Ruki had wanted more explanations as to their overall plans, but Sora had said that ears grew on the walls in Sentel Carena. So Taichi was not surprised the next day, when they were in the midst of a dirt path snaking through a barren field, Ruki asked, "What's our next move?"

Sora nodded. "Yes, I suppose we are far enough from prying ears. We are going to strike at the power centers of the Chosen Masters. "

Ruki nodded. "The four towers, but anyone who gets close loses their power."

"its part of an energy dampening field," Sora explained, "Chosen who get close will feel weak, digimon regress to their Child levels. We need to recruit a person who can disable that field. We need to reach Mainframe."

Ruki raised her eyelid. "We're going to attack the Chosen Masters, and we're going into their stronghold?"

"Wait," Taichi said, "I'm kinda new here. What's Mainframe?"

"The main hub of the Digital World," Sora explained, "It's the largest city, which means that the Chosen Masters have control of it, but they also control many other cities as well."

"How do we get there?"

"The fastest way will be a Trailmon. My sources say the nearest terminal is at the Forest Kingdom."

"There's a closer one," Ruki said, "At Circuitala."

"That's an industrial port," Sora countered, "And because of that, it will be guarded by the Digital Army."

"So will Mainframe."

"That's a larger city, easier to blend in. We won't be so lucky at Circuitala."

Taichi watched the girls argue; they had not even glanced in his direction in an hour. He cleared his throat. "Um, how close is the Forest Kingdom?"

Sora turned to him. "Um, three days if we keep this pace."

He glanced at Ruki. "And Circuitala?"

"We'll there at the end of the day."

Taichi looked back to Sora. "Then let's go to Circuitala."

"It's dangerous."

He shrugged. "We're tough enough, and the sooner we get on a Trailmon, the sooner we'll reach Mainframe, right?"

"You're far too reckless sometimes!" she snapped, "But if you want to go to Circuitala, then fine, we'll go to Circuitala."

Taichi tried not to wince.

Ruki looked from Sora to Taichi and back again. "Why is he in charge again?"

He was in charge?

Sora sighed, "Because of the prophecy. We were told by a Shamamon that a Chosen would appear with a digimon partner unlike any seen before in the Digital World. That hero would either save the Digital World, or destroy it."

Ruki looked at Agumon. "You mean his Adult form?" She glanced over her shoulder. "Renamon?"

The fox digimon appeared beside her. "Yes, Ruki, V-dramon is a type never seen before in the Digital World."

"How's that possible?"

"He's a glitch," Taichi said.

Agumon glared. "It's your fault I'm a glitch!"

"The Digital World's in their hands?" Renamon asked. She gave a slight huff before vanishing once more.

The Dead Princess

Chapter 4

The Magician of Circuitala Part 1

Circuitala reminded Taichi of the pictures he had seen of the industrial parts of early 19th century Japan; with a little bit of Industrial Revolution Europe: brick streets, old buildings piled one on top of the other, and factories pumping black smoke into the air.

"Have you been here before?" Taichi asked.

Ruki nodded. "Once."

He waited for her to continue. "When?" he asked.

She only looked away.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

"Let's look for somewhere to eat," Agumon said, resting a hand on his stomach, "I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Taichi muttered, only for a low growl to emerge from his own midsection. He rubbed the back of his head and blushed. "Um, I could probably go for a meal too, heh."

"Most Trailmon have a dinning cart," Piyomon said, "Let's get on the train and leave while we can."

Sora nodded. "I agree. This place is occupied by the Digital Army, we cannot afford to make any careless mistakes."

The streets were not as crowded as Taichi thought they would be, but the group still passed enough Chosen and digimon that he asked, "How many Chosen are here?"

"In this city?" Sora asked.

He shook his head. "No, the whole Digital World."

"We don't have an accurate count, but our source indicate that when the Chosen Masters did their annual census, there was almost 2 million."

"Two million?" Taichi gasped.

"And don't forget that they've come from different Earths then yours."

He had forgotten. "No, I remember." He looked to Ruki, "What was your Earth like?"

"Probably the same as yours." After a moment she asked, "How did you play digimon onyour world?"

He held up his digivice, "On this. It's a Digital Pet."

The orange-haired girl nodded. She pulled a deck of cards from the pouch on her pocket. "This is how we play on my Earth."

"A card game?"

