GoggleMaster01- Okay, I still don't own Digimon and stuff like that.

This chapter is incredibly long, so please get comfortable. I worked my butt off on this chapter when my computer cabinet was in it's prime, so enjoy!

Chapter 21

Me and My Big, Stupid Plan I

The next morning, Psystar had no choice but to recruit new suckers to defeat the Dark Masters. We couldn't use the pit for our trash forever, and besides, the Dark Masters freeloading so close to Base was bad enough to start with. Of course, at the morning meting, when Psystar asked for volunteers, nobody stuck their paws up. They didn't feel like getting mauled by Piedmon.

I knew I was probably throwing myself right into MetalSeadramon's mouth. I had very little battle experience, didn't know how to land when I was flying and had the intelligence and attention span of a goldfish. But, it was my duty to protect Base, and therefore my duty to stop the Dark Masters.

I felt my lips move, but I didn't even know I said "I'll go!". And next thing I knew, everyone was staring at me like I was dead meat.

"Taichi! You are only an apprentice! You can't go!" cried Redtail.

"Sure I can! I got two good legs!" I snapped back.

"But you can't go unsupervised!!!" Redtail was hyperventilating.

"Psystar can go with me!" I pointed out.

"I wish I could go, but I'm busy here, Taichi," Psystar said matter-of-factly. "And you aren't strong enough to go alone. Since no one else will volunteer, I will assign-"

"Gimme a moon!" I said. "I'll train myself really hard!" I wasn't going to let Psystar send some random losers to go when I had to prove myself to Base.

"We don't have time!" Redtail said.

"The Dark Masters are preparing for war, building an army," Lionstorm said. "The channels that we put at the bottom of Freefall Cliff so that our garbage doesn't go in the river- they're all in there. All really powerful Digimon, even the Rookies. I saw them in action. Their very existence threatens Base. Besides, we all know you don't really care. You just came because life was BORING back in the Human World."

"Yea. That was part of it at first," I said. "But not anymore. I want to protect Base!"

"If we leave it up to this apprentice, he'll destroy us," Lionsnot growled.

"If YOU care so much, get off your big butt and go!" I snapped.

"Um, I am ineligible to go because I went the first time," Lionstorm said in a snotty official sounding tone.

"It doesn't say that anywhere," Psystar said. Lionsnot shut up and slunk into the crowd. "Loser," I whispered so low that only Agumon could hear.

"That does not change the fact that-" Redtail began.

"Look, nobody else is willing to go, okay?" I said. "Let me train for a moon! I'll be ready by then!"

"You'll be, but the Dark Masters will have been ready for weeks at that point," Psystar said.

"They don't have to be! We can distract them!" I said. "When me and my friends were attacked by Kuwagamon on Freefall Cliff, it crumbled underneath us. If we did it then, we can do it now. The falling rock will damage the army or, if we're lucky, hurt a Dark Master. At best, it'll fall in the river and block MetalSeadramon's advances for a bit. While they're messing with the rocks, I'll get ready to mess with them."

Everyone stared at me. I'd been planning this with Agumon when we were out hunting for breakfast. No one was expecting that idea to come from my tiny brain, but it did. Agumon just helped smooth out the edges.

I went on to explain we send two or three Ultimate or Mega-levels over to Freefall Cliff and stomp around to create a rockfall. They had to be fast too so they could run away, or at least be willing to sacrifice themselves if things went badly. Three Garudamon were selected to go drop the rocks. All three returned alive, and one gave a thumbs up. The plan worked- the Dark Master's army was crushed under the rock.

"You still can't go alone, Taichi," Psystar said. "You're only an apprentice, and even if you were a warrior, this would be a big mission for you, and impossible to do alone. So, Agumon, Riverfur, Deadfoot and Lionstorm will go with you.

"You must learn to fly and land successfully because it is hard to walk in and out of the pit. You will be allowed to train for a moon, but expect your training to be cut short if there's any sign of the Dark Masters recuperating from the rockfall. If you return alive, you will be promoted to a warrior immediately, for defeating them will require skill and courage beyond any apprentice.

