Pinkie’s party as always was as amazing as amazing could be, it had all the touches needed for the digimon, digi-destined and everyone else to really get stuck into it but more importantly it put a smile on everyone’s face. There were cakes, pizzas, burgers, French fries, soda and so much more food to make everyone’s taste buds dance in absolute joy. Pinkie looked on as the party excelled into high gear with a sad smile on her face “What’s wrong Pinkie?” Gotsumon asked as he walked up with cupcakes and gave her a friendly hug “This party was a great idea….I’ve never seen everyone looking so…happy….we even managed to put that old fool’s doubts to shame” Pinkie looked at the digimon, then at her hands and then the tears began to fall from her eyes “Pinkie!”
Pinkie’s sobs were very quiet; however she managed to bubble out “I….I wish Mikey could be here” Gotsumon gently gave her back a pat, Pinkie’s sobs continuing on regardless, the rock digimon unable to stop the constant flow of tears and Pinkie then added “He should still…be…here”
“He should…..but sometimes, the people and digimon that should be here…aren’t and some of those that shouldn’t be here…still keep drawing breaths” Gotsumon said as he then pulled away, meeting Pinkie’s watery eyes and held her hands as he added “But we are still here, you certainly deserve to still be here and so long as you are make Mikey’s sacrifice worth it!”
“But how?” Pinkie asked as she looked down.
“By making his sacrifice mean something” Tai said as he walked up, his face still showed the boy who had given into despair but his eyes shone with renewed strength “I still remember when we were fighting the Dark Masters that even though we too had digimon sacrifice their lives…I couldn’t allow their sacrifice to go unavenged” he paused and added “I may have been trying to do too much too quickly but I couldn’t just let their sacrifices go”
Pinkie nodded as she sniffed and looked at her legs “But I’m the element of laughter…I shouldn’t be crying” she said as she then picked up her digivise “When I should be spreading happiness and laughter…I can’t stop the tears?”
“Wait? So your crest means laughter and that mean you have to spread happiness?” Tai asked bluntly “If you don’t mind me saying….that’s completely stupid”
“What do you mean?” Gotsumon asked as he gave Pinkie a tissue and then added “I mean I think I know what you’re saying…are you saying Pinkie doesn’t always have to be happy?”
Joe suddenly walked up and said “Well no, Tai means that our crests or elements do not define us. For example Tai can have his moments of fear, sometimes they overwhelm him and he cannot easily recover from it” he paused and pointed to everyone “The fact is, Pinkie that your element maybe laughter but does that mean you are continually happy? Regardless of the pain you’ve suffered or the anger you feel?”
“I…I…don’t know” Pinkie said as she looked out a window “I mean I guess I’m supposed to bring laughter to others but sometimes I just…can’t” she put her head between her hands as the tears came faster “How is one supposed to laugh when a friend dies?!”
“Has it ever occurred to you that our crests and elements also require a certain moment where they’re needed more than others” Tai asked as he sat next to her “I mean, both my crest and TK’s crest are great on an adventure or in the middle of a battle but in the everyday courage is needed for facing our fears and hope is needed for the moments where we feel at our lowest”
“So what are you trying to get at?” Pinkie asked finally losing patience.
“Laughter strikes me as a crest that would be a cross between Hope and courage” Joe said as he gave her a cup of water “The courage to smile even when life gets hard and to have hope that life will get better”
“Wait…no Laughter is hope’s sister” Pinkie said finally cracking a smile “It’s making life easier even before hope can set in” she laughed “I love being the element of laughter”
“That’s great! Look at the good you’ve done today” Tai said as he pointed round the room, Izzy was in one corner laughing as Rainbow Dash told him a joke. In another corner Sora was smiling as she pulled silly faces for Botamon and Pictimon. All gathered seemed happier than ever “This party has made even those of us completely lost in our pits of despair smile again”
Soon the party began to wrap up; Izzy looked at his computer and yelled “Great news guys! Our suspicions were right! The remaining three digieggs are in the primary village!” he then scrolled down the message send by the recon team and his smile failed into a look of horror “It’s a trap….it must be” his voice sounded hollow and broken “The recon team swears they saw Kari….in chains”
“What does it matter?!” Rainbow asked looking as determined as ever and added “We didn’t come this far to throw in the towel!? Come on let’s come up with a plan!”