She nodded, letting the cards slide through her fingers. "I was the best. They used to call me the Digimon Queen." She dropped them back into the pouch, "But they don't do anything here."

"How did you met Renamon?" Agumon asked.

"I just did."

Agumon looked at his partner, and Taichi shrugged. "More like Ice Queen," he thought.

Their path lead them past the docks where wooden boxes were being loaded and unloaded onto large crates strapped to the backs of Whamons. Further up the street was the train yard, where a similar process was happening to the Trailmon's boxcars. Humans and digimon crowded the platform as they scrambled to enter and depart the carriages.

"Where do we get our tickets?" Agumon asked.

Sora motioned them over to the booth where a Zenimon sat behind the bars. "When's the earliest train to Mainframe?"

"We normally have a direct line that runs every hour, but a pack of Drimogemon went through and tore up the line."

Agumon raised an eyebrow. "Does that happen often?"

"Occasionally, but we expect the line to be repaired tonight, and we're hoping to be restored for noon tomorrow."

"Great," Taichi frowned.

The Zenimon continued, "You might want to buy your tickets now, I expect when the evening rush comes in they'll be sold out."

Sora looked to the others. "Might as well," Taichi said.

They purchased their tickets and made their way off the platform. "I guess we're spending the night," the bushy-haired boy said.

"Exactly what I didn't want to do," Sora sighed.

"Still beats camping in the woods right now," Taichi retorted.

"At least we wouldn't have to be on constant guard," Sora countered. She grumbled and rubbed her eyes, "Let's just find an inn."

Taichi watched her storm off. "Damn, what's her problem?"

Agumon shrugged and Ruki and Renamon did not answer.

After securing their rooms for the evening, the group stepped into the dining hall. The aroma of grilled meat filled Taichi's nose and he did his best to keep from drooling. "Damn, that smells good."

Agumon had no such problems, and salivated onto the floor. "Yeah! I'm so hungry I could keel over at any minute!"

Taichi looked to the girls. "Let's find a table somewhere."

"I'm not that hungry," Ruki said, as she and Renamon wandered over to a group of humans and digimon gathered around a table playing cards.

Taichi shrugged and turned to Sora, but she shook her head. "I can't eat that," she whispered, and then she and Piyomon marched outside.

"Right," Taichi thought, "She needs blood or something."

The duo found empty seats at the bar and ordered hamburgers and fries. The burly teenage bartender called out the order to his Kongoumon partner in the back. While they ate, Taichi's thoughts drifted back to Sora, and then further back to her argument.

"You're far too reckless!"

He frowned. Was she right? He had always prided himself on learning about his opponents before facing them in a match. After all, if he knew what he was getting into then…

The memory played through his mind; of the girl screaming at him before running into the street, unaware of the car turning the corner.

He shook the memory from his mind. If he really was in charge, he needed to start to act like it. He went over in his mind their mission: they needed to free that Chosen, Ken. How would they get inside? A lock pick or something?

When the bartender returned to take away their empty plates, he asked, "So are you just here in a stopover while they fix the Tailmon track?"

Taichi nodded. "Yeah, we're on the way to, um, Mainframe."

The bartender nodded. "Yeah, that was the track hit the hardest."

The Kongoumon snorted from the grill. "Yeah, those Drimogemon are worse than moles!"

"You don't even know what moles are!" the bartender shouted back. He sighed and smiled at Taichi, "Sorry, he likes to act like he's the receptacle of the Internet."

Taichi smirked and motioned to Agumon with his head. "I can relate."

The bartender chuckled. "So, what are you shipping?"

Taichi raised his eyebrows. Did he think he was a business man or something? He glanced at the other patrons and then at the stack of money in his hands. When you were friends with a princess, money was rarely a problem. He needed to think this through; he needed to use this to his advantage.

"Um, let's just say that I don't want any trouble getting my shipment through."

The bartender shook his head. "That'll be tough. The Digital Army's everywhere." His lips twisted into a sly smile, "But there're other ways past them."

Taichi swallowed; play it cool. "And what ways would that be?" He ran the money through his hand.

The bartender handed Taichi a slip of paper. "Go to that address. Someone's in town that can help you. They call him the Magician of Circuitala."

Taichi nodded and paid his tab. "I'm gonna look for Sora outside. You try to find Ruki and Renamon."

"And tell them what?" Agumon asked.

"Meet us outside."

