There once was a fanfic author who loved to write. He liked Digimon Adventure
and Digimon 02, but found that he could do much better than the creators of
Tamers and Frontier. So he stopped watching altogether. Instead, he decided
to take the path, perhaps slightly over-travelled, by others in their many
spinoffs of Digimon. Already he was working on a Dark Digidestined saga with
two other writers, but that was going at snail's pace, a good three seasons
behind schedule.
While waiting for the next chapter to be completed by his friends, this writer
came up with an inspiration. Since he'd liked Digimon Adventure and 02 so
much, he might as well continue its story line somehow. He tried thinking of
the next generation, but that was already done by several other authors who
beat him to it.
But what if he moved forward in time a century or two? What would things be
like in the real and Digital worlds then? Perhaps there would be a war, or
an initial conflict, that began a dividing rift between human and Digimon in
general, causing Digidestined to become outcasts. Or perhaps society and its
politics viewed Digidestined and Digimon to be enemies, and anyone allied or
suspicious of activities with Digimon would be persecuted?
History often repeats itself. This is true. One significantly vital even could
start a whole train of others, like ripples in a pond, spreading out and
increasing in magnitude until everything began going out of hand...and the
events began to become self-destructive in such a way that a single nudge in
the right place would send the world cascading down into a deep chaos?
Grab onto something secured--it's going to be a rough ride.
--=Digimon Adventure 2250=--
-=Witch Hunt=-
-=By Backslash Interface=-
Neither one nor eight warriors have the power
To tame the ignorant's destructive spell
But only hidden peace locked, praying for a miracle.
Ancient powers, when combined
Will awaken it from its deep slumber.
Firey Sun, Lighting Storm
Within these passed down the key
Find it, and with the golden steel
Awaken peace and restore the balance once again.
-------Prolouge-------
A rat scuttled across one side of the sewer, attracted towards the faint light
that cast distorted shadows on the concaved metallic wall. The rat's ears
twitched at the sound of soft, murmuring voices, wondering who were these
creatures that had quietly gathered in its territory. Suddenly, a thick and
long something smashed down near the rat with a force that could have easily
broken its back in two. Startled, the rat gave a squeak of surprise and darted
back into the shadows where it had come.
The shadows tensed as a unit, as if bracing for an unexpected blow or
preparing to bolt, then relaxed slightly when none came. The owner of the
thick, long thing--a reptillian tail--thudded it against the ground another
time for good measure.
"Streak. Cut that out," said a boy, his whole body shrouded in darkness save
for his face, faintly illuminated by a torch. Streak gave a sheepish and
toothy smile as he lifted his tail off the ground obediently.
"Try not to be so hard on him," and older woman said, looking briefly away
from the huddled discussion. "We're all nervous, human or Digimon."
"Where on Earth is Hikaru?" A man with matted hair muttered to himself in
fustration, running a hand through his hair. "He's never this late, even in
bad circumstances, and he usually warns us if he can't turn up."
"I wouldn't worry too much about Motomiya-san," a squat oversized tadpole with
a childlike voice said confidently. "It's like you said, Motomiya-san always
manages to squeeze out of trouble."
"Shhh! Everyone quiet! Someone's coming."
The faint light sources winked out, plunging the sewer into pitch black. A
soft scuttling noise announced of the group's hurried scramble for hiding
places. Silence fell for a few seconds, then the faint thudding of footsteps
echoed through the sewer. A beam of light cut a clear, visible path through
the sewer, binked thrice, then shut off once again.
"Hikaru!" The woman said, poking her head out of her makeshift hiding place.
"It's okay, everyone, it's just--"
"Keep your voice down," a male voice whispered urgently. "I could hear all of
you from way over here. Do you want the Corps down on our heads?"
The group began to emerge from their hiding places even as the woman muttered
a quick apollogy. Hikaru frowned at the ragtag group as he approached, the
faint light from one of the group's lightballs reflecting off his rust-colored
eyes. The boy seemed amazed.
