. But perhaps that's why you're the leader and not me. Maybe that was wrong of me, I don't know. It's not my intention to appear cold or uncaring. It's just that she no longer posed a threat, and I don't want any of our team to take unnecessary risks. I'm still not sure this is a wise course of action, but I don't wish Menoa any ill-will. I hope that she can be rehabilitated and find some sort of peace for herself. I suppose what I'm attempting to say is...good luck, Tai."
Tai nodded as he, Kari, and Gatomon took their positions in front of Izzy's computer in preparation to leave. Kari grasped his hand and readied her D3. "You ready, Tai?" she asked.
"Do it, sis."
She held her pink digivice up to the screen and cried, "Digi-port open!"
Tai felt the familiar rush of being pulled across dimensions, the kaleidoscope of colors speeding past in a blur as Izzy's office disappeared and they hurtled toward the digital plane. There was something nostalgic and comforting about the experience. He never felt a difference, but somewhere in the back of Tai's mind he was aware that their bodies were being seamlessly converted from atoms to ones and zeros. Then as suddenly as it had begun, all the audio-visual distortions stopped, and they were standing on the edge of a lush jungle leading downhill to grassy lowlands. Tai breathed deep of the sweet air. Looking around, he thought for the thousandth time how colors in the Digital World seemed more vibrant than in the Real one, almost a hyper-realism like that of a video game with the graphics settings cranked up to eleven.
It was surreal to be here without Agumon. Tai watched the trees carefully for anything that might come out of them, feeling unusually exposed with the knowledge that he would have to rely on Kari and Gatomon for protection if they were attacked.
Kari checked the screen on her D3. "The nearest t.v. is about one-point-four kilometers to the south."
Tai beckoned her onward. "Lead the way."
They flew on Nefertimon down into a shallow valley, passing over a cluster of Kiwimon as they went, until they came to an old CRT t.v. sitting under the shade of an elm tree. They dismounted, and Nefertimon reverted back to Gatomon as Kari tuned the dial to the appropriate frequency that Izzy had given her. Suddenly the static gave way to the image of a bedroom from the viewpoint of a computer desk. Sunlight streamed in from the window to the left, and a teenage girl sitting on her bed turned to look at them from the other side of the screen. She waved at them in greeting and beckoned them forward.
"That must be Lieka," said Kari. "She's telling us to come through."
"All right, let's go."
With Tai's hand on her shoulder, Kari held her digivice up to the screen and the bedroom expanded from a tiny 10-inch square until it completely surrounded their vision, and suddenly they were no longer in the Digital World, but really there in that bedroom. The girl got up from the bed, wide-eyed with excitement and a huge grin on her face. She looked to be about sixteen years old, wore a purple sweater, tan pants, and glasses, and her hair consisted of wavy platinum-blonde locks that were swept largely to one side. She was also completely starstruck. She stuck out her hand and said in English, "Hallo! I am Lieka. It's an honor to meet you."
Kari looked at Tai, whose grasp of English was stronger than hers. Knowing it was an invaluable skill for his chosen career path, he had studied the current lingua franca diligently for the past three years in college, and was occasionally tutored on his vocabulary and pronunciation by Mimi, who, having lived in the U.S. for the last nine years, spoke it nearly as effortlessly as her native tongue.
"The honor is ours," Tai responded, shaking her hand. "Thank you for letting us into your home. My name is Tai, and this is Kari."
"Hi," said Kari.
"I know who you are," Lieka giggled, hugging Kari like they were old friends. "You two are brother and sister, no?"
Tai nodded. "We are."
"And this is my partner, Gatomon," Kari said with some difficulty.
"Gah-toh-mon," Lieka repeated. Then her smile faltered, looking back to Tai and the lack of a digimon beside him. "And your Agumon...I am so sorry for you."
"Thank you."
Just then what looked like a large bipedal hedgehog wandered into the room. It was white except for a large streak of yellow quills that ran down the center of its back. "This is Erismon, my partner," said Lieka.
Erismon stood by Lieka and bowed. "Nice to meetcha!" he squeaked.
