Disclaimer: Bah! I own nothing! Curses!
Games of the Mind *Chapter Six*
They were falling. Falling, spinning, tumbling.
Or were they?
Pipermon looked around her. Everything was sort of a misty concoction of
blues, purples, and a deep ebony black. She could feel herself falling,
a strange freefall sensation, but it was hard to tell just how fast she
was actually moving, because the swirling mist seemed to fall right with
her.
"Kamiya-san?" she called. But the mists blew all around her and stole
away her words.
Then she saw him, tumbling through the purple mists alongside her. He
wasn't far, she could reach him. She stretched out her arm, and her
fingers brushed the fabric of his tee-shirt.
"Pipermon?" she faintly heard him shout. The wind howled all around
them, making their voices so much softer than usual.
She stretched her fingers to the limit and managed to gather the fabric
of his sleeve in her hand. She pulled him toward her, then slid her arms
under his, gripping his shoulders.
"Pipermon, wha--?"
"Hold onto my arms," she commanded.
He wrapped his fingers around her wrists without asking why. The
severity in her voice transcended any questions.
"Hang on," she said, and closed her eyes. Tai felt the swirling air seem
to slow around them, and for a moment, he felt heavy, as though gravity
had shifted. Then everything felt normal again. He frowned.
"Pipermon, what's going on?" he asked. "Where's the ground?"
"We haven't reached it yet," she replied quickly.
He blinked, still gripping her wrists. He felt his chest tighten.
"We're..."--he gulped--"we're still falling?"
"No," she said, "not exactly."
"You can FLY?" he cried.
"Levitate," she corrected, "I can levitate. There's a difference."
"There is?"
"Yes," she snapped testily, "there is. Levitation takes a lot more
concentration than just simply flapping one's wings, so unless you want
us both to plummet to our deaths in this endless tunnel...I suggest you
remain quiet until I am able to locate the ground."
He fell silent.
A few moments later, Pipermon felt the air twitch. The wind gusted from
all angles, and the world flashed white. She shrieked as she heard the
high-pitched squealing noise again, and she squeezed her eyes closed as
everything seemed to erupt. She was thrown forward. She shrieked again,
and clutched Tai to her chest as they were tossed from the vortex.
Pipermon squawked as they somersaulted through the air and the ground
rushed up to meet them. Landing flat on her back, she yelped as wind was
knocked out of her. Her chest heaved as she struggled to inhale. She
felt her grip fail and her arms dropped uselessly at her sides.
With a cry, Tai hit the ground beside her and landed sideways, his head
on her abdomen. He lay there for a moment, trying to figure out what had
just happened.
Pipermon coughed, and managed to get the air back in her lungs. She
stared up at the starlit sky for a moment, just breathing. Then she sat
up and leaned forward, placing her hand on top of Tai's head to help him
sit up.
She rubbed the small of her back with both hands, then raised one to her
forehead.
"I think I found the ground..." she muttered, wincing.
Tai rolled his eyes, then sat up on his knees.
"So, Miss Navigator," he said facetiously, "where are we?"
Pipermon looked up.
"We're still in the forest," she replied. "We fell through one of the
space rifts that your Agumon fell through. We lucked out, we caught a
good one."
"Define 'good'."
"Most of these vortexes stay within this world," she went on, "and a lot
of them stay here within this forest. We were lucky."
"Whaddya mean 'most of' and 'a lot of'??" Tai cried, startled. "There
are some that LEAVE the digital world??"
"There are a few that lead to other worlds," Pipermon admitted. "One of
them might even go to YOUR world."
Tai was a tad puzzled, but was glad that they had somehow managed to
stay within the boundaries of the Forest of Illusions. Pipermon got to
her feet.
"Wait here," she said, "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" he asked quickly, trying not to let the fear he
felt creep into his voice. Pipermon smiled reassuringly, as if he could
see her.
"I'm gonna get a lay of the land," she replied softly, sensing his
apprehension. "I'll float up just above the treeline and see if I can't
figure whereabout we are." She hopped up into the air and hesitated.
"Don't go anywhere," she added.