Taichi maneuvered through the crowd in the dinning hall and out the front door. Sora and Piyomon were seated on the brick ring encircling the inn's giant front fountain. "….shouldn't let him get to you like that," the dark colored pink bird said.

Sora sighed. "Yes, I know. We have our mission from Princess Hikari and we must complete it."

Piyomon cocked her head. "You're starting to like him, aren't you?"

The redhead was silent, but she gave a slight tilt of her head.

"Like like him?"

Taichi's heart rattled against his chest. He had only just met her, how could she like like him already? Yeah, she was cute and strong, but also vulnerable. The crap that Hikari went through, Sora went through it as well.

Sora stared at her partner, "I…um…It was so hard the last time and now that he's…"

Taichi leaned closer…

….only to lose his balance and crash onto the rock covered ground. "Damn it."

"Taichi?" Sora gasped.

He leapt back to his feet and rubbed his bruised nose. "Hi, um, I mean, hey."

The two humans stared at one another until they asked in unison, "What are you doing here?"

They both blushed and Sora held up a dark red thermos. "Having my dinner."

Taichi wondered what blood tasted like and he tried not to shiver. "Um, out here in the dark?"

Sora sat back down. "I like the darkness," she said softly, "It helps me forget what I really am."

Taichi was not sure what to do, so he only nodded. "Um, I've got some news. I've got a lead on a thief or smuggler or something."

"So?"

Taichi's voice lowered. "So we can use him to get us inside the prison to free that person."

"Ken," she clarified. Then she blinked. "Wait, you hired a smuggler?"

"I didn't hire him; I haven't even met him yet."

Piyomon put her wings on her hips. "How do you know it's not a trap?"

"I don't," he said, "That's why we're going to check it out."

The bird opened her mouth and he added, "Carefully."

Sora shook her head. "I don't know…"

"How were you planning on getting into the prison?" Taichi countered.

Sora opened her mouth but the words would not emerge. She finally sighed and gave a slight shrug. "I was hoping to get a better look at the prison once we were close enough. I guess having someone able to sneak us inside wouldn't be a bad idea."

"But how did you find him?" Piyomon asked.

"The bartender gave me his name. He must have thought I was a drug runner or had something I wanted to sneak out of town on the Trailmon."

Agumon approached with Ruki and Renamon in tow. "What's going on?"

"We're gonna recruit someone else," Taichi answered, "What happened to you two? I lost you as soon as we got into the bar."

She let her digimon cards slide through her fingers. "I was just relieving some people of their money." She dropped her deck into her back pocket, "Where do we have to go?"

Taichi checked the slip of paper. "Gear Theatre, 156 Cotter's Street."

"A theatre?" Ruki asked, "Are you sure?"

"That's what it says," he answered, "Let's go."

The streets were more crowded than in Sentel Carina, but nothing like Tokyo on a busy day. While they kept to the illuminated sidewalks, Taichi's eyes kept drifting to the spaces between buildings, hoping to catch a thief before they took them by surprise. So far he had not seen any crazed humans or digimon waiting to pounce; what he did see was countless drunks and drug dealers. It was like the seedy side of any city. There was actually only one thing missing.

"Hey, you looking for a good time?"

And there it was; two blond teenage girls in short skirts with their breasts falling out of their tight tank tops; one had a Floramon, the other had a Penmon. Both were leaning against the outside of a building. They both looked somewhat like the zombies he had seen on American television.

"No thanks," he said.

They clopped over in their heels. "Oh come on," the one with the curly hair said, "I'm sure you're man enough to take both of us."

The one with the short hair eyed Agumon. "A dragon partner. You must be a beast in bed and…" She grabbed the other girl's hand.

Sora was standing outside of the pool of light cast by the street lamp, nearly invisible save for her eyes. Like two brown globes hovering in the darkness. How had Taichi never realized how intense they really were?

"S-sorry!" the curly haired girl gasped and they ran off.

"Bitch," Sora muttered, "Doing that right in front of us! How did they know we weren't…?"

She coughed, "Um, we'd better keep going."

She and Piyomon trotted ahead. Taichi told himself that just because she was jealous did not mean that she really liked liked him. If they were two guys asking Sora and Ruki, he would be offended too.

He glanced at Ruki, but she looked like she could care less.

Sora's voice echoed through the darkness. "Taichi! Ruki!"

