Chasing Shadows

Chapter 1

An awkward silence had settled over the group. Awkward because Mimi was still radiating open hostility at Tai's back. He didn't look at her, but he knew her eyes were making a valiant effort to bore holes in his back. He swore he could feel a prickling sensation between his shoulder blades. Her glare was probably hot enough to melt steel.

He had no idea why she would still be so mad, even after several hours. It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd pulled a stunt like that, and even Mimi didn't hold grudges this long. Maybe it had something to do with that dream he'd interrupted. At the time, he'd been more concerned with getting Mimi to let go of him than what she'd been yelling in his face. Now that he thought about it, though...she'd said something about a guy. Prince Charming, was it? Tai snickered softly. He'd have to tease Mimi about that later. Preferably MUCH later; like when she didn't look about ready to beat him to death with a stick.

Stepping over a fallen log, Tai irritably wished there was some sort of a path through these woods. Almost everywhere they had gone before, there was some sort of trail they could follow, even in other forests, although none had been as thick as this one. Actually, there had been a path, when they first entered; but gradually, as they went along, it became more and more strangled with dead weeds and needles, until it was impossible to distinguish from its surroundings.

After a few hours of vainly trying to relocate the vanished dirt path, the kids gave up and headed for the only thing they could see, the mountains in the north. Tai estimated it would still be at least a week before they were even close, maybe longer, depending on the pace he managed to keep up. Everyone was weary, and tempers flared even more than usual, which was probably the real reason Mimi was still angry at him, he supposed.

Needles mixed with snow crunched noisily to his right as someone came up beside him. Looking over, he saw it was Sora with Biyomon a step behind. She gave Tai a small smile, but said nothing. Tai studied her for a moment, noting the distant look in her pretty amber eyes. She'd been so quiet lately...sometimes she would chat softly with her digimon companion, but other than that she mostly said something only when spoken to, and little at that. He'd never seen her so down. It was...depressing. 'Someone like her shouldn't look so sad.' He blinked. 'Where did that thought come from?' His thoughts were starting to wander too much, he decided.

There was one thing to be glad of, at least. He hadn't seen any more strange shadows; not yet, anyway. He couldn't shake the feeling that what he had seen had been real, and he'd see them again. He was being silly, he knew; the whole thing was probably just his exhausted imagination. Still, the anxiety remained, and he doubted it would go away any time soon.

"Can we stop now?" For a moment, Tai thought the voice had come from Sora, but a glance behind showed him Mimi had come close without him ever noticing. Wait...Mimi was talking to him again? "My feet hurt." She didn't even sound that mad anymore. 'Why do girls have to be so moody?' Of course, she didn't exactly sound pleased, either. Just...whiney.

"We have been walking for a while, Tai," Agumon put in. "Maybe we could find some food. I'm starting to get really hungry. If a bad digimon came along, I don't know if I'd be able to protect you."

"I know, Agumon, but we haven't seen any digimon at all since we got here." Tai glanced back, taking in the group of digi-destined. All of them looked tired, and cold. The snow may have let up, though small flakes still fell occasionally, but the temperature sure hadn't. They trudged along wearily, most not talking, not even the normally irrepressible Gomamon. It must be pretty bad if even he looked down. Sighing, he said, "But you're right, Agumon." Stopping, he gave their surroundings a quick inspection; it didn't look any different than any other place they'd been in this forest. Walled in by tall pines, the forest floor was littered with brown and green needles, and fallen branches varying in size from tiny twigs to huge logs. Rocks and boulders were becoming more common as they made their way closer to the mountains. It could be they were in the foothills already, but the land was still largely flat. Piles of snow covered the needles where the trees hadn't managed to catch it First. As it was, the pine limbs hung heavy with snow, but even so there was more snow visible on the ground than needles. Here was as good a place as any for a rest. Turning to the others, whom he saw had stopped to watch him curiously, Tai announced, "Ok guys, break time." Relieved sighs met the proclamation, and everyone plopped down wherever they stood, avoiding the snow where they could.

Tai seated himself cross-legged on a patch of needles and bare earth, his orange digimon next to him. Sora and Biyomon sat a few feet away; Biyomon said something softly enough that Tai couldn't quite make it out, but Sora only shook her head in response. She still hadn't said anything, not in a while now.

Matt sat with his little brother, T.K., and their digimon, Gabumon and Patamon, respectively. Mimi and Palmon joined them. Not far away, Joe and Gomamon, and Izzy and Tentomon, seemed to be discussing something. Izzy flipped open his laptop, typed for a minute, then pointed something out to Joe. The blue-haired boy shook his head and made a wide gesture, which Tai assumed was meant to encompass the forest, to which Izzy shook his own head of dark red hair, pointing at the screen again. They both held a look of extreme irritation on their features, and it was directed at each other. This definitely aroused Tai's curiosity. It almost looked like they were arguing, and he hadn't ever seen the two of them fight before.