"Wow, you really are Motomiya-san!" He whispered in awe. Hikaru, though angry,
couldn't help smiling a bit at the boy's admiration.
"Can you all be a bit more careful next time? I saw all of you when I was
coming over. If I were a patrolman, you'd all be dead or arrested by now."
Hikaru paused briefly, letting that sink in before continuing. "Let's get
down to business. Risako?"
Risako activated her watch-sized computer with a press of a button, displaying
a translucent screen. Its data reflected off her eyes and illuminated her face
with an eerie green shade. "Intelligence reports state the Corps have suddenly
hired a few dozen computer programmers and hackers. They've also had a massive
computer upgrade in the pass week, and a new organization calling themselves
Deji-Hakeru has surfaced from that. The Corps are cooking up something, yet
we haven't figured out what."
"Whatever it is, it's not good news," the matted-haired man said with a sigh.
"Maybe they're tryin' to build a trackin' system?" Someone suggested. Risako
peered behind Hikaru to locate the source of the voice, which happened to
come from a child no older than nine. A cat-sized winged reptile perched
awkwardly on the child's head.
"You brought Alex with you?" Risako asked in disbelief.
"Alex and Hoshi wanted to come. Couldn't do anything about it," Hikaru said
with a shrug. "They snuck out."
"The great Motomiya can't stop his kid from sneaking outta the house," teased
Streak with a giggle, smaking his tail against the ground.
"Daddy doesn't mind," Alex defended.
"Alex...does have a point about the enhanced radar. I mean, we've set a record
this month for least Digidestined caught, all thanks to Ishida's Digivice
cloak. It's only natural for the Corps to catch on--"
A bright beam shone breifly through the tunnel onto Hikaru's face, causing the
man to snap his eyes shut and jerk his head back. Like a warning beacon, the
beam blinked twice, then cut off. Almost immediately, the group began to
panic.
"Patrol Corps!" The matted-haired man hissed. "Shimatta."
"Seven minutes and twenty-six seconds," remaked Streak, clicking an imaginary
stopwatch. "They're getting shabby." A stern look from his partner silenced
him.
Already several searchlight beams and shouts confirmed the message as the
unlucky lookout down the sewer was ambushed. The matted-haired man hesitated
before tearing towards the direction of the disturbance.
"Kazeyu!" Hikaru whispered fiercely. "What the heck are you doing? Come back!"
"My partner's down there, Hikaru!" The man continued to run.
Hikaru swore. "Risako, get everyone out of here. I'll back up Kazeyu. Alex?"
The forementioned child looked up. "Hai?"
"Take care of this." Hikaru reached into his pocket and tossed and object to
his child, who caught it. Alex squinted at it.
"But--"
"Don't argue. Kazeyu's going to get himself killed if I don't stop him. Go on,
follow Risako. That means you and Hoshi."
Risako and her Otamamon ushered Alex away while the boy and Streak followed
behind. Hikaru turned and ran towards the direction Kazeyu had gone, already
sounds of a violent struggle coming from that area.
Once they had actually started running, Alex didn't need to be told to go
faster. He almost ran straight into Risako's back when the older woman stopped
suddenly. Ahead of them, the beams from several flashlights bounched off the
walls.
"Kuso!" Muttered the boy. Alex looked around himself, almost dumping the
passenger dragon off his head. There had to be some other way out of the
sewer...up. Manholes went into the ground to the sewer, so...
"Up! We have to go up!" Alex exclaimed, pointing to several rungs embedded in
the sewer's wall. Risako and the boy looked at the ladder.
"Good. Up the ladder, you two. I'll cover you."
Alex shot up the ladder first, Hoshi taking flight on his batlike ear-wings.
Next came Streak, and when the boy finally got on the ladder, the Corps were
on top of Risako. The Otamamon shot fort a barrage of bubbles from its mouth,
hoping to drive the patrolmen back.
With the combined effort of Alex, Hoshi and Streak, they managed to push the
manhole cover aside. Alex hauled himself out of the manhole and helped Streak
up. When he stuck his hand down to help the boy, he suddenly realized that
the boy wasn't there.