Tai plunked down in the middle of the path.
"Where could I go?" he scoffed.
Ignoring his remark, Pipermon darted straight up, levitating to the top
of one of the tallest trees. Perched atop a huge tree resembling a pine,
Pipermon shaded her eyes from the light of the moon climbing into the
sky. She turned slowly, panning around to get the view of the entire
area. She squinted when she saw moonlight reflecting off of a large body
of water off to her left.
"Ah-hah!" she said, and hurried back to where she had left Tai. He
glanced up when he heard her land on the ground.
"Well," he said, "where are we?"
"Right where we should be," she replied with a huge grin.
He lifted one eyebrow.
"Come again?"
Pipermon crouched down beside him, hugging her knees.
"We're still on the same path," she told him, "we're just a few miles
ahead of your friends. With any luck, they should find us by mid-
morning."
"Mid MORNING?" he cried incredulously. "Exactly how many miles ahead of
them ARE we?"
"Only maybe three or four," she replied. "I say mid-morning because I
seriously doubt they'll walk all night, not with Hikari-san and Takeru-
san. They're too young."
Tai calmed down. He hadn't thought of that.
"So," Pipermon continued, "assuming that they walk till they reach the
lake, and then resume walking at first light...they ought to run across
our path by mid-morning."
Tai frowned.
"So what do we do until then?" he asked. Pipermon glanced up at the sky.
"I guess we'll wait here," she replied with a sigh, and plopped backward
onto the ground, leaning back on her hands.
Tai thought for a moment.
"We couldn't just walk back?" he asked, a little wary of the thought of
having to spend the night alone in the Forest of Illusions with such a
shady character.
"That would be rather counterproductive, don't you think?" she
responded. "I mean, to walk all of four miles in the middle of the
night, meet them, and just have to walk all four miles back here
tomorrow--"
"Couldn't you get there faster?" Tai interrupted.
"Beg pardon?" she questioned.
He stood up, gesturing with his arms.
"Can't you just fly us there?" he asked. "That would be a lot faster
than walking."
"I already told you, Kamiya-san," Pipermon huffed, "I don't fly, I
levitate. And, before you ask, no, I couldn't levitate us there."
"Why not?"
"Because," she snapped, "I would never be able to carry us both that
distance. Even I have limits."
"But you managed to carry us both when we fell through the vortex," Tai
protested stubbornly.
"We were still moving downward," Pipermon explained, exasperated, "we
were still falling, just not as fast." She sighed. "I can only defy
gravity for myself...not for myself and a passenger. Not for very long,
anyway, who do I look like, Birdramon?"
"Well, then what's the point?" Tai muttered bitterly.
Pipermon's eyes flashed angrily, like blue fire.
"You're quite the ungrateful breed, you human children," she snapped.
"What??"
"All you do is ask what can be done for YOU," she went on, a growl in
her usually soft voice. "It's always, 'How long will it take to get us
out of this forest, Pipermon?', or 'Are you sure this lake even exists,
Pipermon?', and, 'Pipermon, why can't you fly us to where my friends
are?'! Good grief!" She fisted her hands. "You haven't even thanked me
for everything I've ALREADY done for you! Nevermind saying, 'Thanks,
Pipermon, for offering to lead us all out of this blasted labyrinth of a
forest,', or 'Thank you for pushing my friend Yamato-san out of the way
of the vortex that opened up right under his feet, Pipermon,', or how
about, 'Thanks for trying to pull me out of that same vortex when I got
sucked into it, Pipermon, and for following me into it when you were
unable to free me from it,' did you ever think of saying that? I didn't
HAVE to follow you, I didn't HAVE to catch you when you were falling, or
save you from landing on your butt when we were spat out into the woods
like a couple of watermelon seeds--I didn't HAVE to help you at ALL! So
stop your grousing, quit your bellyaching, and try giving a little
credit where credit is DUE!"
She saw Tai flinch at her stinging words, and almost immediately wished
she hadn't said them. She hadn't meant to yell at him...she wasn't even
sure why she CARED if he thanked her, he was supposed to be the
enemy...wasn't he? Pipermon shook her head quickly. What was it about
these children that made her act so strange?
