I do not own anything
The end of summer vacation came too quickly for Daisuke's liking. He was looking forward to getting back to Butaibo, but the days he had been spending at the Burrow had been one of the happiest of his life.
On September 1, Daisuke and V-mon had woken up late and dressed like maniacs and ate their food so fast they were sure they were going to hurl later.
The Motomiyas had arrived at Shibuya Station at 10:45 and saw a Ford Anglia park in front of the station, and out from it came the Ishidas. Jun waved at them, and as soon as Mrs. Ishida caught sight of them, the Ishidas hurried over to their direction.
"Hey, we almost missed you." Gabumon said as they approached them.
"We have to hurry, the elevator's transporter charm wears off at 11 sharp." Lunamon said.
They all hurried up the Shibuya Station and pressed the button to call to elevator. However, the elevator could only fit six people at once.
"Jun, Lunamon, you go ahead with Yamato and Gabumon." Mrs. Ishida said. "We'll go with you. Takeru, Patamon, Daisuke-san, V-mon, you guys follow afterwards."
And thus the six of them entered the elevator and it closed, taking them to the underground platform. After about 5 seconds, once he was sure the elevator had already descended, Daisuke pressed the button to call the elevator door.
"Lets' go." Takeru said as the elevator door opened, and Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon and Patamon quickly went in and V-mon pressed the buttons 9, 3, and 4.
But as Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon got ready for the rapid descent, the elevator instead only started descending at a normal speed.
"…What? Why isn't it descending?" Daisuke hissed as he pressed the buttons over and over and over.
"I don't know…" Takeru said. He then looked at the clock inside the elevator and saw the time. "We´re going to miss the train. I don't understand why the transporter charm vanished."
Daisuke looked up at the clock with a sickening feeling in the tip of his stomach. 10 seconds…9 seconds…
Daisuke pressed the 4 button desperately, but the elevator didn't move any faster.
3 seconds…2 seconds…1 second…
"It's gone." Patamon said, sounding stunned. "The train's left. What if Mom and Dad can't get back through to us?"
"Um, well, maybe we should wait by the car." V-mon suggested and realization came to Takeru.
"…The car." He said.
"What about it?" Daisuke asked.
"We can fly the car to Butaibo!" Takeru said.
"…Takeru, last time I checked, a car is a terrestrial automobile that has wheels." Daisuke said.
"No, you idiot. It has magic. It can fly. We can fly it to Butaibo!" Takeru responded.
"But I thought…"
"We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section 19 or something of the Restriction of Thingy…" Takeru explained.
"But your Mom and Dad…" Daisuke said as he continued pressing the button in vain hope that they would descend. "How will they get home?"
"They don't need the car!" Takeru said impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because were underage and not allowed to Apparate yet…"
Daisuke's feeling of panic turned suddenly into excitement.
"Can you fly it?"
"No problem. Come on, let's go. If we hurry, we'll be able to follow the Butaibo Express…" Takeru said as he pressed the "Open" button.
And they marched through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked.
Takeru unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage in, put Yushiba in the back seat along with V-mon and Patamon, and got into the front.
"Check out that no one's watching." Takeru said as he started the ignition with another tap of his wand. Daisuke stuck his head out of the window. Traffic was rumbling on the main road ahead, but their street was empty.
"Okay." Daisuke said.
Takeru pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished…and so did they. Daisuke could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his goggles on his head, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.
"Let's go!" Said Takeru's voice from his right.
And the ground and the dirty buildings one either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose. In seconds, the whole Tokyo laid, smoky and glittering, below them.
And then there was a popping noise and the car, Daisuke, and the others reappeared.
"Uh-oh…" Takeru said, jabbing the Invisibility Booster. "It's broken…"
Both of them pummeled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again.
"Hold on!" Takeru yelled as he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot way into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.
"Now what?" Daisuke asked, blinking at the solid mass of clouds pressing in on them from all sides.