Agumon gave Tai a quizzical look as the boy got up and made his way over to the bickering duo, but made no move to follow. Probably just too tired. But he made sure to keep a close watch on his human partner.

"Hey you guys, what's up?"

Izzy looked up at Tai and nodded. "Oh, good. Maybe you can help."

"Uh...help with what?"

Joe cut in. "Izzy's absolutely positive we can make it to those mountains in a week, but even if he is right, that's still too long. We'll all freeze before we ever get there!" The tall boy pushed his glasses back up on his nose, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"We won't freeze, Joe. It's cold, but not cold enough for that yet. It's perfectly logical for us to continue on until we can find a suitable cave in the mountains. A cave might not be much warmer than out here, but the shelter it will provide from the elements more than compensates for that. Your proposal of turning around now, when we've already come so far, is absolutely preposterous. We have more of a chance if we keep going then if we try to go back." The words were delivered in Izzy's usual calm tone, but he said them as though he were being forced to explain that the sky was blue. The fact that Joe noticed didn't help matters any.

"I'm not stupid, Izzy! But how do we know the mountains are closer than going back? It could easily end up taking even longer! Somebody's gonna get sick if we stay out in this cold much longer!"

Tai shared a bewildered glance with Gomamon and Tentomon. This was the sort of thing he'd expect to fight with Matt about, but Joe and Izzy? This was really getting out of hand. They seemed to have forgotten anyone else was even there, they were so wrapped up in their argument. By now, everyone in the group had come over to see what was going on, and they seemed just as confused as he was.

"Hey, cool it!" Tai's voice cut between the two, and they both stopped to look at him. "That's enough! I know everybody's tired and everything, but we can't start fighting now! We have more important things to worry about!"

Izzy regarded Tai with dark, speculative eyes. "Well, what do you think, Tai? You're the leader, so you have the final say anyway."

"Wha...?" Tai blinked several times, stunned. Sure, he'd been acting the leader almost since they'd landed in the Digiworld, but no one had actually called him as such before. He wondered if Matt accepted him as leader, too... a quick glance at the blonde revealed nothing; Matt wasn't letting it show what he thought, one way or the other.

Izzy and Joe were both looking at him expectantly, he realized. Waiting for an answer.

"Well..." Tai scratched the back of his head, uncertain. Mostly because he'd already forgotten what the question had been. Then he remembered. "I think it's better to keep going. It would probably take longer to go back, and I think Izzy's right about getting to the mountains in a week." He gave Joe a reassuring grin. "It'll be okay, dude! Don't worry so much!"

Joe nodded reluctantly, but didn't look convinced.

Over an hour later, Tai was close to pacing from impatience and restlessness; he wanted to get underway, but everyone else still seemed so tired. He always had a lot of energy to spare, but sometimes it could be a major drawback. Like now, when all he could do was sit around and wait. Searching for food and water had proved a waste of time; several teams had gone out looking, digimon and human alike, and all came back with the same results: absolutely nothing. That could prove more of a concern than the chill in the air, especially if something nasty decided to drop by for a visit. Like Myotismon, or Demidevimon. Or strange shadows...

Squashing that last thought before it fully formed, Tai looked around and noticed Sora sitting off to one side with Biyomon. It was a good thing Biyomon had been able to digivolve before they'd entered the forest; a good meal was all she'd needed, but she'd still be stuck as Yokomon if they'd come here first.

'I wonder what's eating her?' Sora still hadn't said anything, and avoided looking anyone straight in the eye. It almost reminded him of when she'd been afraid her crest would never glow...come to think of it, that hadn't been too long ago. But she was over that, wasn't she? Her Crest of Love had finally glowed, allowing Birdramon to digivolve to her ultimate form, Garudamon. He still remembered how he had felt, when Sora's crest had been consumed by that pink aura. A soft, comforting warmth, spreading through his chest...it had to have been Sora's love. He still wondered why no one else had mentioned feeling the same thing. But for some reason, his mind always shied away when this line of thinking came up, as it did now. He simply didn't want to think about it, though he couldn't have said why.

He sat next to her, maintaining a respectable distance without being far enough away to seem rude. She looked at him, red-brown eyes still holding that distant, withdrawn appearance; in the gray afternoon, they seemed dull. But that was just a trick of the light, he assured himself. Just the light.

Quickly he cast about for something to say, anything. He settled for something simple, if straightforward. "Is something wrong? You've been really quiet today."

Sora glanced away, and took a moment answering him. "No, I'm ok, Tai. I guess maybe all this gloomy weather and everything is just getting me down." She glanced up long enough to give him a weak smile, then turned away again. He waited, but she didn't say anything else, and he was at a complete loss as to what he could say to get her to talk again. Biyomon looked at him with sympathy in her large blue eyes, but the bird digimon didn't say anything, either. Tai glanced at Agumon, and wondered briefly if everyone had gone mute as of late. Agumon appeared to be thinking the same thing.