"We are the leaders of our local team of Digidestined here, "Lieka continued proudly. "We've already returned three digimon back to the Digital World."
"That's great," Tai replied. "Keep up the good work. I'm counting on you to keep this area safe."
Lieka looked as if she were about to explode. "Yes, sir!" she gushed.
They followed her down to the ground level of her house and out the front door. Lieka's house was part of a line of connected houses down one side of the street. On the other side was a hospital.
"Your friend Izzy says you are to visit the prison. This is correct?"
"It is," said Tai.
"Then you will want to walk down the street that way. There's a place where you can rent a bicycle, is faster than walking. Then you will turn left and follow the road until you reach the prison, very easy to find."
"Got it. Thanks, Lieka!" Tai, Kari, and Gatomon started to head in the direction Lieka indicated.
"My pleasure! And you are welcome back anytime, I will leave the gate open for you! Just warn me beforehand, okay?"
"I will! See you later!"
"Bye!" said Kari with a wave.
"Ja, see you later!" Lieka and Erismon stood at their doorstep until they disappeared from view.
Tai and Kari found the bike rental shop just where Lieka had said it was and used some of the money Izzy gave them to rent a yellow two-seater, with Tai in the front seat, Kari in the back, and Gatomon riding in a basket attached to the handlebars. They turned left at the corner and followed the road at a leisurely pace for a couple of miles until they came to a facility surrounded by a tall brick wall with security cameras and razor wire mounted on top. The only opening in the wall was a gate big enough for a car to go through and a kiosk manned by a pair of soldiers with metal detector wands. Tai stopped and deployed the kick stand on the bike.
"Well, this looks like my stop," said Tai, turning back to Kari. He got off the bike, and Kari followed suit. "Wait here. I shouldn't be long."
"No, I want to go with you."
Tai smiled gently. "You know you can't do that. I'm lucky that I'll be allowed in. Just wait out here for me, and I'll be back before you know it."
Kari's brow wrinkled with concern, but she conceded. "Okay. But be careful, Tai."
He hugged her. "I will, sis. Don't worry." When they let go, he dug his goggles out of his pocket and put them on his head.
A petite giggle escaped from her. "You're going to wear those in there?"
He flashed her a cocky grin. "Of course! I'm the leader of the Digidestined. I gotta look the part." And with that he turned and walked away. Kari watched him approach the security kiosk, where he exchanged a few words with the guards, showed them his paper, and was searched for weapons before they led him inside the compound, the gate closed, and he passed beyond her sight behind the brick wall.
A/N: For a long time I'd meant to include this final scene as part of the previous chapter, but as that chapter was getting longer and since this has little to do with it, I decided it would work better as its own thing, a sort of mini-chapter to bookend everything so far. And now that we have come full circle back to the opening prologue and seen how we got there, we have completed Part 1 at last. There will be two others, and a grand total of roughly 33 chapters in all, depending on how things go. Thank you all for sticking with the story so far, I hope you're enjoying it and I am excited for where it will go in the future. Unfortunately however, it will very likely be another long wait for the next update, probably even longer than the one for chapter 11. This is because I foresee the next 4 or 5 chapters to be the most difficult portion of the entire fic to write, as it will require a good deal of research on my part, which may also affect exactly where I go with that part of the plot. In fact, I may need to finish most or all of that section in its entirety before posting any of it to make sure I don't write myself into a corner. So for now, Continuing Evolution may be considered to be on a semi-hiatus until I have that section completed. But I'll still be working on it behind the scenes and try to keep y'all updated on my progress periodically on my homepage. I fully intend to complete this saga, it just may take a long, long time to do so.
Next time on Digimon Adventure: Continuing Evolution - Part 2!
[Edited 09/25/2024: I reworked some of Lieka's dialogue to try to get a consistent level of awkwardness in her English. This is because when I initially wrote this I reasoned that, being Dutch, her English would be less than perfect and should be appropriately off-kilter. But then I found out through my research that apparently Dutch people are some of the best non-native English speakers on average so I cleaned it up a little before posting, but I never felt like it was consistent, with some lines sounding perfectly fluent and others sounding really weird. I tried to fix that in the revision.]