Tai lowered his eyes to the ground.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, and Pipermon winced at the pang of guilt
that jolted through her body. Tai fidgeted. "I guess I WAS being kind of
selfish..."
Pipermon flapped her arms uncomfortably against her sides.
"I'm sorry, too," she replied, "I shouldn't have yelled...I..." She grit
her teeth. These children...what WAS it? She couldn't put her finger on
it, but something about these human children made her feel very
strange... There was a moment of awkward silence, and then Tai plunked
back down on the ground.
"So..." he said, fidgeting again. "What...what do we do now?
Pipermon hesitated, unsure how to answer.
"I...guess we wait here for the night," she said, frowning.
A stiff and steady breeze rushed past them, and Pipermon looked up at
the sky. The moon was full, the black velvet sky dotted with a myriad of
snow-white stars. She frowned again, shaking her head.
What am I doing? she wondered to herself, letting her hair down from the
ponytails she wore high on her head. Her long purple and white hair fell
softly down her back as she sat down and drew her knees up to her chest,
encircling them with her arms. She glanced at Tai, who was sitting
Indian-style on the ground, his hands clasped tightly in his lap. She
had a sudden urge to say something to him, to reassure him, to tell him
that everything would be okay. She checked herself. Jeez, what's WRONG
with me? she fumed silently. These children are supposed to be my sworn
enemies... She clenched her fists. So why...why do I feel... She grit
her teeth and glared down at her hands.
Why do I feel so guilty about what's happened?
Hikari stood by the edge of the lake and halfheartedly tossed a small
stone out toward the center of the water, watching the ripples glide
gracefully across the water's glassy surface. She looked down at her
reflection in the water, then at the reflection of the almost full moon.
She frowned. She wondered where Tai was, wondered if he was okay. She
wondered if he was cold, or afraid, even though she knew he would never
admit it even if he was. Her heart burned, longing to know the answers
to these awful questions...but, at the same time, something deep inside
of her told her not to worry for him. Something assured her that he
would be okay. She clung to that as though it were all she had left, and
ran her fingers over the lenses of the goggles she had around her neck.
She looked down at them, then pulled them up onto her forehead, wearing
them the same way he always had (even though they were still a little
too big...). She smiled, somehow feeling a little better about
everything.
Kari glanced behind her over her shoulder. The tents that Jyou had
packed were amazing. They folded so small--he had been able to fit all
four of them into the duffel he always carried, among all the rest of
the supplies he had brought--and yet they popped up into pup tents big
enough to sleep three people. She smiled, thinking fondly of how
resourceful Jyou had always been. Her eyes scanned the tents. They were
all dark, everyone's flashlights having been long since turned off. No
one had really been up for conversation by campfire that evening...after
Yamato had found the lake, they set up camp and immediately retreated to
the tents without even saying goodnight. Everyone was a little scared, a
little paranoid...nobody quite knew what to do. And that's the way it
was without Tai. Even with a handicap, he always seemed to know what to
do. Even when he didn't say anything, his presence seemed to bring
order. He may have been a little spontaneous, or even reckless
sometimes, but he always did it for the good of everyone, and that gave
the group confidence.
Confidence.
Kari sighed.
They could have used some of that right now. She looked at the tents
again. Yamato and TK shared one, Mimi and Sora another, and Jyou and
Izzy a third. Her eyes fell upon the fourth tent. That one was
hers...the one she and her brother would have shared had he been there.
She shuddered.
She couldn't sleep in that tent. It was too lonely, too dark. Her gaze
moved to Agumon, standing guard near Jyou and Koushiro's tent. She
wondered if he was as worried about Tai as she was. She wondered if any
of them were. Kari shook her head to clear it, then slowly started
forward, walking through the chilly night air. She spotted a large old
tree leaning out over the water. It had been toppled, in the wind or
what, Kari wasn't sure, but it lay across the water, propped up by the
shore on one side, and a large rock jutting out of the water on the
other. She smiled, and walked over to it, testing its stability with one
foot. She put her weight on the log, and hesitated. Then, holding her
arms out at her sides like a tightrope walker, making her way out to the
center of the log. She sat down, and pulled off her socks and shoes,
setting them on the log beside her. She dipped her toes into the water,
and a gasp escaped her throat. The water was so cold!
