Chapter 7
"Tai?"
Pipermon's eyelids twitched.
"Tai, where are you?"
She opened her eyes, rapidly blinking away sleep as she heard Sora's worried voice, calling out for her lost friend.
Right on time, she thought, and stretched her arms up over her head. She looked down at Tai, who was still sound asleep beside her.
"Kamiya-san," she said softly, shaking his shoulders, "Kamiya-san, wake up." She grinned when she heard him groggily mumble something along the lines of "just five more minutes..."
"Come on, Mophead," she said a little louder, poking him in the ribs, "wake up, your friends are looking for you."
He mumbled something indecipherable, then slowly sat up, stretching his arms. He blinked, and spun back to Pipermon.
"What time is it?" he asked, sounding worried.
Pipermon looked up at the sky.
"About ten-thirty, I would guess," she replied. "Why?"
She saw his shoulders slump.
"It didn't work," he mumbled, angry and disappointed.
"What didn't work?"
Tai shook his head.
"Nothing," he said, "nevermind."
He scowled. Koushiro had been wrong, the blindness hadn't fixed itself overnight like he had said it might. Although, Tai never really believed it would... He sighed and shook his head again. Pipermon stood up and stretched again, arching her back. She glanced down at Tai, who was still sitting on the ground, his hands on his ankles. She blinked.
"Come on, Kamiya-san," she said, leaning down to take his arm. "Come on, I'm sure they're all worried about you." She pulled him to his feet--
--and his knees gave out from under him. He pitched forward with a yelp, and Pipermon caught him under the arms.
"Whoa, whoa, careful, easy," she chided, gripping his upper arms. She looked at him questioningly. "Are you okay?"
Tai managed to get his bearings, and quickly pulled away from her.
"Yeah," he said, a little startled by how woozy he suddenly felt. "Yeah, I'm fine, I guess I'm just not totally awake yet." He laughed nervously and put one hand behind his head.
Pipermon didn't believe him, but she decided not to bother him about it. He would tell her if he wanted to, it wasn't her place to pry. She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it up into her signature twin ponytails.
"Come on," she said again, tugging his sleeve, "I heard their voices this way."
"Tai! Tai, can you hear me?"
Sora cupped her hands around her mouth and called out again.
"TAI?"
Her shoulders sagged.
It's useless, she thought, we'll never find him in this accursed forest.
Yamato, walking beside her, noticed the slump in Sora's shoulders. He reached out and reassuringly squeezed her forearm. She looked up at him.
"Don't worry, Sora," he said with a smile, "I'm sure he'll turn up. We'll find him...we always have before."
She smiled, feeling a little better.
Yama cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Tai!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the trees. "Tai, where are you?"
Pipermon peeked out from behind a tree and beamed at what she saw.
Seven children.
Lost and forlorn as they looked, those seven children were the sweetest sight she could have imagined. It appeared that they had run into some old friends during the hours of the morning, as a handful of new digimon now accompanied the children. Along with Tai's Agumon, Pipermon now counted a Gabumon, a Patamon, a Gatomon, a Tentomon, a Gomamon, a Palmon, and a Biyomon. She stepped out into the clearing, and waved one hand above her head, signaling to the group.
"Yamato-san!" she called. "Izumi-san! Over here!"
All the children turned at the sound of her voice.
"Pipermon," Yamato said softly, as though he were convincing himself she really existed. He broke into a run. "Pipermon!" he shouted, and the others ran after him. Pipermon stood in the clearing and hesitated, a little unsure what to think...all seven other children were sprinting in her direction, Yamato at the front of the group. Eight digimon followed the children in close pursuit.
"Where is he?" Yamato demanded before he had even stopped running. He slid to an abrupt halt at Pipermon’s feet, then reached up and grabbed the neckline of her unitard, pulling her face down close to his. "Where is he?" he shouted, and she turned her face away from his accusation. "What have you done with him?"
"What are you talking about?" she cried, wrapping her fingers around Yamato's wrists. "Done with who?"
"With Tai," he growled, "what have you done with Tai??" He shook her. "Where IS he?"