"Where'd he go?" Alex asked himself, trying to see what was going on in the
churning chaos below. Hoshi glanced down over Alex's shoulder just in time to
see the flash of a gun's barrel. He shoved Alex aside with all the strength
he could muster.
BANG!
Alex sprawled onto his side with the little reptile on top of him. There was
a twang of metal hitting metal as the shot glanced off something. Streak took
this time to peer over the manhole.
"Carl? Carl!" Streak yelled down the manhole, hoping his Digidestined would
answer.
BANG! BANG!
Two comet-like projectiles shot out of the manhole and pierced Streak's prone
upper body. With a howl, the Digimon toppled over and would've fallen into the
manhole had he not burst into digital data fragments. Alex lay where he had
sprawled, too shocked to move.
"Com'on, Alex!" Hoshi commanded, grabbing one of the boy's arms and pulling
him as hard as any cat-sized beast could. "We gotta get outta here!"
That got Alex moving. Scrambling, the child got to his feet, activating his
roller-blade like boots as he did so. Together, he and his odd-looking buddy
fled the scene of chaos.
-----
The body of Riskao lay face down in the sewage, bobbing slowly up and down to
the movement of the filty water. One patrolman, a square-jawed man with cruel
eyes, glared at his subordinate comerade.
"How many times must I stress the need to reel them in alive?" He snarled
angrily. "In time, she and the two others may have revealled valuable
information."
"They wouldn't have, even if you killed them," Carl hissed. The boy sported
several ugly brusies and cuts and was held down by two Corps. "You'd just be
wasting your time."
"You hold your superiors and partners-in-crime in high esteen, don't you," the
patrolman sneered. He squatted so that he and the boy were more or less eye
level. "You're just a kid, whether you like it or not. I can let you go or
hand you over for questioning. Believe me, the Corps have equipment that will
make you wish you'd never been born. Of course, if you co-operate, things will
go a lot better for both of us."
The boy answered this with a wad of well-aimed spit at the patrolman's left
eye, followed by a long string of curses a normal teenage boy his age wouldn't
use all that frequently. "It doesn't matter what you do to me," Carl snarled
indignantly, "for every one of us you strike down, more will take our place.
You can't stop the Resistance."
With dead calm the patrolman wiped the spit from his eye. "Strong words;
however, they're just words. And words can't stop the fall of a rebellion, no
matter how organized or powerful. You know just as well as I it's only a
matter of time before it dies, along with all of you miserable lot."
Ignoring the new string of curses from the indignant boy, the patrolman
glanced at his subordinates. "To the Detention HQ. We'll just have to persuade
this AI-loving brat who's boss."
-----
"I think we lost them," Alex said as he peered out from behind an alleyway
wall. The young boy and Hoshi were both grasping for breath. It seemed like
the Corps were everywhere, even at this late hour. The whole district must be
on alert for Digidestined. Even after following his father around for two to
three years, Alex was amazed by the Corps' efficiency. They made it hard for
anyone to keep a step ahead of them.
"I believe tryin' to head home's out of a question," panted Hoshi, resting his
aching batlike wings which grew from his head, above his earlobes. Alex's
little companion was a small bright red cat-sized dragon with blue markings
and clear blue eyes.
"Master of the obvious," Alex teased, leaning against the smooth, cool wall.
He had turned nine only a month ago, but he'd seen much more than a typical
kid his age of the world. It also seemed that the boy had develped a maddening
sense of cynicallisim within that month that Hoshi was only staring to get
used to.
"What do we do now, Alex?" Hoshi shifted so that he looked down at Alex's face
in an upside-down fasion. Alex tilted his head upwards slightly to see the
reptile's face, almost dumping Hoshi off his head.
"I'm out of ideas. First thing must be to get some shelter--I don't care
where. If we stay out here the Corps'll get us."
"I'm with ya."
"Daddy had better be okay." Alex sighed.
"Hey, are you worryin' down there?" Hoshi tapped his partner's head. "It's
not gonna do any good, ya'know."