She looked up at the sky. It seemed as though everything had changed
since the last time the children had been there. The whole digital world
had gotten colder, in spirit as well as climate. The very air around her
seemed cold and dead as it rushed by her in chilly gusts. Ignoring the
cold, Kari dragged her toes through the water and gazed out across the
moonlit lake.
She let out a soft cry when something warm and fuzzy was draped around
her shoulders. She snapped her head to the side and was startled to see-
-
"Jyou?" she said, a little surprised. She plucked at the blanket he had
put around her. "Jyou, what are you doing awake?"
Jyou grinned at her over his glasses.
"I should ask you the same thing," he teased with a wink.
Kari sighed and avoided his eyes. "I couldn't sleep," she said.
"I noticed," Jyou replied, carefully sitting down beside her. He
hesitated. "You're worried about Tai, aren't you?"
She didn't look at him, she didn't acknowledge, but the sudden slump in
her slim shoulders told Jyou he was right. He noticed the goggles on her
forehead, and a smile split his face, despite the grim atmosphere. He
tapped his fingernail on the lens, and she glanced up at him.
"You're still wearing his goggles?" he said with a smile.
She looked down at her hands.
"They...they remind me of him," she said honestly, fidgeting. "They make
me feel better somehow."
"They look good on you."
She smiled at him, then took a deep breath and let it out in a gusty
sigh.
"What is it?" Jyou prodded, sensing there was more than just worry for
her brother resting on Kari's shoulders.
"I'm just...not sure what to believe anymore," she told him, "my head,
or my heart."
He tilted his head to the side, perplexed.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well," she said, fidgeting with her hands again, "my head tells me that
I should be a lot more worried for Tai's safety than I actually am right
now, I mean, we really don't know if Pipermon can be trusted yet...we
just don’t know what her true intentions are." She paused. "And if she
IS our enemy...if she DID try to hurt my brother...well...he..."--she
grit her teeth--"he would never see it coming."
Jyou winced.
"But?" he coaxed.
"But," Kari went on, "my heart tells me that...that there’s more to
Pipermon than meets the eye, that there's more to her than a bad
reputation and a blemished past. Something tells me to trust her...that
underneath all the tarnish there is a truly trustworthy creature who
really DOES want to help us..." She sighed again. "And it's true, all
she's done so far is help us...she seems not to have a bad bone in her
body..." She looked up at Jyou. "But we just...we just don't know yet."
Jyou pondered this for a moment.
"You've got a good point, Kari," he said, "she certainly SEEMS genuine,
but it's really too early to tell just yet." He hesitated.
"Unfortunately, right now, she's Tai's only hope...she's all he's got."
He immediately wished he hadn't said that.
Why must I be cursed with such a big mouth? he wondered.
Kari didn't seem too fazed by his blunt remark.
"She DID follow him into the vortex," she rationalized, "she DID try to
save him..." She sighed, and shook her head. "But it's just...too early
to know for sure. We just don't know her motives yet."
She blinked her eyes slowly and watched as the wind blew a myriad of
leaves past her, and the leaves landed in the water, creating tiny
ripples, floating on the lake's surface, twisting and twirling in the
chilly night wind like tiny dancers. She shivered and pulled the blanket
tighter around her, then glanced up at the sky. A cry escaped her throat
at what she saw. Jyou looked up at the sound of her startled gasp, and
his jaw slackened.
"Wow..." he breathed, and slowly stood up. "That's...that's peculiar."
Inky black clouds had covered the moon and blotted out all the stars.
The chilly wind was picking up, and it moaned through the trees like an
unseen banshee.
"Come on, Kari," Jyou said, helping her to her feet, "I think a storm is
coming, you better get inside. I don't think Tai would appreciate it
much if I let anything happen to you."
