Everyone stared in awe at the small Digimon that was sitting on a chair, munching on the cookies that Mimi's mother had baked for her daughter's birthday.
Heartmon smiled up at Mimi cutely. "Can I have some more cookies?"
Mimi gushed. Oh, that little guy was just sooo adorable. "Of course, sweetie. I'll get you some." And she took the empty bowl from the mouse-Digimon and rushed into the kitchen.
Izzy felt as if something had to be said. He stepped forward, cleared his throat and said: "So... Heartmon, right?"
The little guy looked up at him. "Yes?"
"Um... You know, we are kinda curious. Could you tell us where you're from?"
Heartmon seemed to think about that for a while. Then he smiled. "From Daddy's place."
"Okay," Izzy nodded. "But... could you be a little bit more... elaborate? Where does your 'Daddy' live?"
Heartmon pondered about the question like before. "He lives where I come from."
"I don't think that's gonna help much," Tai sighed. "Let me take care of this, Izzy."
"Okay," Izzy groaned. "Perhaps you have some more luck getting any sort of information from him..."
Tai squatted down in front of the tiny Digimon, so their faces were at the same level. "Hey there, Heartmon," he greeted him. "I'm Tai."
Heartmon smiled. "Hi Tai!"
"Say, that's a nice heart symbol on your front. I like it."
Heartmon smiled even more. "Thanks. Daddy gave it to me. He said it shall bring me good luck."
"Your Daddy seems to be a very nice man."
"Oh, yes. He always says he wants to make everyone happy, and therefore, he's always at work."
"Does he work too much? Or does he still have time to spend with you?"
"Oh, he has some time to spend with me, but I also have some friends: Yuffie-chan, Aerith-chan, Squall and Cloud..."
"Are they Digimon as well?" Veemon asked curiously.
Heartmon looked back at him with a puzzled look on his face. "What's a Dikki-mom?"
Tai sighed. "He meant, did your friend look like you? Or more like us?"
"Um, more like you, I'd say..." Heartmon told Tai, a little uncertain. "But not quite as big... More like that boy over there, but still a little smaller." He gestured at Cody.
"So his friends must still be little kids, younger than me perhaps," Cody pondered.
"I always used to have fun with my friends," Heartmon grinned. "We always played together and chased each other through the castle."
"Castle?" Davis wondered, but Tai made a gesture to tell him that he should be quiet.
"I can imagine you and your friends had much fun together, huh?" Tai asked.
Heartmon nodded. "Oh, yes! But one day, they all left..." Sadly, he looked down at the ground. "Daddy couldn't see me as often as he did before, but I knew he was busy, as he is an important man, and important men are always busy, he told me. Instead of him, I always had to talk with those meanies that worked for him..." He muttered the last sentence as if the memory was an unpleasant one.
"And what happened then?" Tai asked. "Why... why aren't you home, with your Daddy and friends?"
"Well, those six meanies always came to me and put those weird gadgets on me. The one with the white hair - I think his name was 'Zee-ha-noat' or sumthin' like that - always told me how I could help him. He said I should become a 'Heartless'... But I didn't want to. I liked the heart I have." He clutched the pink heart on his stomach lovingly. "Daddy gave it to me."
"Heartless..." Ken whispered. "Maybe those are the creatures that..."
At that point, Mimi was coming back from the kitchen, with a new bowl of cookies. She offered him some and he accepted them with a smile.
"So, what happened next?" Patamon wanted to know.
"Well, Daddy came back. He was acting really weird. He told me that we couldn't see each other for a while, and that I would go on a journey. I asked if my friends could come as well, but he shook his head. He just told me to be strong and to be a good boy. I felt like crying, because I had to say goodbye to Daddy... But I did as he told me and didn't cry. I was a good boy."
Just then, Cody realized something. He came closer and held up the key chain that was still dangling from his hand. "This pendant... do you know what that is?"
"Oh yes," Heartmon nodded. "Daddy said it's supposed to be a present for someone. Before he left, he said I would sleep for a while. And that someone would come and wake me up. And the Chain of Light is supposed to be a present for that person."
"Oh," Kari nodded, as she understood. "I touched the pendant... and you appeared. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I..." She clutched her D-3 Digivice. "I had the Crest of Light once..."
Heartmon smiled up at her. "If you woke me up, the Chain of Light is for you."
"But you said something about a Key... blade, wasn't it?" T.K. asked. "That's not the same thing, right?"
Heartmon shook his head. "No, it isn't. Daddy told me that, when I wake up, I should search for the 'Wielder of the Keyblade'. I really don't know what he meant by that, but he said that I would recognize the Keyblade when I see it."
"I see..." Tai scratched his head. "Did... did your Daddy say anything else?"
"He only said goodbye... and that he was sorry. Which was strange, because I never saw him do anything wrong. And after that... I fell asleep."
"And I suppose you slept until Kari woke you up, right?" Tai asked. Heartmon nodded. "Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Thanks, Heartmon."
The little guy nodded. "Anytime, Tai." And he bit into another cookie.
As Tai stood up, Sora grinned. "Hey, you sure are good with kids, Tai."
"Well, what can I say?" Tai shrugged. "I always had to watch Kari when we were younger... and I can tell you, when you have a younger sister, you have to learn one or two tricks..."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Kari asked her brother in a dangerous tone of voice. Both Sora and Gatomon chuckled.
"Well, what do we know?" Izzy pondered. "He says he comes from some sort of castle and that he doesn't even know what Digimon are. It also sounds as if his 'Daddy' is a human, not a Digimon. That would mean that this man is very likely his adoptive father instead of his biological one."
"We still don't know where he is from," Davis intervened. "I mean, there are Digidestined all over the world, right? Maybe his 'father' just had a kid that was his partner."
Ken shook his head. "I don't think the solution is as easy as that, Davis. Wherever he came from, the people there seem to know about those creatures we fought. If the term 'Heartless' isn't appropriate for those things, I don't know what else is."
"You're right," Izzy nodded. "The most logical explanation would be that he is neither from our world, nor from the Digital World, but from a world we had never heard of before."
"But he is a Digimon," Cody pointed out. "All Digimon we encountered so far came from the Digital World."
"There is no evidence that Digimon might exist in other worlds as well," Kari pondered. "And we know there are more than the two worlds we know out there." She still shuddered when remembering the short time she had spent in the Dark Ocean world.
"We have to meet again tomorrow," Tai decided. "If there are new enemies wandering around town, we have to be prepared."
"They are not wandering around..." Ken grumbled. "They are after me."
"Even worse," Davis shouted. "We can't let them stalk a fellow Digidestined like that. If they want a pice of one of my friends, they have to get through me first."
"You mean through me," Veemon grinned.
"I suppose it is kinda late," Mimi sighed. "And it was really a nice surprise party, everyone... even if the 'surprise' turned out to be this little guy here." She petted Heartmon's head, then realized that the mouse-Digimon has fallen asleep.
"I'm tired too..." Armadillomon yawned. "What do you say we go home for now and discuss things tomorrow, okay?"
"And what do we do with Heartmon?" Hawkmon asked. "He doesn't have a place to stay."
"Oh yes, he has," Mimi exclaimed. "I'm not gonna let that cutie wander off by himself, especially if he's in a world that's totally unknown to him."
She smiled down at the sleeping form of their newest friend. "Don't worry, Heartmon... I'll give you a nice place to sleep."
"Looks like Mimi's maternal instinct has risen," Matt whispered into his brother's ear. T.K. chuckled.
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:13)
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