"Even though I'm the one who said that first, I can't help it sometimes. Call
it a weakness." Alex sighed. "What the heck did I do in my last life to get
stuck in this?"
"I donno," shrugged the reptile. Alex turned and hit his head against the wall
in despair.
What happened next was beyond their wildest imaginations. The ground
dissapeared beneath Alex's feet and he was falling before he could utter a
single syllable. He landed with a thump on his behind in a dimly lit room...
at gunpoint.
"Don't move," the holder of the firearm growled. Alex and Hoshi had no choice
but to comply. "How did you get in?"
"I...we...fell through--" Alex stammered.
"Wait. We? Who's this other guy?"
Hoshi obediently raised a clawed paw in the air, At that, the gunman reached
over and turned on the lights, causing Alex and Hoshi to squint painfully at
the increased brightness.
"You two are partners? Wait, I know you. You're Motomiya's kid!" Putting away
his gun, the man relaxed. "Sorry about that. I'm Hiroki Kenichi, a friend of
your father. What are you doing here?"
"Well..." Alex was taken aback by the sudden turn of events. "Corps ambushed
a meeting. Dad told me to run for it."
"The Corps are all over the place, so we can't go home," Hoshi added.
"Judging from the hubbub of activity around the district, they won't be
leaving soon," Hiroki said. "Also, activating a Digiport'll only send them on
you in a matter of seconds." The man got up and walked to the other end of the
room to a small refrigerating unit in the corner. "Are you thirsty?"
"Hai," Alex and Hoshi chorused. Reaching into the fridge, Hiroki pulled out
two cans of soda and a beer, shutting the fridge door with his foot.
"Kenichi-san, who's that Hagurumon?" Hoshi asked, pointing to the Digimon
sleeping on Hiroki's computer. Hiroki handed Alex and Hoshi their drinks and
sat down, facing the Digimon in question.
"That's Circuit." Hiroki opened his can of beer and drank it. "He was my son's
Digimon partner. I'm not a Digidestined; nobody in my family ever has been.
I didn't care about that until Izawa's campain against Digidestined started,
when my son joined and became one of the first members of your father's
Resistance." Hiroki sighed and took another swig. "If he'd been a bit more
careful, he'd still be alive.
"After he died, I decided to continue fighting for what my son had. I spend
almost all my time here, helping various Digidestined escape to places besides
the Digiworld, because that isn't always possible. You two came to the right
place, by fate or design."
"So you mean you can find some other place for me and Hoshi to stay until dad
can come for me?" Alex asked.
"Exactly. Tell me, kid, do you have any stomach for space?"
"That far?" Alex frowned in thought.
"That's the one place Corps haven't swarmed all over. Compaired to here,
Space Stations' security is pretty lax because no Digidestined has ever been
found there. You can stay there until your father comes to get you or
something like that. What do you say?"
Alex shrugged. "Sure."
"Better get working, then," Hiroki said, turning to his computer and
activating a few screens, each displaying important information. Hiroki began
typing rapidly, entering Alex's form for entry to the space station.
"You know," he said while he typed, "the last time I met Hikaru, he told me
he had two daughters. He never mentioned you."
"He did, actually," Alex said. "I'm the older one."
There was a surprised pause before Hiroki spoke, a bit embarrased. "Oh.
Gomen."
"It's okay, people do that all the time," Alex said. "It works pretty well as
a coverup."
"You've got a point there. Let's see...can't have you hunted down because of
your last name, Motomiya...let's change it to Ichiban, then. What's your
name?"
"Alex. That's what everyone calls me."
"Okay, Alex-chan. The next shuttle to the Space Station doesn't leave until
5:30 in the morning. That gives us three hours to prepare. I'll fill in the
necessary forms and such and say you're my nephew transferring to space. You
have to find a bag to pack some belongings in, and to carry your partner.
What's his name, by the way?"
"I'm Hoshi, and right now I wanna sleep." The reptile yawned hugely, displaying
his many teeth.
Hiroki chuckled. "Indeed. Why don't you help your partner pack? We've all got
a long night ahead."