"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in."
"Dip back down again; quickly." V-mon said.
They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.
Takeru lowered them a bit more until they were a few inches above the railroad.
"Now all we need to do is catch up." Daisuke said.
"We can't be far behind." Takeru replied.
And then they heard the loud honk of the train.
"Do you hear that?" Daisuke asked.
"We must be getting close."
And the honk kept getting louder, but the train was still nowhere in sight.
"Hold on…" Daisuke said as realization came up to his mind. He then looked at Takeru as if he were about to panic; and Takeru looked at him as if he were about to cry. The two, plus V-mon and Patamon then reluctantly looked back to see the Butaibo Express only a few feet away from them, and approaching.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" They screamed and Takeru desperately steered the steering wheel to the left, making the car fly off the railroad and roll many times into the sky, making Daisuke hit against the side door so hard it opened, and Daisuke would've fallen if he hadn't barely holding onto the car.
"DAISUKE! HOLD ON!" Takeru said as he stretched out his hand. "Take my hand!"
Daisuke grabbed Takeru's hand desperately, only for the grip to slip.
"HOLD ON!" Takeru screamed.
"I'M TRYING! YOUR HAND'S ALL SWEATY!" Daisuke shouted back as Patamon flew towards him and grabbed the back of his collar with his mouth and tried to pull him up.
After a few more tries, Daisuke managed to grab Takeru's hand firmly and the latter pulled him back into the car.
"…I think we found the train." Daisuke said after a few moments, when the rush of excitement had washed off from his body.
"Yeah." Takeru replied.
"Due east." Said Patamon, checking the compass on the dashboard. "Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so."
They shot up through the clouds. A minute later, they burst out into a blaze of sunlight.
It was a different world. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.
"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes." Takeru said.
They all looked at each other and started laughing; for a long time, they couldn't stop.
It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This, thought Daisuke, was surely the only way to travel: past swirls and turrets of snowy clouds, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, and the prospect of seeing Chizuru's, Momoe's, Taichi's, Yamato's, and Jun's jealous faces when they landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of the Butaibo castle, although Daisuke and V-mon knew that the last part only counted for Takeru, as Jun would kill him for doing something so stupid and dangerous.
They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and farther east, each dip beneath the clouds showing them a different view. Tokyo was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green fields that way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive with cars like multicolored ants, villages with tiny toy churches, and finally, the bright blue sea with only a railroad bridge and the Butaibo Express atop of it.
Several uneventful hours later, however, Daisuke had to admit some of the fun was wearing off. Daisuke took off his striped red and blue unbuttoned Winchester shirt and Takeru pulled off his sweater. Daisuke had stopped noticing the fantastic cloud shapes now and was thinking longingly of the train miles down below where you could buy ice-cold tea from a trolley pushed by a plump witch. Why hadn't they been able to get onto platform 9 ¾?
"Can't be much farther, can it?" Takeru croaked, hours later, as the sun started to sink into their floor of clouds, staining it a deep pink. "Ready for another check on the train?"
It was still right below them, the bridge now finishing as the railroad and the Butaibo Express entered the island which contained Butaibo. It was much darker beneath the canopy of clouds.
Takeru put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine.
Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon began to exchange nervous glances.
"It's probably just tired." Takeru said. "It's never been this far before…"
And they all pretended not to notice the whine becoming louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker. Stars were blossoming into the blackness. Daisuke pulled his red and blue, opened up Winchester shirt back on, trying to ignore the way the windshield fibers were now waving feebly, as in protest.
"Not far," Said Takeru, more to the car than to Daisuke or the others "not far now." And he patted the dashboard nervously.
When they flew back beneath the clouds a little while later, they had to squint through the darkness for a landmark they knew.
"There!" V-mon shouted, making Daisuke, Patamon, Takeru, and Yushiba jump. "Straight ahead!"