"I'm right here, Yama," Tai said, stepping out from behind the tree.
"Tai!" Yama shouted, and tossed Pipermon backward. She squeaked in surprise and stumbled back a few steps, then stood up straight and folded her arms over her chest. She scowled at Yamato and stuck her tongue out at his back.
"Ungrateful, accusing little brat," she grumbled under her breath. "Next time I'll think twice before shoving YOU out of the way of any temporal vortexes..."
She watched in bemusement as Yama proceeded to grab Tai by the shoulders and shake them gently, like he was making sure Tai was really there.
"Tai, you...you're okay!" Yama said, his blue eyes wide.
"Well, of COURSE he's okay," Pipermon scoffed, throwing her arms up in the air, "what did you THINK I was gonna do, EAT him?"
"Tai!"
Yama jumped back as Kari rushed forward and threw her arms around her brother's waist, burying her face in his shirt. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said, "we were so worried about you!"
Tai stroked her hair.
"About me?" he said laughingly. "You know better than that."
Kari pulled back when Sora walked up behind her. She stepped aside as Sora hugged Tai's arm close to her and lay her forehead against his shoulder, relieved beyond words to see him alive.
"Sora?" he questioned. She had forgotten that he couldn't even see her, and blushed, stepping away quickly.
"Tai...I'm...really glad you're safe," she said haltingly. "You...you really had us worried."
"I'm fine, guys," he assured them all, smiling. He lifted his head and turned his face toward Yamato. "Pipermon really came through," he continued pointedly. "She kept an eye on me last night."
Yamato was surprised.
"She did?" he choked out.
Tai nodded.
"Yeah, she did," he said, and Pipermon felt her face flush crimson. She stepped back, jumped up into the air, then sat down primly on a tree branch nearby. Tai frowned as he continued, "I think we all owe her a big apology, you guys. She could have easily left me on my own last night, but she didn't. That's proof enough for me that her intentions are good."
Yama scowled, and silently folded his arms over his chest, turning away. Kari blinked, and slowly walked toward the tree where Pipermon had taken up roost. She stood beneath the branch and peered up at the digimon.
"Pipermon, Tai's right," the young girl said, "we DO owe you an apology..."
Sora stepped up beside Kari, her hands clasped near her chest.
"We misjudged you, Pipermon," she said. "If what he says is true, then Tai may very well owe you his life."
Yama grit his teeth and sighed. He glanced back over his shoulder.
"We're...we're sorry, Pipermon," he said stiffly, turning back to face them. He clenched and unclenched his fists. "We were...we were wrong about you, and we're sorry." He looked at her, and stared into her blue eyes. "We won't doubt you again."
Pipermon took a deep breath and looked down at the branch upon which she was perched.
Those were the exact words she should have wanted to hear...so why did she suddenly feel as though she had been punched in the stomach? She wanly hopped down from the branch, landing softly on the ground.
"Well," she said, "shall we get going, then?"
"Wait a second," Kari said, "you haven't met the rest of our digimon yet."
"Oh, yeah," Agumon said. He turned to Tai. "Tai, along the way here, we ran across the rest of the digimon we were missing."
Tai grinned.
"That's great," he said, "it'll be a lot safer going with everyone's digimon here."
"Especially since I can't digivolve," Agumon added, sounding very small.
"I've been thinking, Agumon," Izzy began.
"This is news?" Koushiro's Tentomon quipped. Ignoring his insectlike companion's remark, Izzy knelt down beside Agumon and held out his digivice, still glowing a bright violet light.
"You see how my digivice is glowing?" Izzy asked. Agumon nodded. Izzy turned. "Tai, hold out your digivice."
Tai fumbled for a moment as he tried to remember which pocket he had stuck the digivice in. Upon finding it, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and held the device up in the palm of his hand.
"Okay," he said.
Standing up, Izzy took the digivice from Tai's hand and held it down for Agumon to see.
"You see how Tai's digivice glows so much fainter than mine?" he asked the reptilian creature. Agumon nodded again. Izzy stood up, and dropped the digivice back into Tai's palm. "I believe," Izzy said, "that’s the reason you can't digivolve. In the same way you cannot digivolve if you and Tai are separated, neither can you digivolve if something happens to him or to the digivice that should impede their output level."