----------
and Digimon 02, but found that he could do much better than the creators of
Tamers and Frontier. So he stopped watching altogether. Instead, he decided
to take the path, perhaps slightly over-travelled, by others in their many
spinoffs of Digimon. Already he was working on a Dark Digidestined saga with
two other writers, but that was going at snail's pace, a good three seasons
behind schedule.
While waiting for the next chapter to be completed by his friends, this writer
came up with an inspiration. Since he'd liked Digimon Adventure and 02 so
much, he might as well continue its story line somehow. He tried thinking of
the next generation, but that was already done by several other authors who
beat him to it.
But what if he moved forward in time a century or two? What would things be
like in the real and Digital worlds then? Perhaps there would be a war, or
an initial conflict, that began a dividing rift between human and Digimon in
general, causing Digidestined to become outcasts. Or perhaps society and its
politics viewed Digidestined and Digimon to be enemies, and anyone allied or
suspicious of activities with Digimon would be persecuted?
History often repeats itself. This is true. One significantly vital even could
start a whole train of others, like ripples in a pond, spreading out and
increasing in magnitude until everything began going out of hand...and the
events began to become self-destructive in such a way that a single nudge in
the right place would send the world cascading down into a deep chaos?
Grab onto something secured--it's going to be a rough ride.
--=Digimon Adventure 2250=--
-=Witch Hunt=-
-=By Backslash Interface=-
Neither one nor eight warriors have the power
To tame the ignorant's destructive spell
But only hidden peace locked, praying for a miracle.
Ancient powers, when combined
Will awaken it from its deep slumber.
Firey Sun, Lighting Storm
Within these passed down the key
Find it, and with the golden steel
Awaken peace and restore the balance once again.
-------Prolouge-------
A rat scuttled across one side of the sewer, attracted towards the faint light
that cast distorted shadows on the concaved metallic wall. The rat's ears
twitched at the sound of soft, murmuring voices, wondering who were these
creatures that had quietly gathered in its territory. Suddenly, a thick and
long something smashed down near the rat with a force that could have easily
broken its back in two. Startled, the rat gave a squeak of surprise and darted
back into the shadows where it had come.
The shadows tensed as a unit, as if bracing for an unexpected blow or
preparing to bolt, then relaxed slightly when none came. The owner of the
thick, long thing--a reptillian tail--thudded it against the ground another
time for good measure.
"Streak. Cut that out," said a boy, his whole body shrouded in darkness save
for his face, faintly illuminated by a torch. Streak gave a sheepish and
toothy smile as he lifted his tail off the ground obediently.
"Try not to be so hard on him," and older woman said, looking briefly away
from the huddled discussion. "We're all nervous, human or Digimon."
"Where on Earth is Hikaru?" A man with matted hair muttered to himself in
fustration, running a hand through his hair. "He's never this late, even in
bad circumstances, and he usually warns us if he can't turn up."
"I wouldn't worry too much about Motomiya-san," a squat oversized tadpole with
a childlike voice said confidently. "It's like you said, Motomiya-san always
manages to squeeze out of trouble."
"Shhh! Everyone quiet! Someone's coming."
The faint light sources winked out, plunging the sewer into pitch black. A
soft scuttling noise announced of the group's hurried scramble for hiding
places. Silence fell for a few seconds, then the faint thudding of footsteps
echoed through the sewer. A beam of light cut a clear, visible path through
the sewer, binked thrice, then shut off once again.
"Hikaru!" The woman said, poking her head out of her makeshift hiding place.
"It's okay, everyone, it's just--"
"Keep your voice down," a male voice whispered urgently. "I could hear all of
you from way over here. Do you want the Corps down on our heads?"
The group began to emerge from their hiding places even as the woman muttered
a quick apollogy. Hikaru frowned at the ragtag group as he approached, the
faint light from one of the group's lightballs reflecting off his rust-colored
eyes. The boy seemed amazed.
"Wow, you really are Motomiya-san!" He whispered in awe. Hikaru, though angry,
couldn't help smiling a bit at the boy's admiration.