Kari felt her face redden, and she grabbed her shoes from where she had
set them on the log. Hopping back onto the shore, Kari and Jyou headed
up the slight embankment back toward the tents. Kari felt the cold grass
between her bare toes and quickened her steps.
"Agumon!" Jyou called over the howl of the wind. "Agumon, come on, get
inside the tents!"
Agumon turned and hurried over to Jyou and Kari as the wind screamed
around them.
"These storms blow through this forest every night," Agumon said. "The
winds are amazing, I sure hope the tents hold up."
"Me, too," Jyou said with a frown, "cuz I don't think the warrantee
covers digital thunderstorms." He looked severely at Agumon. "Agumon,
you stay with Kari," he instructed. "When Tai isn’t here, you are Kari's
guardian, you got that?"
Agumon saluted, and Kari blushed again. She wished the others weren't so
overprotective of her all the time. But, at the same time, it was nice
to know how much they all cared about her...about each other. The eight
digidestined had become closer than Kari ever dreamed eight people could
be. She watched as Jyou ducked back into his tent, then pulled the
blanket tighter around her and hurried toward her own tent, Agumon close
on her heels. She pulled the tent flap closed behind her, then paused
and glanced outside one last time.
Where are you, Tai? she wondered, and then sighed as she closed the
flap. Wherever he was...she hoped he was okay.
Pipermon squinted her eyes against the wind. She looked up at the sky
and her chest tightened.
"Fabulous," she muttered, and brushed her hair out of her face.
Tai wrapped his arms around his body, startled by the sudden gusts of
cold wind. He shivered, then glanced up in Pipermon's direction.
"What's going on?" he asked, shouting over the wind. "Pipermon?"
She stood up.
"The Arashii..." she said, grabbing her hair in her hands to keep in
from blowing in her face. "I forgot...I forgot about the Arashii..."
Tai blinked.
"The Ara-huh?" he asked.
"The Arashii," she called, yelling to be heard over the howling winds,
"horrendous storms that blow through these woods at night."
"Storms?" he echoed. "Oh, that's just perfect...and me without my
umbrella..."
Pipermon grabbed Tai by the wrist and quickly pulled him to his feet.
"Come on," she yelled, dragging him after her, "we have to find shelter
somewhere. There's a big tree over there that we can--"
"A TREE??" he cried, yanking free of her grip. "Pipermon, are you NUTS?
A tree is the WORST place you can go during a storm! That's just ASKING
to get struck by lightning!"
Pipermon growled in frustration.
"The Arashii are not your typical storms, Kamiya-san," she snapped,
"there IS no lightning. It's all a lot of wind and thunder and
hellacious rain!"
"How can that be?" Tai asked, genuinely curious. "I thought the
lightning was what CAUSED the thunder..."
"Quit being difficult, Mophead--"
"MOPHEAD??"
"Look, we've got to find someplace sheltered before--" Pipermon stopped
in mid-sentence as a hissing sound filled her ears. "Too late..." she
muttered, and grabbed Tai by the arm again. "Come on!"
And they started to run.
The hissing sound grew louder.
Dammit, Pipermon thought, we won't make it in time! She thought quickly.
With a short cry, she swung her arm forward, flinging Tai out in front
of her. She wrapped her arms around him, like she were giving him a bear
hug, and dropped to her knees. It all happened so quickly that Tai
didn't even have a second to wonder what was going on. He started to
protest, but she put her hand on his head and tilted it down so his chin
was against his breastbone. He was about to ask her what the hell she
thought she was doing when the hissing sound became almost deafening. He
suddenly realized what it was when he felt what must have been buckets
of rain pour down from the sky. The cold rain fell over them for about
six seconds, then stopped, almost completely, abating to a misty
drizzle.
Tai suddenly realized that Pipermon's tackle had been to protect him
from the downpour, and immediately felt bad for having yelled at her
previously. It had worked, he was still almost completely dry. He felt a
sudden pang of guilt when he realized that she must have gotten drenched
in her efforts to shield him. Frowning, he made a mental note to
apologize later as he felt her arms loosen from around his torso.