"You'll be very busy from now on, Taichi. You are the only DigiDestined-the only Halfborn- in Base. It would be tragic if you died. The fate of the Digital World is in your hands Taichi."

"We're doomed," went somebody in the crowd.

I knew how real the threat of death was and how serious this was (I'd had the fate of two worlds on my back once before, after all), and I knew I had the experience of a goldfish, but I had to push on anyway. I had to save Base and redeem myself.

Psystar chose his party with good reason. Agumon's my partner, so he had to come. Psystar said he was strong, despite his digivolving handicap, and would be great help and a good companion for me in the Dark Master's stronghold. Deadfoot was big enough to carry the people who couldn't fly in and out of the pit, Lionstorm was an incredibly powerful warrior and after his last goof up, Psystar decided a Chief of Medicine was vital on this trip.

I trained harder and harder each day- I ran faster when I hunted, battled my hardest in battle practice and tried not to surrender to Charlie Brown's Teacher Mode during flying lessons- I was going to need them to get there and back.

One day, Oakfur was bored, so he decided to try me again with fishing lessons. We set out early in the morning.

One hour later, he was still saying "You can do this, Taichi. Remember, it's all about timing." And I hadn't caught so much as a minnow. This was just like when my grandpa taught me to fish normally with a fishing rod- I sucked terribly at that too. The only difference is my mentor didn't launch into a "When I Was A Lad" yarn when he got bored or fed up with me.

A fish slipped through my butterfingers. Then again. Finally, a slow, sleek fish went right under my hand. I grabbed it and pierced it with my claws. The fish was a salmon- and it looked tasty.

"YES! AT LAST!!!" I cried.

"Finally! Get another one, kid, another one!" Oakfur cheered me on. I tried to- twelve more fish went by, out of which I only got three. Okay, I was never the best fisher, but I was improving.

The best part was, whenever I got a new kind of prey, I got to eat it. You'd expect someone born and raised in Japan to like seafood. I did- in the Human World. DigiWorld fish tasted terrible- it was like stale rice with a side of Numemon crap! I spit it out.

"That's a waste of food, Taichi!" Oakfur barked.

"Well, it tasted like a piece of crap!" I spat back.

"I'd like some, actually," Agumon said.

"Enjoy." Agumon accepted my okay and gobbled down the fish in two bites.

"Taichi, you are the craziest kid I've ever met," he said. "But, you're also the bravest, most determined kid I've ever met. You're-you're too young to die, kid."

I knew what he was talking about. "I won't die!" I said. "I'll slug those Dark Masters!"

Oakfur didn't believe me.

I'd been having a lot of dreams showing the Human World recently, so I was up-to-date on my friend's lives. One night, Sora visited my mom, who was missing me dearly. Sora told my mom not to cry, that everyone missed me and that I was happy. Another night, it was the last day of summer. Me and Kari stayed up late that last day of summer ever since my first summer vacation and made shadow puppets until mom told us to go to bed. This time, however, Kari was using a light from a big monitor and made a few half-hearted shadow puppets, wishing I was there with her.

Speaking of the monitors, Dad was pissed beyond pissed at all the blinking lights and activity of Sesshoku and friends, especially at night. During the night, everyone was getting ready to go to DigiWorld to stalk me by day. Terepo and Kakae visited me a lot, but I was used to them and their Digimon- as I got stronger, Gaomon and Airdramon got easier to beat. Sesshoku was always with my parents, saying I was alive and I'd come home that night, but I'd end up trashing the goons, and Mom and Dad had to wait a night more.

Sometimes, I considered throwing myself to the Sesshoku goons. But, I had a duty here that I needed to fulfill.

I thought every day of my friends and family, all suffering without me. I remembered what Redtail said- I'd see them again, no matter how many years it took. And, I remembered what I'd thought on that day- us DigiDestined were like boomerangs- like Tokomon was back on Server! We'd always bounce right back, no matter what.