"Can you all be a bit more careful next time? I saw all of you when I was
coming over. If I were a patrolman, you'd all be dead or arrested by now."
Hikaru paused briefly, letting that sink in before continuing. "Let's get
down to business. Risako?"
Risako activated her watch-sized computer with a press of a button, displaying
a translucent screen. Its data reflected off her eyes and illuminated her face
with an eerie green shade. "Intelligence reports state the Corps have suddenly
hired a few dozen computer programmers and hackers. They've also had a massive
computer upgrade in the pass week, and a new organization calling themselves
Deji-Hakeru has surfaced from that. The Corps are cooking up something, yet
we haven't figured out what."
"Whatever it is, it's not good news," the matted-haired man said with a sigh.
"Maybe they're tryin' to build a trackin' system?" Someone suggested. Risako
peered behind Hikaru to locate the source of the voice, which happened to
come from a child no older than nine. A cat-sized winged reptile perched
awkwardly on the child's head.
"You brought Alex with you?" Risako asked in disbelief.
"Alex and Hoshi wanted to come. Couldn't do anything about it," Hikaru said
with a shrug. "They snuck out."
"The great Motomiya can't stop his kid from sneaking outta the house," teased
Streak with a giggle, smaking his tail against the ground.
"Daddy doesn't mind," Alex defended.
"Alex...does have a point about the enhanced radar. I mean, we've set a record
this month for least Digidestined caught, all thanks to Ishida's Digivice
cloak. It's only natural for the Corps to catch on--"
A bright beam shone breifly through the tunnel onto Hikaru's face, causing the
man to snap his eyes shut and jerk his head back. Like a warning beacon, the
beam blinked twice, then cut off. Almost immediately, the group began to
panic.
"Patrol Corps!" The matted-haired man hissed. "Shimatta."
"Seven minutes and twenty-six seconds," remaked Streak, clicking an imaginary
stopwatch. "They're getting shabby." A stern look from his partner silenced
him.
Already several searchlight beams and shouts confirmed the message as the
unlucky lookout down the sewer was ambushed. The matted-haired man hesitated
before tearing towards the direction of the disturbance.
"Kazeyu!" Hikaru whispered fiercely. "What the heck are you doing? Come back!"
"My partner's down there, Hikaru!" The man continued to run.
Hikaru swore. "Risako, get everyone out of here. I'll back up Kazeyu. Alex?"
The forementioned child looked up. "Hai?"
"Take care of this." Hikaru reached into his pocket and tossed and object to
his child, who caught it. Alex squinted at it.
"But--"
"Don't argue. Kazeyu's going to get himself killed if I don't stop him. Go on,
follow Risako. That means you and Hoshi."
Risako and her Otamamon ushered Alex away while the boy and Streak followed
behind. Hikaru turned and ran towards the direction Kazeyu had gone, already
sounds of a violent struggle coming from that area.
Once they had actually started running, Alex didn't need to be told to go
faster. He almost ran straight into Risako's back when the older woman stopped
suddenly. Ahead of them, the beams from several flashlights bounched off the
walls.
"Kuso!" Muttered the boy. Alex looked around himself, almost dumping the
passenger dragon off his head. There had to be some other way out of the
sewer...up. Manholes went into the ground to the sewer, so...
"Up! We have to go up!" Alex exclaimed, pointing to several rungs embedded in
the sewer's wall. Risako and the boy looked at the ladder.
"Good. Up the ladder, you two. I'll cover you."
Alex shot up the ladder first, Hoshi taking flight on his batlike ear-wings.
Next came Streak, and when the boy finally got on the ladder, the Corps were
on top of Risako. The Otamamon shot fort a barrage of bubbles from its mouth,
hoping to drive the patrolmen back.
With the combined effort of Alex, Hoshi and Streak, they managed to push the
manhole cover aside. Alex hauled himself out of the manhole and helped Streak
up. When he stuck his hand down to help the boy, he suddenly realized that
the boy wasn't there.