“But without Mimi….what are our chances?” Tai asked but then the door opened and in the door stood three people “But…it can’t be?”
“Oh come on Tai, is that how you welcome me back and after all the effort it took to find you guys?” a tall girl with short pink hair asked as she stepped in and added “Did I hear you say my name?” Mimi smiled and hugged Tai “It’s great to see all of you, again….everyone I trust you remember Michael? Oh and this is Merlin, he’s the one who managed to get us here…he’s great”
Michael had changed a lot since they’d last seen him, the left part of his face had an ugly burn mark over it and his left eye seemed to be glazed over “I trust everyone remembers my partner, Betamon?” the small digimon stepped out from behind Michael and smiled.
“But how? We saw you…how’d you get your egg back?” TK asked as he stood with a tearful smile “Also how’d you find us?”
“Well it was a close call and I’ll tell you in a moment but Merlin here is the real reason we were able to find you” Mimi admitted “We got a weird message from someone with an address in London….it was from a shop called Kingsman...it's a tailor shop” she paused and looked at Merlin “So how’d you know about us? I forgot to ask”
“Well it’s complicated if I’m being honest” Merlin finally said as he straightened the lapels of his suit “Kingsman Tailors has a long a proud history but if I told you what it really does…I’d be a dead man”
“Why? Because you’d be giving away some secret belt buckle design?” Sora joked laughing nervously but when Merlin didn’t laugh in response she added “It’s something more than that?”
“Well considering our belt buckles tend to be bullet proof, I’d say so” Merlin replied and then added “Now before I continue, all of you must swear upon your lives to secrecy or I’ll simply have to kill ya” everyone within the room nodded their agreement to this and Merlin sighed “I’m taking a huge risk here but I suppose I’ve done more stupid shit” he then continued “Now Kingsman Tailors produces suits, that is true but something not told to our customers, or anyone else, is that they cover for a secret service group that also goes by the name of Kingsman”
“So you’re like a spy?” Tai asked bluntly.
“Well yeah but I’m also Kingsman’s tech expert” Merlin laughed and continued “Anyway one night, a month or two back, when I was going over some case notes of missing people….I found the unsolved death of one Cody Hida casefile. According to our records the case had been mysterious in nature….there wasn’t even a body”
“That’s because he’s alive” Renamon suddenly said sounding very bitter over the whole business.
“What?!” Joe and Merlin said in unison.
"We'll explain to you later Joe" Rainbow said and then added "So you were saying how a missing persons file led you to finding this place?"
“Well yes and that helps explain why there isn't a body but anyway….after I finished reading for a full hour, I went for a glass of whisky” Merlin explained and then took a breath “As I poured myself a good sized glass of Glen Moray’s 30 year old….I have to say it was a good choice but I’m getting off topic. I turned with my glass and found myself with a…thing calling himself Whis” Rainbow cracked her knuckles at the mention of the name “I take it you’ve met him?”
“Yep” Rainbow said sharply and then asked “What’d he say?”
Merlin nodded and whispered “Hello, Merlin” he then raised his voice “To be clear, I was in a top class underground facility that had at least 17 inbuilt alarm systems, many build in defences and at least two other Kingsman agents in the base…he managed to get in undetected!” he continued “It was a surprise to say the least….nearly dropped my whisky”
“Enough with the whisky” Kudamon deadpanned as he added “What did he say?!”