Biyomon looked over at Izzy.
"So, you mean if something should happen to any of you kids," she asked, blinking her large blue eyes, "that person's digimon would have to remain at its current state of evolution until their human was restored?"
"Exactly."
Tai scowled at Izzy's logic. Unfortunately, it made sense.
"That's just fabulous," he muttered bitterly.
Kari took his hand.
"Don't worry, Tai," she said sweetly, "we'll figure out how to fix you." He smiled weakly at his sister. Kari turned back to Pipermon and proceeded to rattle off introductions of everyone else's digimon. "Guys," she went on, grinning at her Gatomon, "this"--she gestured--"is Pipermon."
Patamon blinked his bright blue eyes rapidly, and protectively planted himself on TK's shoulder.
"Pipermon?" he echoed. "I THOUGHT it was her..."
"Isn't she..." Palmon began, twitching her plantlike arms. She tensed beside Mimi's leg, ready to attack.
"She was a servant of Piedmon before he was destroyed," Gabumon interrupted, stepping in front of Yamato.
Gatomon narrowed her large azure eyes and flexed her claws.
"She's not to be trusted," the catlike digimon hissed.
"No, no, no, you guys," Kari said, holding her arms out at her sides and standing between the skeptical digimon and their target. Pipermon was a trifle taken aback by the young girl's spirit.
"Pipermon is our ally now," Tai told them. "She's been a real big help to us. We have to trust her."
Gatomon wasn't convinced, but stepped back.
"For now," she said almost inaudibly. "We shall see...her true colors will come out in time."
Pipermon winced. Winning over the other digimon was going to be a task. Even if the children were easily fooled, the digimon were more aware of her reputation and would be harder to sway. She scowled. This was going to be harder than she had first expected.
Gomamon snickered.
"What's so funny?" Jyou asked, afraid of what his digimon's answer might be.
The little digimon waved one flipperlike foot.
"Pipermon," he said, and laughed again.
Everyone gave him a funny look.
"Don't you get it?" he asked. Pipermon lifted one purple eyebrow. Gomamon giggled some more. "Piedmon...Pipermon..."
Blank stares.
"Piedmon...Pipermon..." he went on, not believing the density of his human companions, "Pied, Piper...Pied Piper...hah hah...funny..."
The children all rolled their eyes and slapped their hands across their foreheads.
"Ohh, nevermind..." Gomamon replied, shaking his head hopelessly.
Pipermon smiled, and started forward. Maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all...
"Let's get a move on," she said, "it's still early, we can still cover a few miles before lunch."
They had walked about a mile and a half before they could stand Mimi's whining no longer and decided to stop for lunch. Mimi eagerly dug into her purse and fished out the soy sauce and the chopsticks again. Kari sat down on the ground, glad to rest her feet. Kari saw Pipermon take up her usual perch in a tree branch, watching the group from the treetops. Kari frowned as Gatomon flexed her claws again before taking a seat beside her. She stared at her digimon quizzically.
"What's wrong, Gatomon?" she asked. "You look like something's bothering you."
Gatomon twitched her large ears.
"I don't trust her," she said.
"Trust who?" Kari asked. "Pipermon?"
"Something just doesn't add up," Gatomon growled. "Why would she all of a sudden want to turn over a new leaf and help us out?"
Kari gathered the catlike creature into her lap and placed her fingertip on the end of Gatomon's nose.
"You worry too much," she said, winking.
"Maybe you don't worry enough, and I’m trying to compensate," Gatomon grumbled in response, and Kari laughed. She placed Gatomon back on the ground, and fidgeted with Tai's goggles on her head. They still slipped down. She toyed with the headband in the back and managed to tighten it so they fit right.
