Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, The X-Files, or their characters.  They rightfully belong to Chris Carter and Toei.

Author's Notes: Here is part four!  It seems that in the last episode, one of the copies managed to get to the Gekomon first.  I'm sure you can guess who it is!  Please, tell me, if I got Mulder and Scully's character wrong.  I know I haven't been giving them much dialogue, but I'm trying!

The Digi-Files: Egos and Icons

It was eight to a cell down in the dark dungeon.  Tai, Sora, Kari, TK, and their digimon were altogether in one cell and they were separated by a barred wall from Mimi, Matt, Joe, Izzy, and their digimon.  Mulder and Scully were in another cell from across the hall.

It was quite crowded, so everyone brooded in their own small dark space of the cell.

Matt sat in his corner and played a down time blues to reflect everyone's mood.

Scully looked at the golden cross she always wore.  It glinted of the faint sunlight.  "We're in a dangerous land, or dimension, and our only hope are these kids.  How can they help us if they've been caught themselves?"

"Scully, you have to have faith in them.  They've been through tougher things than both of us."  Mulder looked up at the imprisoned children.  "You kids seem to have been in this situation before.  What do we do now?"

"Last time, we had Palmon here to help us break out," muttered Tai.  "And even then, we were caught anyways."

"You know what, I'll tell what we should do.  We should sit here and wait for our inevitable doom," Joe rambled pitifully.  He drew his knees up to his forehead and rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Joe, you shouldn't be such a pessimist.  It gives you wrinkles."  Mimi then crouched over the worried boy.  She smoothed down some of his hair.  "I'm sure that this is one big misunderstanding and they'll let us go.  They'll even have a big apology banquet!"

"Yeah," started Izzy.  "They'll have an elegant ceremony to praise their princess' return.  In full regalia!"

"There'll be cake," said TK.

"And ice cream too!" added Kari.

Soon, everyone else joined in on comforting Joe.

"We'll sing some karaoke," said Sora.

Matt stopped his harmonica playing and added, "Maybe we won't need karaoke.  We'll have a live band.  Mimi will be in the lead and I'll do back up."  He then played a bright riff.

"And we'll be given medals because we're heroes!" exclaimed Tai.

Light flooded all of a sudden, illuminating the figure standing at the doorway.  "Silence!" cried the figure.  It started to walk down to the cells at the far end of the dungeon.

Their eyes adjusted to the light, and they could see that the figure was flanked by two Gekomon and another digimon.  From what they could tell, the figure was a girl.

As soon as they could finally make out who the person was, they gasped out in surprise.

Their captor was Mimi!  Well, a girl who looked exactly like Mimi, but there were differences.  The girl's hair was black, and her eyes were brown, yet pupil less, giving them a glossed over and hollow quality.  She wore the same ball gown that Mimi wore, but instead of white with pink trim, it was grey with green trim.

Mimi, the one in the cell, got up and indignantly marched over to face herself.  "Uh!  What awful fashion sense you have!  Black hair with grey and green?!  What are you thinking?"

"I said, silence!" screeched the girl again.

"Well, good to know that some things don't change when it comes to evil twins," Mulder said quietly.

"Mimi" took out her lace and feathers fan and tapped it against her palm.  She looked at the Gekomon and said, "Leave me be."

"But Princess!  These are dangerous prisoners!" protested one of the Gekomon.

"Don't worry, I have Palmon at my side."  The imposter took a step to the side to reveal the other digimon behind her.

This Palmon was a little bit different.  The flower atop its head looked much more wilted and it had a sickly green pallor to it.

The Gekomon bowed and stepped out and closed the door behind them.

"At last, we meet," said "Mimi".

"Who are you?"

"I'm your better half!  Or shall I say, your better self?"

"Nuh-uh!  I would never imprison my own friends or trick the Gekomon into obeying me!"

"If I recall, you did once!"  The girl let loose a shrill laugh.  Everyone cringed upon hearing it.  "History does have a funny way of repeating itself, don't you think?"  She then stepped forward, and with her fan, smacked Mimi across the face in one swift motion.

Mimi held her stinging cheek.  "Palmon, please protect me!"

The little pink plant tried to rush to her friend's rescue, but the other Palmon whipped at it, sending it stumbling back.  The real Palmon held its arms up to its face.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you," apologized Palmon.