“Well he gave me a the contact information for Mimi and the location of this base…told me to get her here for a certain date” Merlin admitted and then continued “But then also gave me a warning that struck me as weird….he told me to tell you, it is a trap but go for it”
“It’s time we decide” Kudamon said “I say we should all go for the eggs…It maybe a trap but if we plan it out well enough then we may have a chance”
Rainbow looked at the map of the area on Izzy’s computer “We don’t know where all the defenders are, yeah?” she asked as everyone nodded “Our old plan for the castle was good but because of…” she looked at Tai “Um changes? We had to change it….the plan is still good thou but maybe rather than splitting into three…we split into two groups”
“Why two?” Kudamon asked as he jumped onto her shoulder “Oh I see! You’re suggesting that if we divide their forces, we could draw away the majority of their forces in the opposite direction from our main thrust?!”
Rainbow nodded “I say we get TK, Pinkie and Michael with Kakashi and Rukia supplying support” she said as she added “It’d be the fastest group and therefore able to draw the army away” everyone nodded “It’s fool proof!”
“Not sure I’d say that but it’s certainly a plan with merit!” Merlin said as he added “But what will the rest of us do?”
“If we send our group in twenty minutes before the second group…since the first group includes some of our best fighters…it should make them send their forces to engage the first group?” Rainbow asked seemly uncertain if the idea was okay “I mean it’s not perfect?”
“No…but no plan ever is” Merlin said as he smiled “I say we should go for it!”
“Amen!” Izzy said as he added “I think the time for watching is over” soon the group Rainbow had requested was assembled and a message had been send to Kakashi, who had promised to meet the group at the TV in the digital world “What’s wrong, Pinkie?”
“Rainbow….why can’t I come with you?” Pinkie asked hollowly
“Because the other group need you Pinkie” Rainbow replied as she put an arm around Pinkie’s shoulders and whispered “You remember back in Equestria, when I met Matt and Gabumon? Well Twilight helped Gabumon get to Mega with her element….it could be possible we could do the same for a crest that matches our element”
“So you think TK’s crest and my element are similar?” Pinkie asked clearly not convinced by Rainbow’s idea “I mean it could work but what about Loyalty?” she then sighed and couldn’t help but raise one hand to her face, pinching her brows but then whispered “You don’t know…your guessing!”
“Well yeah but you’re making it sound like it’s just normal guessing…it’s not…I mean all we have to do is focus on our element or something and then boom! Mega digimon!” Rainbow whispered with a smile and added “Look we got this”
“You know when Sweetie Belle said that, what the results were?” Pinkie said and added “It’s not all that reassuring” she then smiled and shook her head “I guess we haven’t got a better option” she then turned to TK “Ready to go?”
“Um yeah sure…what were you two talking about, just now?” TK asked but sighed and added “Well Rukia and Kakashi have send a message saying they’ll be at the meeting point but they need an hour or two to get there so we’re going to give them three hours” he then turned to Rainbow “All our other allies have been informed of the other meeting location and they’ll meet you there”
“Sounds good, so everyone is going?” Rainbow asked as TK nodded “Right…I’m going out for a walk” she turned to Renamon “Care to join me?”
“Um yeah but why?” Renamon asked as they headed for a set of stairs and walked down them before Renamon asked again “Why?!”
“Because I want to ask…do you trust me?” Rainbow asked as they walked out into the night air of the city’s harbour. The cold night air made Rainbow’s hair flow behind her and Renamon’s fur stood on end. Renamon nodded but Rainbow looked away “When all this ends….do you trust that we’ll still be…”
“Friends?” Renamon finished for her and whispered “You really think that after the hope and friendship you have restored to the Digimon Rebellion that we aren’t friends?”
“It’s not that…when all this crazy stuff is over….do you really think we’ll still see each other?” Rainbow asked as she picked up a small stone and threw it into the sea “I get the impression that all the friendships my friends and I are making as we speak….all count for very little” she paused and threw another stone “I doubt Whis or Beerus or whatever his name is…will let us!”
Renamon wrapped her arms around Rainbow and embraced her in a hug “You really are loyal aren’t you?” she joked “But it doesn’t matter if these moments will be our only moments…I’m still glad to have a friend like you”
“Yea…Yeah me too” Rainbow said as she threw one last stone into the sea “Let’s get back”