"Are you okay?" she asked him. "I hope I didn't smoosh you."
He grinned.
"No," he said, "I'm okay." He was about to thank her when she took his
arm again.
"C'mon, Mophead," she said, pulling him to his feet, "it's not over
yet."
They hurried forward again, running for the large tree that stood off to
the right side of the path.
"Yai!"
Pipermon whirled as Taichi's wrist was ripped from her grasp and he let
out a shrill yelp, like a cat whose tail had gotten stepped on.
"Mophead, what are you doing?"
"Composing a symphony," he muttered wryly, "what does it LOOK like I'm
doing?" He picked himself up from the wet ground and rubbed the bruise
that was now forming on his left shin. "Duh, I tripped over something,"
he went on, scowling. "What the hell WAS that?"
Pipermon looked perplexed.
"You don't have tree stumps where you come from?" she asked.
Tai flattened his eyes.
"Not usually right in the middle of the PATH!" he remarked sourly,
wincing at the pain in his left leg.
"No time to play around, Mophead," Pipermon said, helping him to his
feet. "We've gotta get out of the open before the next bout of rain."
They sprinted over to the tree, and dove beneath its sheltering branches
just as the next line of rain doused down from the heavens. Pipermon
slumped back against the tree.
"Whew," she sighed, "that's about all the excitement I can stand for one
night, how about you?"
Tai plopped down on the ground and settled himself between two of the
large roots that protruded from the ground.
"What a bizarre storm," he said softly, wriggling to get comfortable
against the tree's hard, scratchy bark. "Is it like this every night?"
"Every single night," she replied. "That's the nature of these storms.
They're actually dozens of individual storms, all right in a line,
that's why the rain falls as it does. They come in a line, so the rain
falls in sheets for all of about six or eight seconds, then there's
nothing till the next storm passes over you. It all goes on for about
three hours...sometimes four."
"So long?" Tai asked. "How weird."
Then something occurred to him. Years ago, when the children first came
to the digital world, they discovered that whatever happened there
directly affected what happened in the real world. If a new enemy was
causing these unusually strong and lengthy storms, and could create
contortions in time and space to create vortexes, could they not also
have created a time distortion between this world and the real world?
Could the storm that he and his friends had witnessed back home have
been caused by this same storm now? He wasn't sure, but was suddenly too
tired to really worry about it. He would bring the point up to Izzy
tomorrow. Tai shuddered as he felt the wind rush past the thick old
tree, blowing on either side of him. He pressed his back up against the
bark and pulled his knees up to his chest. He was out of the wind, but
it howled past him on all either side. Pipermon had pushed him to the
lee side of the tree.
But, that meant--
"Pipermon," he said, "you're right in the wind and rain."
She smiled.
"I'm fine," she insisted, "I'm used to it. I live in this forest, you
forget."
Tai felt bad...but at the same time he was almost a little skeptical. It
near about seemed that Pipermon was trying a little TOO hard to earn his
trust. He folded his arms over his knees and rested his chin on his
forearms. He sighed. It was going to be a long night.
A few minutes of silence went past, the wind and rain never letting up.
Tai glared angrily as rain dripped from the tree branches down onto his
back, and he squirmed, trying to get out of the chilly rain. Pipermon
encircled her knees with her arms and set her chin on one elbow. She
glanced at Tai out of the corner of one eye and lifted her head. She
frowned when she saw him shiver in the wind. She quickly turned her head
back forward, her face stern.
What IS this? she asked herself angrily. Why is it that I should
question my loyalty to Kurarimon over the fate of a bunch of kids I've
sworn to destroy anyway? She grit her teeth and glanced over her
shoulder again.
"Kamiya-san?" she asked softly. He made a wordless sound of
acknowledgment. "Are you okay?" she queried.
He made a scoffing noise.
"Oh, sure," he replied snidely. "I'm hungry, I'm wet, we're lost, it's
cold, and I can't see anything. I'm just peachy keen, how about you?"