They ran up the street and darted around the corner. Sora and Piyomon were staring down a familiar Chosen and his Guardromon partner.

"Hirokazu!" Ruki sneered.

He smirked. "Yup. I finally caught up with you. Are you ready to surrender?"

"Come on," Taichi said, "You think you can go up against three of us by yourself?"

He smirked even more. "Who said I'm by myself?" He snapped his fingers and the two prostitutes emerged from the shadows; they were both now wearing blue and orange military jackets over their outfits. "Say hello to Sophie and Anna."

"Damn it," Taichi said.

The two girls ordered their partners to evolve: Penmon into Unimon and Floramon into Kiwimon. Anna's partner dove after Sora and Piyomon while Kiwimon charged at Renamon. Taichi only had seconds to evolve Agumon as Guardromon shot towards them.

"Agumon evolve to V-dramon!"

Guardromon slammed his head into V-dramon's chest and he tumbled backwards. The metal digimon raced for another assault, but the dragon grabbed with both hands and propelled him over his head and onto the pavement. This left V-dramon vulnerable from behind, and Guardromon unleashed a barrage of missiles into his back.

Taichi clenched his digivice; Hirokazu's partner could become Andromon; they had to take him out before he evolved again.

V-dramon cried out as two beams fired from Guardromon's eyes and into his side. He responded with his Hammer Punch, knocking a dent into the robot's metal side.

"That's it!" Taichi cried, "Keep at it."

"Knock him back down," Hirokazu told his partner, "We're taking these criminals in!"

"Destruction Grenade!" Guardromon shouted, unleashing more missiles into V-dramon's arm.

V-dramon stomped aside and sliced the air, creating a wave of energy that dinged into Guardromon's armor. "Cutter Shot!"

Taichi needed a plan! He ran over what he knew about Guardromon: he was a defender, with high defensive abilities. His entire body was a giant iron suit! The only thing visible was…

"V-dramon!" Taichi screamed, "Go for the eyes!"

"Guardomon!" Hirokazu snapped, "Watch yourself!"

The Machine digimon attacked first, executing his Destruction Grenade again. V-dramon watched the projectiles flying towards him, but he remained still.

"What are you doing?" Taichi screamed.

It was not until the missile were inches in front of him that V-dramon screamed, "V-breath Arrow Max!"

A blast of arrow-shaped energy exploded from his mouth and annihilated the missiles. The beam then twisted and flattened to a sharp point and struck Guardromon's eyes in the opening of his helmet.

"No!" Hirokazu screamed. His head shot from side to side and Taichi followed his gaze. Unimon was pinned down by Saberdramon's talons, and Kiwimon was barely holding back Kyuubimon with her Chibi Kiwimon attack.

"Retreat!" he shouted.

Sophie, Anna and their partners obeyed and Hirokazu glared at Taichi before he and Guardramon ran off.

Sora ran to Taichi. "Are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah."

Agumon rubbed his sore arm. "Yeah, I'm fine, no need to ask about me."

Piyomon sighed slightly and examined him. "Oh, you're fine!"

"Now what?" Ruki asked.

"Should we leave?" Piyomon questioned, "What if they come for us later tonight?"

Taichi shook his head. "I don't think they know where we're staying, if they did, why not go after us in the hotel's courtyard? Plus how far would we get in the dark outside the city?"

Sora opened her mouth, but hesitated. "Yeah, I guess so."

Taichi glanced at the paper in his hand. "We might really need this guy, right?"

He eyed Sora. She hesitated and then nodded.

"So let's just keep going and keep our eyes open for any other surprises."

Ruki crossed her arms. "This Magician had better be worth it."

They continued walking with their eyes darting to every creek and shadow swaying in the slight breeze.

Agumon tugged on Taichi's pant leg. "Something's on your mind."

He nodded. "Yeah. Hirokazu's Guardromon can evolve to Andromon, right?"

"Oh yeah," Agumon said, rubbing his shoulder, "I remember his Spiral Sword from the other day. So?"

Taichi stared into the night. "So why didn't they evolve?"

From the darkness of a nearby alley, Hirokazu watched them vanish around a corner, his eyes cold and emotionless.

To be continued…

Next: With a new member in tow, Taichi's group attempts to leave the city, only to encounter two Digital Army Soldiers eager for a rematch: Miyako and Iori! Chapter 5: The Magician of Circuitala Part 2