And so, I thought of that boomerang bouncing back and I thought of them. Every day, I imagined hunting alongside them. I discussed my battle plans with them inside my head. I said goodnight to them every night, even though they weren't there. Even though some people back home thought I forgot them, that couldn't be further from the truth.

I would never forget them.

I knew everything about flying. I could takeoff. I could branch- meaning, I could suddenly leap off a branch and into the air without crashing on my face. I could soar on both thermals and winds and change my direction. I even flew backwards once. Yep. I was the master. I was in the clear- almost.

Landing from flight was never pretty- in fact it was downright deadly! I always fell on my face. Most of the time, I was in a bush, so I was okay. Once, though, I nearly broke my leg, and Deadfoot had to save me. I tried tirelessly to fix this bug in my system to no avail.

"You've gotta fix this landing thing soon, bucko," Deadfoot told me. "Team StarClan's not ready for you yet."

"I'm not gonna die!" I said, flashing a peace sign. "I'll fix this landing thing. Watch." That said, I jumped up into the air and tried to land. And of course, I fell flat on my face.

Bronzepaw got meaner and meaner every day. Three out of four times he was sent to clean out the elder's den, it was because he'd snapped at me. Each time he got punished was the same- he screamed "Stupid Halfborn!" and I replied with "I'm not stupid, you're stupid, bum face!", which got me yelled at but not forced to share Bumpaw's fate.

I have to say, I was doing quite well. In school, I was half troublemaker, half class clown. I had a record of detentions and my grades never got above a C. And I don't even want to TALK about this one meeting my parents had with Mr. Fujiyama, where they spent an hour listening to how badly I sucked in school and about the "glory days of Mr. Fujiyama's school career". And trust me, I've heard the "glory days" speech a lot, so I know how infuriating it is.

Maybe that's part of why I got grounded for two months instead of one, like I usually did. (No soccer for two months- that was the worst two months of my young life)

But here, I was doing well. I still made smart little quips, but I was behaving better compared to my school days. Plus, the Charlie Brown's Teacher Mode, which I started having when I got bored in the third grade, was popping up less and less- I have to say, it only reared it's ugly head once in battle practice. I only got sent to the elder's den twice during the moon, and everyone said I was becoming quite the warrior.

My attendance was better too. Every other day was a tardy day for me in the Human World, but here, I'd only missed morning and evening announcements a grand total of ONE time, and that was on the day I was going to start flying.

Yep, I was doing good. But I still had to stop falling on my face when I landed.

I wasn't the only one getting stronger- Agumon had gotten over his handicap of not being able to digivolve and was a better hunter and fighter than ever. We spent our rare free moments together. He taught me how to play-fight (I got good quick) and I taught him how to play soccer.

One time, I was hunting for dinner and happened upon a big coconut. I was used to seeing the random coconuts in the Digital World- they fell from the trees with the yellow oak leaves and were gathered along with the geese for festivals. They were brown and soccer-ball sized. I missed being able to play soccer, so I took the coconut home with me and made it my soccer ball. That coconut made me so happy- I missed being able to play soccer.

Many times I had stared at the stands in Pokemon Square enviously, because I had no money and saw a soccer ball for sale. It was 3000 bits (which was the money in Base) more than I had, a grand total of zero. The warriors were paid bits once each week. I thought it would be only fair that I got some pocket allowance, but I didn't really have time to shop with my crazy training schedule.

At first, I was happy I had the coconut. Then, I learned the nut came with complications- sometimes I kicked to hard and milk leaked out and made the floor and my sneakers sticky, so it was hard to run. I begged for pocket money, but I didn't get any. Why? Apparently, the mentors give their apprentices pocket money, and Psystar, being leader, got everything for free, so he didn't need to have any. I thought that was a bit unfair.

I really wanted a soccer ball that didn't spill milk whenever I kicked it.

GoggleMaster01- There you go. There will be a Part II to this training montage, but I need a computer cabinet and a chiropractor for my sore wrists, so who knows when it's getting done. (I have some of it typed up already, though) I don't have any more spoilers, so I'll leave the ones covering these two chapters on my user profile until I write more. And, as always, I ask for reviews. I need them to live. Don't let me die.