"Much better," she said to herself, and her eyes scanned the group of children. A smile crossed her face as she watched Jyou attempting to make a riceball with Yama's instruction. He failed miserably; his riceball looked more like a mutant creme puff, and Gomamon told him so, despite Gabumon's attempts to stop him. Mimi was munching away at her own food, dousing the riceball in so much soy sauce that Kari was certain the salt would cause the older girl's tongue to shrivel up. Palmon chided her to go easy on the soy sauce, but Mimi would have none of it. Kari laughed when she heard Mimi explain that, "Mom always uses three packets of soy sauce per riceball.". Palmon frowned, and her dark green eyes narrowed.
"Mimi," she said after a moment, "I've been meaning to ask you...who is Ny?"
Mimi blinked.
"What?" she asked, confusion apparent in her voice.
Palmon gestured at Mimi's shirt.
"Your shirt," the plantlike creature exlpained, "it says 'I heart Ny'. 'I love Ny'. You never told me you had a boyfriend."
Mimi blinked again, looked down at her tee shirt, then threw her head back and laughed hysterically.
"No, no, Palmon," she said between guffaws, "not Ny...N-Y...that stands for New York, it says 'I love New York'!"
Palmon was a trifle confused by all this, considering she had no idea what a york was, be it an old one or a new one, but decided it wasn't worth the trouble of asking.
Kari shook her head and turned her gaze to the rest of the children. She saw Izzy absently chewing on his own riceball as he pecked at the keyboard, Tentomon by his side. TK and Patamon were sharing a particularly large riceball, and Tai and Agumon were arguing over who was going to use the last packet of soy sauce.
It all seemed so normal...who ever would have guessed that eight young children would hold the future of two shadow worlds in their juvenile hands? But, wait a minute...that was only six others, Kari realized, making a total of seven. Who was missing?
Then Kari's eyes fell on Sora.
"Sora?" she called softly.
Sora was still standing in the clearing, alone with her Biyomon in the center of the path. She hadn't come to join the other children for lunch, she hadn't taken a riceball. In fact, she hadn't moved from where the group had been standing when they had agreed to take a break. Kari slowly got to her feet and approached Sora.
"Sora?" she asked again, "are you okay?" She suddenly noticed that the air around her had grown silent. The talking, bickering, and all conversation otherwise had ceased when the others noticed Sora. The red-haired girl stood, stoic, silent in the center of the path, her hands at her temples as though her head were pounding. Biyomon stood beside her human, a silent vigil, unsure of what exactly was going on. The avian digimon fluffed her salmon-colored feathers with a frown.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Biyomon asked. Sora made no attempt to reply, rather dropped hard to her knees.
"Sora!" Kari called, and darted to her friend’s side. "Sora, what's happening? What's the matter?"
Kari felt a presence behind her, and turned to see that the rest of the group had instantaneously come to Sora's aide, Tai gripping Agumon's shoulders to guide him.
"Sora!!" Biyomon cried, afraid now. The digimon's eyes welled up with frightened tears. "Sora, what's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"
"My...my head..." Sora managed to groan, pressing her palms against her forehead. "It's pounding...pounding...it hurts so much...my god...!"
Everyone gasped when she leaned forward on her knees and cried out in pain, tears springing to her large green eyes, which were squeezed shut as an incapacitating agony swept over her. Tai tensed and started to go to her side, then looked away, realizing that in his current state, he wasn't going to be of much help. He couldn't even see where she was, much less see what was wrong with her. Agumon looked up at him as he felt Tai's hands slip from their grasp on his shoulders. The digimon frowned at the look of torn anger in the boy's face. Tai flinched when he heard Sora cry out again, and he clenched his fists, damning his eyes for not functioning properly.
"I've got some Aspirin-free acetaminophen in my duffel," Jyou suggested, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"What's that?" TK asked.
"He means Tylenol," Pipermon said, dropping softly to the ground beside Takeru, "but I don't think that will do her much good." TK was startled. In all the commotion, they had all forgotten about Pipermon. Jyou started to ask her how in the world she knew what Tylenol was, but then thought it would be better to ask questions AFTER they had figured out what had happened to Sora. Biyomon took a step back as Pipermon approached Sora and dropped to one knee beside the girl. Placing one hand atop her golden auburn hair, Pipermon closed her eyes. After a second, she gasped, and quickly drew her hands away as though she had been stung. She leapt to her feet.
