Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of its characters.
Chapter 2
The flames of the giant fire lit up the center square of the village. The sound of tears filled the crowd who had gathered. Sora stood silently as her eyes fixated at the burning body wrapped in cloth. She now wore a pure black robe with a hood draped over her head. Light flickered on her face as the flames crackled. She could still hardly believe her mother was dead. She just wanted to hide in a dark corner and never come out. But that wasn't going to happen, no matter how much she wanted it.
Tai and his crew were sitting around a makeshift outdoor bar connected to the Inn they were staying at away from the large crowd. Tai stood off to the side away from the others, he watched the fire and what seemed like every villager standing around it. He paid close attention to the priestess's daughter standing right by the flames. Ever since they arrived back in the village he had been going over the days events, trying to make sense of everything. "So what's the plan now fearless leader?" Izzy asked.
It took a second for Tai to respond as he kept looking out at the fire. "Head out early in the morning. Go to the next village, we still got plenty of shit to sell." Tai said taking a sip from his drink. "I'll leave you to get everything organized."
Izzy just let out a sigh. "Great, save the holy ancient artefact from deadly assassins in the afternoon, recording storage at night. Just an average day I guess." He sat at round table with Joe sitting across from him and Mimi to his side. The next table over sat Ken, TK, Kari and Cody.
"I'll drink to that." Joe said raising his glass. Izzy looked disapprovingly at Joe, but after Mimi raised her glass, Izzy reluctantly clunked glasses.
"After getting shot at I'm always happy to get back to the boring routine stuff." Cody admitted.
TK continued to wear a long cloak. "Happy would not be the word I'd use to describe that feeling, relieved? Maybe. But no matter how many bullets get shot at me I will never be happy to count and record our entire inventory."
"I guess that's why you're always up on the top of the bus there." Ken said back with a chuckle.
Izzy leaned back in his chair till his head was next to Ken, he then spoke softly but load enough that everyone sitting at the table could hear. "No, he's up there because Tai doesn't want him inside the bus, or anywhere close to his sister." He told them with a smirk. TK and Kari both just rolled their eyes while Ken and Cody looked over to see if Tai had heard but Tai continued to look off at the fire.
Getting out of her seat, Kari walked over next to her brother. "How are you doing big brother?" She asked him.
"I don't know, I mean we did out there right? We stopped the bad guys and stuff. I can't get over the fact that I just went after that guy abandoning the team after just a sentence or two from that Sora girl." Tai opened up to her.
This made Kari just shake her head. "Oh please Tai, you are a great leader, you're fighting capabilities are quite impressive. However, you're completely incapable of saying no to a young woman, especially when they're cute." She giggled, looking back up at his face she saw no change in his facial features, he remained stiff faced. "Are you serious Tai? You're blaming yourself for the priestess's death aren't you?" Tai did not respond. "Damn it Tai! You always do this, blame yourself. There is no way you could have had any clue someone was going to get assassinated today."
Tai hung his head, "I know it's stupid but I just wish I could have done something more."
"You just wish you could have done something more for her." Kari said alluding to Sora. "She's a nice girl, I don't blame you."
A guard wearing a brown uniform holding a rifle approached the group. He walked right up to the two tables. "Who is the one in charge of your little unit.?" The guard asked.
Mimi pointed in Tai's direction, "The guy with the messy brown hair and goggles."
Becoming aware of the situation Tai turned around to face the group as the guard approached. He walked straight up to Tai. "The senior elder requests your presence immediately, he'd like to thank you personally as well as discuss business with you and your unit."
Glancing over at the others for a second Tai nodded, "Okay, lead the way."
The group of scavengers travelled to the tall black tower. They passed by the guards and entered inside being led down a long dark passageway. The first thing Tai noticed was the lack of windows inside. If it weren't for the torches they passed every few feet it would be complete darkness, even in the day. The corridor was long and winding. If Tai had to guess, they were underground, a ways past where the limits of the building stood outside. This meant the temple was much larger than it appeared, spanning almost the length of the entire village underground.
Finally they were lead into a large room with an old man standing on a raised platform to the side. Tai figured the room for some kind of private chapel. The man was bald wearing a long red robe. The guard who had been leading them quickly exited the room and closed the door behind him. "Welcome, I'd just like to tell you how thankful I am you were able to assist Sora in stopping the assassin and retrieving the Staff of Antioch."
"We were happy to lend a hand." Izzy replied.
