Chapter 6
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.