Another hour passed without comment, then Tai bundled the group together and got them moving north again. He wasn't sure it was possible for them to become any more dispirited than they already were; the atmosphere was so oppressive it weighed down on everyone's shoulders like a ten-ton weight.

Twilight came and went, and the air grew cooler. The digi-destined stopped for the night in a tiny clearing that could have been the twin of the one they had rested in earlier that day, and every day before that. A fire was started with the aid of Agumon, and that went a long way in relieving the cold. Gabumon had sniffed out some berries, but no water was present. Thankfully, they had filled several plastic bags full of water at a river before wandering into this maze of a forest, but those wouldn't last forever. Already they were running low. The clear plastic baggies, interestingly enough, had come from Joe. He'd gotten them at that restaurant he'd been forced to work at with Matt by some ugly digimon named Veggiemon. After chasing the evil digimon away, Joe had swiped the bags from the kitchen, in the closest act to stealing Joe had ever committed. Not that any of them really viewed it that way; Joe and Matt had worked there under that slave-driver of a digimon, so in a way it was their pay.

Sleep came easily to no one, but when Tai woke Mimi for the second watch, she and everyone else had been sound asleep. For a moment, when she first opened her eyes and saw him leaning over her, he thought she was going to slap him for interrupting another dream. But she remembered the why of it before her hand left her side, and settled for a glare instead. As she left to go stand guard, Tai made a mental vow to avoid all situations that involved disturbing the princess's beauty sleep. It wasn't long before Tai himself was fast asleep, and Agumon beside him.

*>>>*<<<* Mimi leaned wearily against a tree, listening to the gentle, rhythmic breathing of Palmon. She wished she could fall asleep, too. She was so tired... she felt like she'd been walking forever. Her delicate feet weren't made for this sort of thing. Well, her shoes weren't, anyway. It didn't change the fact that she was drop-dead exhausted.

She tried listening to the sounds of the forest instead of Palmon's steady breathing, and with a start she realized there was nothing at all to listen to. No owls, no small animals, not even any insects. Nothing at all. The forest was completely lifeless. Now that she thought about it, these woods had always been this quiet. She just hadn't actually focused on it enough to notice before now. Part of her wondered if anyone else in the group had realized how devoid the pines were of life, and the other part, the part she didn't really want to acknowledge, wondered why there were no digimon here. Maybe they knew enough to stay away...maybe they knew something Mimi and her friends didn't.

Even these disturbing thoughts faded as Mimi's eyelids seemed to grow heavier, until she was fighting an uphill battle trying to keep them open. Eventually, she lost. Her eyes drifted shut, and sleep claimed her.

*>>>*<<<*

The small fire flickered, its fuel supply of dry pine needles almost gone. It struggled, clinging to life tenaciously, but its battle proved in vain. Flames wavered and died, leaving only tiny glowing embers in its wake, and soon, those, too, succumbed to the chill air and soft snowflakes that drifted down to smother it. Darkness crept in where the dim firelight had held the shadows at bay, but no one was awake to notice.

In the darkness, something shifted, twisting, dancing with the shadows in the forest. Something that absorbed what little light came from the cloud-covered moon; something that was even darker than the shadows that engulfed it. It seemed to slink forward, becoming more solid as it did so, silent as the night itself, toward one of the slumbering figures. It stopped, then, waiting, watching. The figure murmured sleepily, but didn't wake. On its waist something shimmered in light caught briefly from the moon, but was gone just as quickly. The thing that was the night, that was deeper than the night, crouched, fumbling for the shiny object at the figure's waist. It came loose, and the dark creature drifted back into the night, into the shadows that awaited it. Then it was gone.

To be continued...

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any comments, good or bad, PLEASE send them to me at akia_starfrost@yahoo.com! I really love hearing from you. I'll even write you back, if you want. ^^

For all those people who did email me: THANK YOU!! You guys are great! Your support goes a long way in helping me crank out these chapters. Arigato!

Thanks again to Nexis for editing this, and also being my co-author. You're great! Also, she's been doing a bit of fic-art for my story, plus a few other pics for Digimon! Interested? They should be posted on the same sites as this story. ^-^ (Yeah, I know...shameless plug. But hey, she *is* my sister! Besides, her work's really good, and it goes with the story.^^;) She's planning on doing one pic per chapter, but since I have to *write* the chapter first, a delay is to be expected, ne? ^^;

A small note: if the leader bit threw you off, remember, in my story they wandered into the forest before the whole Eighth Child arc began in the series, so that cute little discussion where the digi-destined confirmed Tai as leader didn't happen. That fact will actually become important later in the story, so keep it in mind. ^^

Oh, and remember minna: All Characters are Created Equal! (Henceforth this shall be known as the ACCE Movement. I don't know why...it just amuses me. And I am easily amused, ne? o.O) Ja mata ne!

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