"Mie, what's going on?" Takehiro whispered. "That's no pet... that's an In-Training Digimon."
"I know..." Mie murmured. "He looks sooo cute..."
BlueTinymon smiled up at them. "So... you wanna play? My bro wants to play along, too, I'm sure of it. Should we go ask him?"
"There are others kept in here?" Mie asked. She was still a little kid, but she knew that it was bad keeping other children like a pet... and this little guy wasn't even a feral Digimon.
"Where are your parents, little guy?" she asked. "How did you get here?"
BlueTinymon blinked. "Um, I always lived here... my Mommy and Daddy live here, too!"
'Did they imprison a whole family of Digimon?' Mie wondered. 'What if we made a mistake and this isn't the place where she keeps her pets, but her prisoners?'
But then again, why would Lady Lucemon imprison little toddlers?
She looked at BlueTinymon's adorable face, and her heart went out to the little Digimon. For some reason, she felt like she had to protect him. Her first impulse was to just take him away from this place.
Then again, she couldn't just take him and leave his family behind. Besides, she didn't really know the whole story behind this... there should be some special, grownup reason that a Rookie her age might not be able to understand.
"Can you bring me to your mother, cutie?" she asked.
BlueTinymon nodded. "Sure!"
"What are you doing, Mie?" Takehiro gasped. "W-we can't just go around here... we have to go back to our class! What if they catch us... and what if his mother is a big, mean, feral Digimon?"
"Why would a feral Digimon have a baby that's non-feral?" the Lizzimon frowned. "Something's fishy here, and I wanna find out what it is."
BlueTinymon hopped in front of them. "C'mon, it's this way!" he shouted.
Mie ran after him, but Takehiro hesitated. He didn't have a good feeling about this at all.
Still, he also had the nagging feeling as if he had seen this little guy before somewhere... and he also didn't want to leave him behind, even if he didn't want to admit it. So he sighed and followed the two Digimon.
BlueTinymon stopped in front of a big cave. "This is where we live," he said excitedly. "I'm gonna ask my brother Red if he wants to play with us... but first, lemme introduce ya to my Mom!"
He then opened his mouth as wide as he could and yelled: "MOMMY!"
Mie sniffed. "Strange... I don't smell any big Digimon close by..."
But then, a big shape came out of the cave. It was a big, female Growlmon that looked down at the In-Training Digimon gently. "BlueTinymon, did you run off again? I told you it's not safe outside of the cave, didn't I?"
"Sorry, Mommy," BlueTinymon said. "Mommy, I wanted to introduce you to my new friends!" He gestured at Mie and Takehiro. "Say hi!"
Takehiro gulped. "Th-this is the biggest Growlmon I've ever seen..."
The Growlmon patted her child's head gently. "Oh, my dear baby... didn't Mommy tell you? We are the only ones that live here. Maybe you just mistook some rocks for actual Digimon..."
Mie frowned. Why did she say that? They were standing right in front of her.
"But Mommy, there they are, right over there!" BlueTinymon insisted.
"Now, what did I tell you about telling lies?" Growlmon frowned.
"What's going on, Mie?" Takehiro whispered. "Why can't she see us?"
"I dunno..." Mie murmured. "But something's not right... she can't see us, I can't smell her, and..." She blinked. "She doesn't have a shadow?"
She then gasped. "She... she's not real! BABY FLAME!"
She spat a small flame out of her mouth, but she did not aim at Growlmon. Instead, her attack hit the cavern wall... and destroyed the holographic emitter that was installed there.
The image of the Growlmon began to flicker. "Bzzzzzt... power overload... parent unit malfunctioning... emergency file not found... reboot system... bzzzt..."
And then, the hologram that had been used to fool BlueTinymon all this time disappeared into thin air.
BlueTinymon yelped. "M-mommy?"
Suddenly, another small In-Training Digimon came hopping out of the cave. "Bro! It's Daddy... he just disappeared!"
"Mommy... Mommy too..." BlueTinymon whimpered.
Mie felt sorry for the two little ones. "Oh, don't cry," she told them. "Those were not your parents, you know? They were just fakes... images somebody used to fool you."
"Nooooo..." RedTinymon wailed. "That's not true! Mommy! Where's my Mommy?"
Mie couldn't stand seeing the little kids cry like that. She carefully approached them and hugged them. To her surprise, they did not back away, but instead snuggled up to her. "Ssshhhh, it's okay, I'm here..."
BlueTinymon and RedTinymon were confused. They could not understand why their parents had just disappeared like that... but then, they did not feel too upset when they felt the gentle arms of the Rookie girl next to them. Somehow, they felt even safer with her than they had felt back with their parents...
Takehiro looked at the destroyed emitter. He was pretty upset. "Who... whoever could do this to little kids?" he asked. "Making them believe that their parents are around while it was just a hologram... that's not right! Whoever did that to them is nothing but... a big meanie!"
The two Tinymon still sniffled, but Mie's calm voice and Takehiro's resolute words made them feel safe. They felt protected... and at home.
"Can you... can you be our Mommy?" RedTinymon then asked Mie.
The Lizzimon was surprised. "Wh-what?"
BlueTinymon smiled at her. "Mommy!"
Something clicked in the minds of the three Digimon and the human boy... an instinct that was as old as humanity, and an instinctual knowledge that made every parent recognize his or her child... a feeling strong enough to override even the strongest brainwashing.
Both Tinymon blinked. "Mom?" they asked the yellow-scaled Digimon girl that was holding them.
"T-takato?" Mie whispered. "Guilmon?"
"Mom!" RedTinymon shouted happily. "It's you!"
"My boys!" Takehiro gasped. "But, wait a minute... why... why didn't I recognize you? Why didn't I recognize YOU?" he asked his Rookie wife. "And all those memories of having gone to school... and that Lucemon is the ruler of Tokyo... where did they come from?"
"Lucemon..." Mie growled. "Lucemon has meddled with our minds... when that magical sphere surrounded us, we were put in new bodies and new identities..."
'Just like the RPG Maker did...' Takato thought.
"We have to get you out of here," Mie said. "We have to escape..."
"But what is this place?" RedTinymon wondered.
"Lucemon's tower..." his regressed mother frowned. "The transformed Tokyo Tower, to be exact. She must have make you believe those holograms were your true parents to keep you out of her way..."
"That devil of a woman!" Takehiro grumbled.
"But Dad, that's Ai you are talking about!" Takato protested.
"I'm not sure if little Ai still exists in that body anymore, son..." Mie sighed.
"Let's talk this through later," Takehiro said. "Let's hurry before they find us..."
"Too late for that, Dad..." RedTinymon then said.
Takehiro and Mie turned around... and gasped when they saw the big, black, winged dog standing behind them.
Garmon snarled when he smelled the intruders.
BlueTinymon gulped. "Well, what now?"
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(Posted Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:37)
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