Silhouetted on the dark horizon, on the cliff over the lake, stood the many turrets and towers of Butaibo castle.
But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
"Come on." Takeru said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a little shake. "Nearly there, come on…"
The engine groaned. The narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. Daisuke found himself gripping the edge of his seat very hard as they flew towards the lake.
The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out the window, Daisuke saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. Takeru's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The car wobbled again.
"Come on!" Takeru muttered.
They were over the lake. The castle was right ahead. Takeru put his foot down.
There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
"Uh-oh." Said Takeru, into the silence.
The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Takeru yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; the missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car made a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time.
Takeru let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket.
"STOP! STOP! STOP!" He yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up towards them…
"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" V-mon bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but it was too late…
CRUNCH
With an ear splitting bang of metal on wood, they half hit half landed on the thick tree trunk. Steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood; Yushiba was shrieking in terror; a golfball-size lump was throbbing Daisuke's head where he had hit the windshield; and to his right, Takeru let out a low, despairing groan.
"Are you okay?" Daisuke said urgentely.
"My wand." Takeru said in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand."
It had snapped, almost into two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.
"Be thankful it's not your neck." Daisuke exasperated.
The next second, something hit the side of the car with the force of a charging bull., sending him lurking sideways into Takeru, Patamon, and V-mon, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.
"What's happen…!"
Patamon gasped, staring through the windshield, and Daisuke looked around just in time to see a branch as thick as a python smash into it. The tree they had hit was attacking them. Its trunk was bent almost double, and its gnarled bough were pummeling every inch of the car it could reach.
"Run for it!" Takeru shouted, throwing his full weight against his door, but the next second he had been knocked backwards into Daisuke's lap by a vicious uppercut from another branch.
"We're done for!" Patamon moaned as the ceiling sagged, but suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating…the engine had restarted.
"Reverse!" V-mon yelled, and the car shot backward; the tree still trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out of reach.
"That…" Takeru panted "was close. Well done, car…"
The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Daisuke felt his seat tip sideways. Next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told him the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk, Yushiba's cage flew threw the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
"Come back!" Takeru yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. "Dad's gonna kill me." He whispered when he was finally forced to accept that the car was not coming back.
And the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.
"Can you believe our luck?" Patamon said miserably, bending down to pick up Tsurachi for Takeru. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to hit one that hits back."
"Come on, we'd better get up to the school." Daisuke said wearily.
It wasn't at all the triumphant arrival they had pictured. Stiff, cold, and bruised, they seized the end of their trunks and began dragging them up the grassy slope, towards the great oak front doors.
"I think the feast's already started." Takeru said =, dropping his trunk at the foot of the front steps and crossing quietly to look through a brightly lit windiw. "Daisuke, V-mon, come and look, it's the sorting!"
Daisuke and V-mon hurried over and, together, they peered in at the Great Hall.
"Hang on…" V-mon muttered to the others. "There's an empty chair at the staff table….Where're Sato and Impmon?"
"Maybe he's ill!" Patamon said hopefully.
"Maybe he's left because he missed out on the Defense Against the Dark Arts job again!" Daisuke said.
"Or he might've been fired! I mean, everyone hates him!" Takeru said enthusiastically.
" Or maybe" said a very cold voice right behind them "he's waiting to hear why you four didn't arrive on the school train."
Daisuke spun around. There, his black robes rippling in a cold breeze, stood Sato Savaro. He was a thin man with sallow skin, a hooked nose, and greasy, shoulder-length black hair, and at this moment, he was smiling in a way that told Daisuke he, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon were in very deep trouble.
"Follow me." Sato said.
They walked straight down the Entrance Hall, passing the Great Hall, the delicious smell of food coming out from it, and into the dungeons.
"In!" He said, pointing at the dark room with glasses filed with jars in which floated all manner of revolting things Daisuke didn't really want to name at the moment. The fireplace was dark and empty and Impmon laid on the table, legs crossed, as if though he were having the most peaceful time. Sato closed the door and turned to look at them.