Pipermon frowned. Then she thought of something. Making a series of slow
deliberate motions with her hands, similar to those one would make when
creating shadow figures on the wall, she closed her eyes and whispered
something Tai couldn't quite hear. Then she turned one palm up toward
the sky and blew on it, and a tennis ball sized object appeared. It was
the color of a golden sunrise, and Pipermon beamed, pleased that she had
remembered how make it.
"Here," she said to Tai, extending the hand that held the small golden
object. He blinked, and held his hand out. She dropped the object into
his palm and returned to her seat around the other side of the tree.
Taichi hesitated.
"What...what is it?" he asked suspiciously.
Pipermon turned back over her shoulder.
"Don't tell me you've never eaten an apple before..." she said.
"Well, never a digital one..." he murmured under his breath. Pipermon
grinned. "Where did it come from?" he prodded, still wary.
Pipermon made a face.
"Well, most apples come from trees," she said.
Tai narrowed one eye.
"You didn't get it from a tree," he said, "you didn't even move."
She pressed her knuckles into her chin.
"I created it," she said.
Tai jumped.
"You WHAT?" he cried, not sure he heard her right.
She looked at him.
"I know a spell to create apples," she told him, feeling kind of silly.
"I hardly ever use it...someone taught it to me a long time ago...I
thought it was a rather pointless spell at the time, but sometimes it
seems to come in awful handy."
"You...you MADE it?" he asked...still holding it in his palm. He plucked
it from his palm by the stalk and held it out away from his face like it
would bite him. His eyes narrowed. "How do I know it's safe to eat?"
Pipermon rolled her large blue eyes.
"Oh, please, give me a LITTLE credit, won't you?" she said. "If I were
really trying to hurt you, I'd do it with something a little more
original than a poisoned apple..." She shifted her weight. "But I guess,
ultimately, it's up to you, Mophead," she went on. "The choice is yours.
You can either trust me, eat it, and be tided over till morning...or you
can NOT trust me, and be hungry until your friends happen upon our
location." She paused. "But if you don't trust me, I dunno who you're
GOING to trust. If you could look around you, you'd see you really don't
have a big selection to choose from. It's me, or it's nobody, Kamiya-
san. If you really feel I'm such the villainess," she went on, folding
her arms over her chest, "and you'd rather continue this little detour
on your own, I won't stop you."
He didn't reply.
Pipermon rested her chin on her elbows again.
Tai rolled the apple from one hand to the other, back and forth. Then he
sighed...and took a bite. He chewed it for a moment, then a smile slid
across his face.
"You make a pretty good apple, Pipermon," he said quietly.
She blinked, startled, then turned to look at him. He took another bite,
then set the apple down beside him. He folded his arms across his knees,
and rested his forehead on his arm. Pipermon shuddered in the wind. Not
from cold, not really, she was used to the chill in these woods by now.
There was something else, something she couldn't quite put her finger
on, and whether it was the children themselves that made her nervous, or
her own feelings toward them, she just wasn't sure. She sighed and held
up her right hand. He flute shimmered into existence, and she brought it
up to her mouth. She always played her flute when something was
troubling her, it helped clear her head. Blowing gently into the
instrument, she piped out a soft, sad, haunting melody, one she had
played a hundred times before.
But somehow it seemed sadder tonight.
Tai perked up at the sound of the music. He listened to the sweet
melody, then smiled when her song was done.
"That's a pretty song," he said, "did you make it up yourself?"
She hesitated, frowned, then pressed the flute between her hands until
it disappeared.
"Yes," she said quietly, her voice barely audible over the moan of the
wind and the hiss of the rain, "yes, I did."
Tai rested his chin on his arms again.
"But such a sad melody," he went on quietly, then he shuddered and
brought his knees up closer to his chest.
Pipermon frowned as she watched him wrap his arms around himself again
in an effort to keep warm. Humans were not so easily adaptable to
temperature, she knew. She, as a unique rare type of digimon, could
easily lower her internal temperature to compensate for the chill
outside.
Tai, however, could not.
She looked away, grimacing.