"I am sorry for calling you here so late at night. I was afraid though you might be leaving in the morning. Is that your plan?" The elder asked.
Tai nodded, "Yes, we are scavengers and we still have plenty to sell. So we leave in the morning to the next village."
"I see, now I want to listen carefully to what I am about to say. You all are surely aware the gravity of our situation is here, having a Digimon descend from the mountains to the coast. They have not been seen in years and it now seems they have somehow recruited humans to their cause. The Staff is no longer safe here. We need to hide it, the temple in Amenemhat is much more fortified, and it would be safer there."
"You want us to transport the Staff? How do you know we are trustworthy?" Kari asked, trying to get to what the elder was saying.
"Yes," the elder replied. "We would transport it ourselves, but the less who know about the staff disappearing the better. I trust you because you could have easily taken the staff for yourselves and driven off already. Plus you would not be delivering the staff directly; one of the children of the temple will have the staff in their possession. All we ask of you is to transport this person safely. It will be on your way, and we are willing to pay very nicely."
Tai brushed his hair with his hands as he began to think about the proposal. "Who will be the one delivering the Staff?"
"Sora, she is the daughter of the High Priestess, which means the staff now is in her care. She has been training her whole life to protect the staff. You have seen first hand how capable she is." The elder told him.
Izzy found he needed to interject, "We don't transport people. We're not bodyguards, we're scavengers."
Joe added his own opinion, "Plus the risks we'd be taking if we brought her along. Those guys meant business out there; they were not your average thugs and raiders. Not to mention if one of those digimon decides to go after the staff personally again."
Looking over at Tai, Kari saw the look in his eyes and knew what he was thinking. "You're not serous?" She said in disbelief.
"I accept your offer. We transport Sora to the temple, that's it. No word of this is brought to anyone except her. We leave at early dawn without any attention. If either of these conditions is broken our agreement is over. And we're paid up front." Tai laid out his claims for the elder; he then turned and looked at the rest of his team. "Any objections?"
Nobody had a happy face on, most seemed fairly unpleased but nobody felt the need to say anything to their leader. "We're all behind you boss." Mimi assured him.
"Excellent, we shall make all the necessary arrangements." The elder said as he motioned them to leave. Tai turned and walked out of the room with the rest of his team following slowly behind him. Once outside Tai continued to walk straight back the way they came.
When the team was out of the earshot of the guards at the door Izzy walked right up next to Tai. "Is this really such a good idea? Have you looked at all the angles? I mean we're almost guaranteed a fight when we leave this town."
Tai just shrugged his response. "I know." They exited the temple and walked down the steps. Tai turned and faced his team, "I'm going to radio some help." He told them before turning and walking in the opposite direction from the hotel. The others just stood there and watched him leave before turning and walking towards bed.
The team reached the hotel, the fire that had been burning nearby was now out and the streets empty. Izzy took a seat down at one of the tables at the bar outside. "Man I need a drink." Joe walked over to the bar and saw nobody was there. He reached down and grabbed three beers out from behind the bar. Dropping some money on the top of the bar he walked over and passed one to Izzy. "Thanks man." Izzy looked over at the others who were just standing there. "Since Tai left me in charge of organizing our supplies, I will deal with this matter personally, by allocation: Ken and Cody, you two catalogue the new merchandise, everyone else is free to get some rest."
Mimi grabbed the third beer from Joe and sat down at the table with Izzy, Joe was quick to follow. Cody and Ken both looked at each other for a second before walking over to where the bus was parked. "Goddamn it, always having to do boring stuff." Cody complained to Ken.
"Wait, weren't you just saying before how much you enjoy doing the boring stuff after a dangerous firefight?" Ken was confused.
They reached the bus and both made their way inside. Ken grabbed a clip board as Cody began to examine their new motorcycle. "Yeah and I meant it. But there is one specific exception from the rule. That's when I know I'm going to enter another dangerous firefight soon, maybe multiple. At which point I start to cherish every moment I might have left, and suddenly the boring stuff starts to suck."
Back over at the bar Mimi, Izzy, and Joe were relaxing and enjoying the quiet. Slowly Kari and TK started to head upstairs together. Mimi watched them from her seat at the bar. "Those two are too cute, it's almost sickening."
"I still can't believe Tai let's Kari stay on the team. I mean she fought a digimon today. If that was my little sister," Joe went on.
Mimi interrupted him, "She's a stubborn one though, I think Tai realises that she's not about to just give up the scavenger life and get a normal job if he kicks her off. If anything that'd just push her to want to do something more extreme, this way at least Tai can keep his eye on her, for better or for worse."