"See, that's what's wrong with you," rasped the sickly Palmon.

"Yes.  You're both so weak and pathetic.  It's a wonder that not only did you save this world, but you did not even manage to conquer it!"

Scully ran up to the bars and rebuked the copy.  "Those kids were sent here to protect this place, not feed off on other people's gratitude."

"I was addressing myself, not you.  Now, you see, you did what I'm doing right now.  Using the digimon's gratitude."

"I changed!  I honestly did!  I'm no longer the spoiled brat that first arrived here!"

"Oh, but you are.  Think about it.  You're still the selfish twerp that you are!  You may think you've changed, but you know that you haven't.  I'm in you, somewhere, and I'm waiting to come out."

The girl smiled smugly, one of malice and triumph.  She then turned on her heel and left with the wilting Palmon following after her.  The Digidestined, agents, and digimon were left in stunned silence.

The light disappeared as the door creaked to a close, and Mimi broke down sobbing.

The concerned Gekomon escorts caught up and walked along their princess.

"Princess Mimi, did they try to harm you?"

"Of course not!  They would know the consequences of angering their princess."

The two Gekomon sent each other worried glances.

"Please princess, tell us again, what has brought you back to us?"

Their raven haired princess let out an exasperated sigh.  "If I must explain again, I am here because those imposters are a danger to our world.  You know that I would do anything I could to protect all of you!  You would know what would happen if anything went wrong around here."

The two Gekomon stopped and shrank back.  "Yes princess, we couldn't live without you," they said meekly.

"Now, if you two shall leave me, I will now retire.  Palmon, come along now!"

The princess waved her hand around and the sickly looking Palmon followed behind her.

As soon as they were out of sight, the Gekomon started to go back in the direction of their true princess.

While the children worked at comforting their comrade, the agents were thinking of an escape plan.

"I'd hate to break the moment," started Scully, "but we're going to have to figure out how we should get out of here."

"If any of you have a pin or some kind of stick..." said Mulder.

Gabumon caught onto the idea.  He tried to pick the lock with his horn, but to no avail.

This time, it was Mimi who was huddled on the stone floor, wallowing in self pity.  She had seen their last chance at escape as a time of hopelessness.

"*sob* She's right! *sniffle* I'm no better than *sob* who I was before!"  Mimi wailed pitifully.

Palmon started to cry also.  "I couldn't do anything Mimi!  I'm sorry!"

"No, I should be sorry!  For not being a better person!"

"Please, Mimi, don't cry," soothed Joe.

"Yeah, you know that she's lying," comforted Izzy.

"She's doing the same thing that Cherrymon tried on me," said Matt.  "Don't listen to her.  She's nothing at all like you."

"That's exactly who I am!  A spoiled and selfish little airhead!"

"No, I know you.  Remember your sincerity and your kindness..."

"And how peaceful, gentle, and sweet you are too," added Joe.

"Your friends are right princess!" cried a voice.

They all looked up to see two Gekomon, as ridiculous as it seemed, stealthily moving around in the dark.

"My friends!" Mimi cried.

"Shhh!  Not so loud princess, the imposter might hear us!" they whispered.

"Why are you helping us now?" Tai asked suspiciously.

"We're really sorry," one of them apologized.

"But we couldn't rebel against the pretender.  She's much more powerful than she seems!" added the other.

One of them tip-toed and dug his hand into the other one's tuba like horn.  From the hole, they produced a set of keys!

"Do you know how she got her power?" asked Izzy.

"She came to castle one day, claiming to be our princess.  We had our doubts, but we accepted her anyways, but we kept thinking that it was too good to be true."  The first Gekomon then handed the keys to its friend.

"But then, she started to show her true colours.  She went back to bossing us around, and when we refused, she sent her Palmon on us!  It digivolved into something horrible!"  The other Gekomon inserted the key into each lock and set the prisoners free.

"She sent us around the Digiworld in that cruise ship in hope that we would find you and lure you back to here!"

"I love nothing more than a good old fashioned jail break," quipped Matt.

"Okay, what do we do now?" asked TK.

"Just try to sneak out of the castle.  Don't worry princess, we'll stay behind and keep you and your friends safe."