"So…" he said softly "the train isn't good enough for the famous Motomiya Daisuke and V-mon and their sidekicks Takaishi and the Dumbo-pig. Wanted to arrive with a bang, didn't we boys?"
"No, sir, it was the elevator at Shibuya Station, it…"
"Silence!" Sato said coldly. "What have you done with the car?"
Takeru gulped. This wasn't the first time Sato had given Daisuke the impression of being able to read minds. But a moment later, he understood, as Sato unrolled today's issue of the Evening Prophet.
"You were seen…" He hissed, showing them the headline: FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES "by no less than seven Muggles. I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Sato said, looking up at Takeru and smiling still more nastily.
"Dear, dear…his own son…" Impmon added, now sitting up.
Daisuke felt as though he'd just been walloped in the stomach by one of the mad tree's larger branches. If anyone found Mr. Ishida had bewitched the car...he hadn't though of that…
"Not to mention the damaged you've inflicted on the Whomping Willow that's been on the grounds of this school since before you were born." Sato said harshly.
"Honestly, Sensei, I think it did more damage to us…" Takeru blurted out.
"Silence!" Sato snapped again. "Rest assured that if you were in my House, the four of you would on the train back home tonight. Most unfortunately, you are not in my House and the decision to expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who do have that happy power. You will wait here."
The four were now paler than they had ever been. In a matter of minutes, Sato came with Nakamura, White and BlackPawnChessmon, Damaro, and Hyokomon. Either Nakamura's lips were thinner than Daisuke remembered them being, or he had never seen her so angry.
"Headmaster, these boys have violated the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry." Sato said, pointing at the kids.
"I am well aware of the Decree, Savaro, having writing a few of it myself. However, being the Head of House of Goono, I believe it's up to Nakamura to decide a fit punishment."
"Explain." She said, her glasses glinting ominously.
And Patamon launched into the story, starting at the charm at the station refusing to work.
"So we had no other choice, Sensei, we couldn't get on the train."
"Why didn't you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl? Or maybe you could have evolved and flied your way here?" Nakamura-sensei said coldly to them.
They gaped at her. Now she said it, it seemed like the obvious thing to have done. They had gotten so accustomed to magic that they didn't even think about evolution.
"I-I didn't think…" Patamon said.
"That is obvious." Nakamura replied.
"…We'll go get our stuff." Takeru said in a hopeless sort of voice.
"What are you talking about, Ishida." Nakamura barked.
"It's Takaishi. And you're expelling us, aren't you?"
"Not today, Takaishi-san." Nakamura said. At that moment, Daisuke, Takeru, V-mon, and Patamon never remembered feeling more alive. "However, I must impress upon the four of you the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to your family tonight, Takaishi. I must also warn you that if you do anything like this again, I will have no choice but to expel you."
Sato and Impmon looked as though Christmas had been cancelled.
"Come Savaro, Impmon." Damaro said as he and Hyokomon left the room.
Sato shot a look of pure venom at the four of them as he allowed himself to be swept out of his office, leaving them alone with Nakamura and Black and WhitePawnChessmon.
"You better get to the Hospital Wing, Takaishi, you're bleeding." Nakamura-sensei said.
"It's nothing." Takeru said as he proceeded to wipe the small blood with his sleeve.
"Sensei, since when we stole the car, term hadn't started, Goono shouldn't really lose any points because of us, right?" Daisuke said anxiously.
Nakamura-sensei gave him a piercing look, but he was sure she had almost smiled.
"I will not take any points from Goono." Nakamura said. "But you four will get a detention."
It was better than Daisuke or V-mon had expected.
Nakamura-sensei raised her wand and pointed it at Sato's desk. A large plate of sandwiches, two silver goblets, and a jug of iced apple juice appeared with a pop.