Why?? she demanded silently of herself. Why do I find myself so attached
to these children?? I shouldn't even CARE what happens to them! She
looked at him again, scowling at the fact that he wore only shorts, and
a long sleeved shirt under a tee shirt. Definitely not sufficient
clothing for the weather outside. Jyou-san probably brought blankets for
all of them... she thought, suddenly wishing nothing more than to be
able to fly both she and Tai back to the lake. STOP! she checked
herself, placing her hands over her ears as though she could block the
sound of her own thoughts. Jeez, what am I thinking? Why am I so torn by
this? Half of me wants, more than anything, to follow Kurarimon's orders
and bring these children to her! To destroy them and be done with it!
But what about the other half?
She squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, then she looked at Tai
again. He shivered in the wind, and she felt her chest tighten.
Why? Why does part of me desire to destroy him...and the other part...to
protect him?
She looked at the ground, then clenched her hands. She looked back over
her shoulder at the human boy she suddenly felt such attachment to.
He's all wet, she thought with a frown, and it's so cold here. He's
liable to get sick in this weather... She paused. I don't think
Kurarimon would be very appreciative if I let her prime target fall ill.
Nobody wants to destroy a sick kid, where's the fun in that? You just
can't do it, you feel too sorry for them...
She took a deep breath, and slowly shifted from a sitting position to a
kneeling one. She crawled slowly to where Tai was still sitting with his
head on his arm. She gnawed her lower lip.
"Mophead?" she whispered. "Mophead are you asleep?"
He didn't reply.
"Kamiya-san?"
No response.
Good, she thought to herself.
She threaded her arms under his and carefully lifted him up. Then she
slid in to sit beside him, placing him softly back down on the ground,
positioning his back against her side. She froze when she felt him
shift, but he didn't wake. He shuddered once, then was still. She slowly
drew her knees up, then placed one hand around her shin, and the other
on his shoulder, feeling rather awkward, but strangely protective at the
same time. She pressed her back up against the tree and closed her eyes,
contented now that he would be warm enough.
"Pipermon?" she heard him whisper.
She balked, and felt her face turn crimson. Eyes bugging out, she stared
straight ahead at the tree across the way from theirs.
"Mm?" she squeaked, embarrassed that he had caught her. He shifted his
weight, and settled up against her, draping his right arm over his
abdomen. She suddenly noticed he wasn't shivering anymore.
"Thanks, Pipermon," he said softly, then fell silently into a light
sleep.
Something caught Pipermon's eye in the darkness. His digivice...it had
fallen out of his pocket when he had moved. She slowly, carefully,
leaned forward and picked it up, holding the small mechanism in her
palm. She frowned as she saw the light it emanated flicker and flash,
like an old flourescent bulb. She closed her fingers around it, then
placed it in Tai's open palm.
A little unsure of what to think, Pipermon lay one arm over his shoulder
and placed her other hand atop his moppish hair. She sighed and leaned
her head back against the sturdy old tree, listening to the rain as it
slapped against the earth.
Why? she thought. Kurarimon...why?
She looked down at the sleeping Taichi. He looked so little and helpless
when he was asleep...not at all like the fiercely protective leader of
the digidestined. He looked almost...angelic. She wondered if all
children looked like that when they slept. She furrowed her brow.
Oh, Kurarimon...why must you hate them so?
So whaddya think of Pipermon, ne? Lemme know! ::rubs hands together:: I
am feeling the need to do another picture of her, I haven't used my
colored pencils in a while, and I wouldn't want them to feel
neglected... ^_^ Okay, little note: "Arashii" actually means "storm" in
Japanese, so I figured that was a good name for "the storm". Waiii,
aware na Taichi...poor Tai... ::pout:: I almost feel bad for doing all
this to him...nyah, he'll forgive me, cuz he already knows how it ends.
~_^ Heh heh, so what does everyone think? Is Pipermon a good digimon or
a bad digimon? "Oh, I'm not a witch at all, I'm Pipermon, from--"
er...wait...wrong movie. ::sweatdrop:: Anyway, please review! It only
takes a second, and it like, totally makes my day, so be a good
samaritan and do it!! ^_^ Luv n smooches,
~~hikari
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