"That's such a noble sacrifice.  I can't let you do that!  I have to stay behind and fight!"

"No!  Mimi, this is why they're staying behind, so that we can escape and free them from this tyrant," said Sora.

Mimi solemnly nodded.  "Okay, let's go.  And you guys, be careful."

The two Gekomon nodded and led them through the darkened hallways.

They were about to cross the grand entrance room when the lights flickered on.  Everyone stopped in their tracks and saw the counterfeit Mimi standing at the top of the stairs, looking down on them.

"Well, it seems that I should have taken some extra security precautions.  Palmon, get them!"

Palmon started to digivolve, but the Togemon that stood before them was not the one that they were familiar with.  Of course, it still looked like a giant cactus with boxing gloves, but the slight difference was that behind its eye holes burned a demonic fire, its needles seemed to be much more longer and sharper, and the boxing gloves had spikes protruding from it.

"I think this would be a good time to run!" cried Scully.

Everyone made a break for it, while some Gekomon came to the rescue.  Their tiny frames compared to the giant plant wouldn't stand a chance, but they would fend off the thing long enough to distract it.

Mimi looked behind her and saw her subjects being thrashed around the room.  She stopped running and turned around.

"Mimi, please, let's go!" pleaded Palmon.

"Palmon, digivolve!  I command you!"

"We can't help them.  They're doing this for us."

"NO!" she yelled, getting ready to jump into the fray and to their rescue.  But she was held back by strong hands.  She was whirled around to face Agent Mulder.

"Let me go!  I have to help them!"

"Don't let their sacrifice be in vain," he said.

"I don't want any sacrifices!  No more fighting!"

Mulder picked up the girl and her digimon and started running to catch up with the rest.

They saw that they were being led by a small group of one Gekomon and Otamamon, leading them outside through strong wooden doors.

"Where are we going?" asked Kari.

"We're going to seek refuge with our master: Shogungekomon!" replied the lead Gekomon.

They crossed a stone bridge that lead to a small extension of the castle.  They moved in through the large wooden doors and found a giant red frog with two tubas on the side of its head.

"Our lord!  We've brought the princess here for safe-keeping!" announced a little Otamamon.

"You know that the evil one will find us here," it boomed out loud.

"But we have no other ideas, master!"

The giant digimon looked down solemnly at his children.  He wanted to save theirs and the strangers' lives.  "I want all of you to take to the ship and flee."

"What?!" the Digidestined and their digimon cried.

One small Otamamon pleaded with its king.  "What about you?  Will you not be joining us?"

"I've lived a long life.  Centuries, maybe even a millennium.  You are all my children and my subjects, so I want all of you to survive."

The agents looked stoically while everyone else in the room started to sniffle.

"Now go.  Tell the rest of them to get inside the ship and flee.  I'll hold off those two trouble makers."

"But master-"

"GO!"  And to emphasize, he released a double sonic boom.  The walls shook and the room looked like it was going to collapse.

Everyone nodded sadly and quickly made another run back inside to warn the others.

It was a perilous trek through the gauntlet, trying to sort out the confusion going on in the castle and warning everyone about their escape.

In a few minutes, everyone had boarded the cruise ship and let go of the anchor.  It slowly started to leave its dock when the evil Togemon started to come after them from behind.

"You won't get away that easily!" cried the copy of Mimi.

"You wanna bet?"  With a giant bound, Shogungekomon landed in front of the pursuing enemies, blocking their path.

"You know you can't beat me," the girl mocked.

"No, but I can try!"

"Get him!"

The evil Togemon let loose her Needle Spray and started to pummel away at its opponent.  It then drew back to give in its deadliest attack.

With all his force, Shogungekomon prepared his last performance.  He took in a deep breath and let it blow as Togemon began to rush towards him...

Everyone shielded their eyes and ears from the explosion coming from the castle.

As soon as they were from a far enough proximity, the Gekomon, Otamamon, and Mimi started to mourn the loss of the head of the clan.

The trip was dragged on into the night, and the ship had decelerated to a much more leisurely pace.

The Gekomon and Otamamon still ran the ship with great efficiency, but, they seemed to have slowed down significantly.  No one did mind, they all understood.

A late dinner had just ended and everyone got up and was about to retire to their cabins.  Fortunately, their rooms now had a different theme, each suiting the person's needs and tastes.