"Plus she's really good at what she does." Izzy admitted. "In a couple of years she could easily be as good as or better than Tai. She's already probably better on the motorbike than he is. At least she doesn't get herself shot." He then took a sip from his beer.
Tai finished with the radio and put it down. He then exited the guard post. He put his hand to his face and took a deep breath. He'd always been the leader for as long as he could remember. It was a position he was comfortable with but sometimes he wished he didn't have to be the one in charge, having to make the difficult decisions. From the guard post he started to walk back towards the hotel. At the corner of his eye he saw a figure approaching, "What are you doing out so late?"
The figure approached and took off her large black hood. "I just needed to get some air. I never could get used to sleeping in the temple." Sora explained.
"It's not easy, I know." Tai agreed.
"I heard you were out and about, making some kind of call over our long distance radio. I just wanted to thank you for everything you and your team have done for me and my village. And say I look forward to travelling with you." Sora was very grateful. Tai's face though remained neutral, staring forward, Sora could sense the anxiety he was feeling about everything. "I also wanted to apologize." Tai looked over at her with a perplexed look on his face. "For what I said back there, about killing coming easy for you, I don't know what came over me. I mean I didn't want to imply you were killers but, god I don't know." Sora stumbled through her words.
Tai reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, killing, it's not something I ever want to do, but in the moment, I guess it has become easier, it frightens me a little, but I've done what I've had to in order to survive. If things had been differently, I'd hate to think of what I'd be capable of." After a moment Tai realised that what he just said was not particularly comforting, so he slid his hand off her shoulder and brushed it through his hair. "Um, yeah anyway, it was a tense situation, apology accepted."
The two of them finally reached the shanty hotel that Tai and the gang were staying at. Mimi nudged both Joe and Izzy once Tai and Sora came into view. "I guess I'll see you in the morning." Sora said stopping in front of the hotel. She then turned and faced the other three team members sitting at the bar. "Thank you again, all of you. I look forward to travelling with you." And with that she walked off, Tai watching her all the way till she was out of sight.
"Please tell me we're not risking our lives so you can get all cuddly with a lady friend, again." Izzy said in jest.
Tai looked over and just have him a disapproving look. "I told you it wouldn't happen again and I meant it." He then saw the dozen bottles of beer now scattered on top of the table the three were sitting at. "Where'd you get the beer?" He asked. Joe leaned back in his chair and pointed to the bar. Tai made his way over there; he looked around to find no bartender and just a pile of money resting on top. Just shrugging it off Tai jumped over the bar and grabbed a bottle of scotch from the back. He then made himself three triples of scotch, drank two of them in rapid succession before grabbing the third glass, jumping back over and taking a seat with his team mates.
The other three were clearly intoxicated at this point. "Man this is just like you." Izzy said starting to point at Tai, "Always wanting to play the hero."
"Hey give the guy a break." Mimi said back. "I love our dear profession of stealing people's junk and then selling it to shady merchants as much as the next girl. But honestly it's nice to think we're actually doing something with any kind of meaning to it."
Joe felt the need to voice his own opinion. "I understand the appeal to wanting to play the good guy and help people out, especially when they pay you for it but those weren't some random raiding party we just ran into. I mean a digimon! Kari shot and drove one of our motorbikes at top speed at the thing and all that did was scare it off."
"There's no guarantee we're going to have to deal with another fucking digimon." Mimi disagreed. "While those guys we faced on the motorcycles definitely weren't anything to shake a stick at I think we've done worse. Plus she's riding with us in secret."
Izzy shook his head, "How naive are these people? Those guys already attacked us. If I were them and I lost that staff, you know who'd be the first person on my go to list to try and take it back. Would be those scavengers who are leaving for the open desert the next morning who we already know are in contact with the staff."
"Exactly," Tai declared. "We're already probably going to get attacked, at least this way we paid for it." The other three just kind of looked at him. Tai stood up from his seat. "I'm packing it in. Make sure everything is in order when I wake up, we leave first thing in the morning." And with that Tai slowly walked up the stairs as the other three watched him from their table.
Afterword:
Yeah so I didn't think I'd continue this story, but I felt like doing some writing and instead of coming up with whole new idea I thought I'd just write another chapter for this one. I'm really making it up as I go along without much of a forward plan. I'd love to hear what you think so far and if you had any ideas or suggestions.