Kurarimon... she thought, staring at her hand. Kurarimon...what are you doing?
"Sora, why didn't you ever tell us you got migraines?" Jyou asked, attempting to come up with an explanation to her sudden pain.
"But...I don't," she replied, almost too soft to be heard. "I...I never have--" She completed the sentence with another cry of anguish, and Tai cringed at the sound of her scream. If only he could see! If only he could have done something to help! If only--!
"Jyou, DO something!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air. Jyou spun to look at Tai.
"Do what, Tai?" he cried in reply, staring at him. "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a psychic! I dunno what's wrong with her! If she's never gotten migraines before--"
"It's not a migraine," Pipermon interjected sharply, her hand still near her face, "it's your enemy."
"Huh?"
A startled cry arose from the whole group.
"You mean the enemy we were brought here to destroy has done something to Sora?" Tai demanded, balling his hands into fists.
Pipermon nodded.
"There is dark energy all around her," the digimon said, "that’s what startled me when I touched her. The enemy's evil powers are strong, and somehow the dark energy has gotten into Sora-san and caused this."
"So what do we do?" Biyomon asked, frowning as Sora pressed her hands harder against her forehead.
Pipermon didn't reply. She knelt down beside Sora again, and leaned close to the girl's face.
"Sora-san, move your hands," she said softly.
Sora obeyed, slowly drawing her hands away from her face. She looked at Pipermon, her eyes squinted in pain, and Pipermon felt a pang of guilt. Kurarimon...why are you torturing them like this? she wondered. Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Pipermon moved until she was kneeling directly in front of Sora. She placed two fingers on Sora's forehead, and two from the other hand on her own.
"What are you doing?" Kari asked softly. She fell silent, however, when she heard Pipermon softly begin to chant something.
"Rains from the Heavens, Winds from the North,
Zephyrs of Mercy, I beg you, come forth;
Rescue this child from agony's clutch,
Free her from pain with mine own healing touch--
Breath of Restoration!"
The children gasped as a breeze that seemingly came from nowhere swirled around them. It sparkled as though a million tiny pieces of glitter had been scattered throughout it. Pipermon opened her hands, spreading her fingers and pressing her right palm up against Sora's forehead, her left palm against her own. There was a flash of light, and Pipermon yelped as she was thrown backward. Jyou caught her under the arms, and then she quickly dove ahead, grabbing Sora's shoulders as the girl slumped forward. Biyomon let out a cry as Sora's lifeless form crumpled into Pipermon's arms.
"What'd you do to her?" Yamato demanded, stepping forward.
"I got rid of her headache," Pipermon snapped back, gently shaking Sora's shoulders. "It's a powerful magic spell, so it has a tendency to knock the other person unconscious for a minute or so." She lightly slapped Sora's cheek with the back of her hand. "Sora-san," she said, "Sora-san, wake up."
Sora moaned, and her eyes flitted open.
"Huh?" she said, and blinked rapidly. "What...what's going on?" She looked up. "Pipermon...wha...?"
"Feel better?" Pipermon asked, grinning.
Sora raised one hand to her forehead.
"The pain is...it's GONE!" she said, amazed. "It's just gone! Just like that!" She glanced at the others, then back at Pipermon. "How did you--"
She was cut off when Pipermon let out a cry and clutched her head. She cringed, and seemed to shrink as she dropped to her knees.
"Pipermon?" Sora gasped, hesitantly taking the digimon's shoulder. "Are you all right? What's going on?"
Pipermon waved off Sora's help.
"It's a side effect of the spell," she explained, holding her head. "The magic draws the ailment from the victim into whoever is casting the spell, and the malady is dispelled from there."
"So you're feeling now what I felt before?" Sora gasped, horrified that anyone would put themselves through such pain by choice.
"It only lasts a moment," Pipermon insisted, "it'll pass..." She cringed, and the children and digimon watched in awestruck amazement as a black mist rose from Pipermon's body, then exploded into the air, dispersing the pain that had stricken both she and Sora. Pipermon sighed, and sat down on her knees, running her fingers down her face.