"You will eat here and then go straight up to your dormitory." Nakamura said. "We must return to the feast." And she and her partners left.
When the door closed, Takeru let out a deep sigh of relief.
"I thought we had it." Takeru said as he took a chair and sat down to eat the sandwiches.
"So did I." V-mon said as he sat on the desk with Patamon and they each took a sandwich.
"Can you believe our luck, though?" Takeru said thickly through his mouth full chicken and ham. "Yamato and Gabumon must've flown that car five or six times and no Muggle ever saw them." He swallowed and took another huge bite. "Why couldn't we get through the barrier?"
Daisuke shrugged.
"We'll have to watch our step from now on, though." He said, taking a grateful swig of apple juice. "Wish we could have gone up to the feast…"
"She didn't want us showing off. Doesn't want people to think it's clever, arriving by a flying car." Takeru said sagely as he poured some juice into his goblet.
When they had eaten as many sandwiches as they could (the plate kept refilling itself), they rose and left the office, threading the familiar path to Goono Tower. The castle was quiet, it seemed that the feast was over. They walked past muttering portraits and creaking suits of armor, and climbed narrow flights of stone stairs, until at last, they reached the passage where the secret entrance to Goono Tower, behind an oil painting of a very fat lady in pink silk dress.
"Password?" She said as they approached.
"Er…"
They didn't know the knew year's password not having met a Goono prefect yet, but help came almost immediately. They heard hurrying feet behind them, and turned to see Hikari and Tailmon dashing towards them.
"There you are! Where have you been? The most ridiculous rumors have been going around; some said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying car!" Hikari said.
"Well, we haven't been expelled." Daisuke assured her.
"Don't tell me you did fly here!" Hikari and Tailmon said simultaneously, their old personalities returning.
"Just skip the lecture and give us the new password." Takeru said impatiently.
"It's "wattlebird", but that's not the point…"
Hikari's words were cut short when the portrait of the fat lady swung open and arms reached out through the portrait and pulled Daisuke, V-mon, Takeru, and Patamon in. In a moment, they were surrounded by a storm of clapping, leaving Hikari and Tailmon to scramble in after them. It seemed that the whole Goono House had stayed awake, waiting for their arrival.
"Brilliant!" Tahiro Yoshi and Revolmon said. "Inspired! Flying a car into the Whomping Willow, people will be talking about that one for years!"
"Good for you." Said a fifth year Daisuke had never spoken to.
Someone was patting V-mon on the back as if though he had just won a marathon. Yamato, Taichi, Gabumon, and Agumon pushed their way to the front of the crowd and said together "Why couldn't we've come in the car, eh?"
Takeru and Patamon were scarlet, grinning embarrassedly, but Daisuke could see two people who didn't look happy at all. Jun was visible over the head of some excited 1st years, and he could also see Lunamon among them. They seemed to be trying to get near them to start telling them off. Daisuke nudged the others in the ribs and pointed at Jun's and Lunamon's direction. They got the point at once.
"Got to get upstairs. Bit tired." Takeru said.
"Night." Daisuke said to Hikari and Tailmon, who were wearing a scowl similar to Jun's and Lunamon's. As they passed through the Common Room they were continuously patted on the back. They climbed the staircase until at last they reached their old dormitory, which now had a sign that read "2nd years". They entered a familiar circular room, and saw that their drunks and been brought up for them and stood at the end of their beds.
Takeru grinned guiltily at Daisuke.
"I know we shouldn't have enjoyed that, but…"
The dormitory door flew open and in came the other 2nd year Goono boy Kitsu Samuso, Hagurumon, Rei, his new partner Spadamon, Ken, and Wormmon.
"Unbelievable!" Samuso and Hagurumon beamed.
"Cool!" Rei and Spadamon said.
"Amazing." Ken and Wormmon said, awestruck.
Daisuke couldn't help it. He grinned, too.
Sorry I took so long to update. I hope you liked the chapter. Review please.