"Where'd he go?" Alex asked himself, trying to see what was going on in the
churning chaos below. Hoshi glanced down over Alex's shoulder just in time to
see the flash of a gun's barrel. He shoved Alex aside with all the strength
he could muster.
BANG!
Alex sprawled onto his side with the little reptile on top of him. There was
a twang of metal hitting metal as the shot glanced off something. Streak took
this time to peer over the manhole.
"Carl? Carl!" Streak yelled down the manhole, hoping his Digidestined would
answer.
BANG! BANG!
Two comet-like projectiles shot out of the manhole and pierced Streak's prone
upper body. With a howl, the Digimon toppled over and would've fallen into the
manhole had he not burst into digital data fragments. Alex lay where he had
sprawled, too shocked to move.
"Com'on, Alex!" Hoshi commanded, grabbing one of the boy's arms and pulling
him as hard as any cat-sized beast could. "We gotta get outta here!"
That got Alex moving. Scrambling, the child got to his feet, activating his
roller-blade like boots as he did so. Together, he and his odd-looking buddy
fled the scene of chaos.
-----
The body of Riskao lay face down in the sewage, bobbing slowly up and down to
the movement of the filty water. One patrolman, a square-jawed man with cruel
eyes, glared at his subordinate comerade.
"How many times must I stress the need to reel them in alive?" He snarled
angrily. "In time, she and the two others may have revealled valuable
information."
"They wouldn't have, even if you killed them," Carl hissed. The boy sported
several ugly brusies and cuts and was held down by two Corps. "You'd just be
wasting your time."
"You hold your superiors and partners-in-crime in high esteen, don't you," the
patrolman sneered. He squatted so that he and the boy were more or less eye
level. "You're just a kid, whether you like it or not. I can let you go or
hand you over for questioning. Believe me, the Corps have equipment that will
make you wish you'd never been born. Of course, if you co-operate, things will
go a lot better for both of us."
The boy answered this with a wad of well-aimed spit at the patrolman's left
eye, followed by a long string of curses a normal teenage boy his age wouldn't
use all that frequently. "It doesn't matter what you do to me," Carl snarled
indignantly, "for every one of us you strike down, more will take our place.
You can't stop the Resistance."
With dead calm the patrolman wiped the spit from his eye. "Strong words;
however, they're just words. And words can't stop the fall of a rebellion, no
matter how organized or powerful. You know just as well as I it's only a
matter of time before it dies, along with all of you miserable lot."
Ignoring the new string of curses from the indignant boy, the patrolman
glanced at his subordinates. "To the Detention HQ. We'll just have to persuade
this AI-loving brat who's boss."
-----
"I think we lost them," Alex said as he peered out from behind an alleyway
wall. The young boy and Hoshi were both grasping for breath. It seemed like
the Corps were everywhere, even at this late hour. The whole district must be
on alert for Digidestined. Even after following his father around for two to
three years, Alex was amazed by the Corps' efficiency. They made it hard for
anyone to keep a step ahead of them.
"I believe tryin' to head home's out of a question," panted Hoshi, resting his
aching batlike wings which grew from his head, above his earlobes. Alex's
little companion was a small bright red cat-sized dragon with blue markings
and clear blue eyes.
"Master of the obvious," Alex teased, leaning against the smooth, cool wall.
He had turned nine only a month ago, but he'd seen much more than a typical
kid his age of the world. It also seemed that the boy had develped a maddening
sense of cynicallisim within that month that Hoshi was only staring to get
used to.
"What do we do now, Alex?" Hoshi shifted so that he looked down at Alex's face
in an upside-down fasion. Alex tilted his head upwards slightly to see the
reptile's face, almost dumping Hoshi off his head.
"I'm out of ideas. First thing must be to get some shelter--I don't care
where. If we stay out here the Corps'll get us."
"I'm with ya."
"Daddy had better be okay." Alex sighed.
"Hey, are you worryin' down there?" Hoshi tapped his partner's head. "It's
not gonna do any good, ya'know."