"That...that was inside me?" Sora choked out, still kneeling on the ground. Pipermon nodded at her. Sora looked taken aback. "No WONDER it hurt...that certainly didn't look pleasant..." She paused. "Thank you, Pipermon."
Pipermon laughed, and got shakily to her feet.
"No problem," she said cheerfully. She rotated her shoulders and cracked her knuckles. "Wow, I haven't used that spell in a while!"
"Pipermon, isn't that dangerous?" Mimi asked. "I mean...taking on someone else's illness or pain? Can't you get hurt?"
"Not if you know what you're doing," she replied simply. "It worked exactly like it was supposed to, both caster and castee are good as new." She smiled.
"And had something gone wrong," Koushiro said, frowning, "then what?"
Pipermon's smile faded.
"Well, I've never HAD it go wrong before," she said, placing her finger on her chin. "I hope to keep the winning streak going..."
Tai stepped forward and held out his hand.
"Sora," he beckoned.
She blinked, and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet and squeezed her hand.
"Sora, I'm so happy you're all right," he said softly, wishing he could see her. Wishing, more than anything, that he could see them all...even for just a moment...he felt as though he had been stumbling through the darkness for days, when, in fact, it had only been just over twenty-four hours. She smiled at him, even though she knew very well he didn't know it.
"Thanks, Tai," she said, squeezing his hand back.
"Something still bothers me, though," Jyou said after a moment. Everyone turned to look at him. "If the enemy was somehow able to cause this to happen to Sora...could he or she not do something like that to ANY of us?"
"Jyou has a point," Tai said, never dropping his hold on Sora's hand. "And if that's true...who's next?"
"And will it be the same thing, or something different?" added Yamato, scowling.
"Will the enemy know what Pipermon can do?" Biyomon chimed in, worried. "Will the enemy know that she can foil their plans with her magic?"
"Will it be something more serious next time?" Kari asked, fear in her large brown eyes.
"Yeah, Sora was okay this time around," Izzy said logically, "but, who's to say that whatever happens next time will even be susceptible to Pipermon's magic?"
"Those are questions we'll find the answers to in due time," Pipermon replied quickly. "We'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, let's keep walking. We've still got a ways ahead of us, and only about six hours of daylight left."
She started forward, again leading the group of children and digimon down the path.
Kurarimon swept her hand across her crystal ball, and the image was gone in a swirl of purple haze.
"Just exactly what do you think you are doing, Little Pipermon?" she hissed, tapping her fingertips together.
"Yeah, who does she think she is?"
Kurarimon winced at the grating voice. She turned and glared as Ivymon continued, "Kurarimon, next time, can WE be the ones to deceive the enemies, and beat HER up? How come Pipermon gets to have all the fun, and all we get is the crap beat out of us?"
"Shut up, Ivymon," she snarled, her ruby eyes blazing. "You and Hollymon have a job to do, so go get started."
"Yes, ma'am," Hollymon said quickly, dragging her brother out of the room by his long, lionlike tail.
"Hey, ow, stoppit!" he protested. "Lemme go, I say!"
Kurarimon put her hand on her forehead and sighed.
"Why must I be surrounded by such simpletons?" she wondered aloud, turning back to her crystal. She waved her hand over it again, and the mists swirled, focusing the picture on the little band of travelers. She looked at Sora. "You were lucky, Little One," she said, "Pipermon was able to save you from my poison..." She moved her hands, and the image in the sphere shifted, then zoomed in. She grinned and narrowed her eyes. "This one, however," she said softly, stroking the orb and laughing quietly to herself, "this one...perhaps will not be so fortunate..."
She threw her head back and cackled as the image smeared and swirled in the purple mists.
"Oh, no," she laughed maniacally, "this time will be different. This time...I will be ready..."
She stood up, and her cape swirled around her ankles as she left the chamber, her sinister laughter echoing eerily through the stone walls of the old castle.
Don't go away yet, there's still lots more! Okay, minna, gimme some feedback here, whaddya think of Pipermon? Is she
good? Is she evil? Am I convincing you guys? Throw me a bone here... Kay, gotta run...oyasumi nasai!!
~~hikari