They all trudged to their rooms, all lined up along the same hall.

"Wait, where's Mimi?" asked Kari.

"She wasn't around for dinner," said Gatomon.

"She's probably with her loyal subjects," replied Matt.

"Let's go easy on the girl.  I mean, she feels responsible for all that happened today," said Joe.

"Mimi said that she wanted to be alone," piped up Palmon.  The little plant then went into her friend's room to wait for her.

"Why don't you go and talk to her Joe?" prodded Gomamon.  "She needs to talk to someone, and you know that she feels comfortable around you."

"Gomamon, I don't know how to deal with these kinds of things.  I mean, I trip over my own tongue, and I'll probably make things even worse."

"You have to try!"

"No!  I want her to be left alone and heal by herself."

"She needs someone, you might just fit the bill."

"Alright you two, break it up."  Mulder walked up to Joe and Gomamon.  "Listen, I'll talk to her.  I think I know how she feels."  He turned his head to call to his partner.  "Scully, don't wait up for me."

Mimi stood before the railing that separated her from falling off the bow.  She just looked out into the night and let the cold air whip her hair around in little wisps.  She sighed heavily.

"I'm not going to cry again.  I have to be strong.  This is the forest all over again."

"The forest?"

Mimi gasped and turned around.  It was just Agent Mulder.

Mimi thought wryly about how his trench coat slightly flapping behind him made him look quite dashing.

"Are you lost?" Mimi asked nervously.

"Nope.  I was just looking for you.  Now, will you tell me about the forest?"

Mimi wanted to be left alone, but she had the nagging and indecisive feeling of being left alone compared to having some company around.

"The forest, well, it happened during Matt and Tai's fist fight.  I realized how many of our digimon friends died to help us.  We didn't know most of them that well, but it still hurt.  It just snapped in me to see two good friends fighting each other.  So I cried, ran to a tree, and said that I'm going to look at the flowers until everyone stops fighting."

"I can understand.  You're too young to see all this fighting, to actually bring danger around to innocent bystanders.  It's happened many times in my line of work."

"Give me one example."

"Well, I was busy tracing a phone call with this one criminal who had telekinetic powers of some sort.  The local police chief, a bit of a heavy man, was talking to him first.  And I listened to how the bastard goaded him to his death.  I can still remember it, him explaining, mocking, how clogged his arteries are, slowly building up and then blocking his heart.  The chief had a heart attack before my eyes."

"You didn't know that man very well, did you?"

"Not really, but I was so angry that I picked up that phone and yelled at the SOB for wasting someone's life.  He wasn't even that involved.  He was supposed to be after me."

"You have someone to be mad at.  I just have myself."

"That's right."

"I thought you were trying to comfort me."

"No, I mean that you have your evil self to be mad at.  She's the one that put all their lives in danger, not even caring if one of them got caught in the crossfire."

Mimi hugged the older man.  "Thank you for your help.  You'd be just like my dad if he wasn't so busy at work.  Can I call you Uncle Mulder?"

"Uh, no.  Why not just Mulder or Fox?"

"Fox is your first name?!  How about I call you Kitsune-san?"

"Yes, Fox is my first name.  And it's because of 'Kitsune-san' that I never want to be called by my first name."

Mimi giggled.  She felt a little bit better after their talk.  "I better get some sleep.  Good night."

"Good night Mimi."

Both of them walked back to their rooms, getting their rest before facing the next obstacle.

Mimi looked at the wreckage around her.  She saw the unconscious form of her Palmon among the ruins.

Straining to prop herself upright, she pulled out the dark digivice from the folds of her tattered dress.  She activated it.

"Datamon, master, I failed.  The Digidestined got away."

"I didn't expect you to accomplish it all by yourself.  Perhaps the next copy will finish the job.  Just report back to my lab with you digimon."

"Yes sir."

Mimi turned off the transmission and clutched the digivice tightly in her fist.

"You'll pay.  All of you.  You won't be able to defeat us that easily."

To be continued...

Additional Author's Notes: The first meeting between the doubles, and some angst to boot!  I'm not good at angst, so I'm quite sorry if I guffed up on Mimi and Mulder's part.  Anyhoo, who's the next double?  Can anyone guess?