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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