"Even though I'm the one who said that first, I can't help it sometimes. Call
it a weakness." Alex sighed. "What the heck did I do in my last life to get
stuck in this?"
"I donno," shrugged the reptile. Alex turned and hit his head against the wall
in despair.
What happened next was beyond their wildest imaginations. The ground
dissapeared beneath Alex's feet and he was falling before he could utter a
single syllable. He landed with a thump on his behind in a dimly lit room...
at gunpoint.
"Don't move," the holder of the firearm growled. Alex and Hoshi had no choice
but to comply. "How did you get in?"
"I...we...fell through--" Alex stammered.
"Wait. We? Who's this other guy?"
Hoshi obediently raised a clawed paw in the air, At that, the gunman reached
over and turned on the lights, causing Alex and Hoshi to squint painfully at
the increased brightness.
"You two are partners? Wait, I know you. You're Motomiya's kid!" Putting away
his gun, the man relaxed. "Sorry about that. I'm Hiroki Kenichi, a friend of
your father. What are you doing here?"
"Well..." Alex was taken aback by the sudden turn of events. "Corps ambushed
a meeting. Dad told me to run for it."
"The Corps are all over the place, so we can't go home," Hoshi added.
"Judging from the hubbub of activity around the district, they won't be
leaving soon," Hiroki said. "Also, activating a Digiport'll only send them on
you in a matter of seconds." The man got up and walked to the other end of the
room to a small refrigerating unit in the corner. "Are you thirsty?"
"Hai," Alex and Hoshi chorused. Reaching into the fridge, Hiroki pulled out
two cans of soda and a beer, shutting the fridge door with his foot.
"Kenichi-san, who's that Hagurumon?" Hoshi asked, pointing to the Digimon
sleeping on Hiroki's computer. Hiroki handed Alex and Hoshi their drinks and
sat down, facing the Digimon in question.
"That's Circuit." Hiroki opened his can of beer and drank it. "He was my son's
Digimon partner. I'm not a Digidestined; nobody in my family ever has been.
I didn't care about that until Izawa's campain against Digidestined started,
when my son joined and became one of the first members of your father's
Resistance." Hiroki sighed and took another swig. "If he'd been a bit more
careful, he'd still be alive.
"After he died, I decided to continue fighting for what my son had. I spend
almost all my time here, helping various Digidestined escape to places besides
the Digiworld, because that isn't always possible. You two came to the right
place, by fate or design."
"So you mean you can find some other place for me and Hoshi to stay until dad
can come for me?" Alex asked.
"Exactly. Tell me, kid, do you have any stomach for space?"
"That far?" Alex frowned in thought.
"That's the one place Corps haven't swarmed all over. Compaired to here,
Space Stations' security is pretty lax because no Digidestined has ever been
found there. You can stay there until your father comes to get you or
something like that. What do you say?"
Alex shrugged. "Sure."
"Better get working, then," Hiroki said, turning to his computer and
activating a few screens, each displaying important information. Hiroki began
typing rapidly, entering Alex's form for entry to the space station.
"You know," he said while he typed, "the last time I met Hikaru, he told me
he had two daughters. He never mentioned you."
"He did, actually," Alex said. "I'm the older one."
There was a surprised pause before Hiroki spoke, a bit embarrased. "Oh.
Gomen."
"It's okay, people do that all the time," Alex said. "It works pretty well as
a coverup."
"You've got a point there. Let's see...can't have you hunted down because of
your last name, Motomiya...let's change it to Ichiban, then. What's your
name?"
"Alex. That's what everyone calls me."
"Okay, Alex-chan. The next shuttle to the Space Station doesn't leave until
5:30 in the morning. That gives us three hours to prepare. I'll fill in the
necessary forms and such and say you're my nephew transferring to space. You
have to find a bag to pack some belongings in, and to carry your partner.
What's his name, by the way?"
"I'm Hoshi, and right now I wanna sleep." The reptile yawned hugely, displaying
his many teeth.
Hiroki chuckled. "Indeed. Why don't you help your partner pack? We've all got
a long night ahead."
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