Sirens. Never a good thing.
That's what we heard as soon as we had left the apartment. In the distance we could hear the roar of the trucks producing the alarm, getting ever-closer to our location.
"Must be a patrol. Figures that they'd post units around the city." Matt frowned. "We're on foot, and they're definately not."
I looked casually around the surrounding vehicles, but as I expected, there was nothing of interest. The cars were totaled in one way or another. "So we've gotta hide, I take it?"
Matt's suddenly put on a startled expression, and I stopped. Listening carefully, I could hear another vehicle approuching. It sounded like it was just around the block...
And it was. Before we could react, a pink convertable spun around the corner, heading our direction. Lacking a better idea, I readied another blast of fire in the back of my throat. The car approuched...
Matt suddenly blocked my mouth with his paw. "No! Don't!...It's..."
I looked a little harder and now noticed the driver and passenger in the convertable were two cat-like creatures. "Kari and Gatomon!" I exclaimed, remembering.
The car screeched to halt at the curb in front of us. The driver, Gatomon, gave us a wink. "We were wondering what all the ruckus was! You troublemakers want to make a clean getaway?"
Matt smirked. "How can you even touch the gas pedal in that thing?" he jabbed, putting Davis on the far side of the backseat before climbing in himself.
"A mixture of skill and blocks of wood." Gatomon giggled, before turning to me. "How 'bout you, you...um..."
"My name's Xaiver. I'm a Charmeleon." I blurted out as I climbed in the back seat myself. "And yeah, I'm coming...thanks."
"Uh...sure." Gatomon shrugged. "So, where we going?"
"Back to Tai." Matt smiled at Kari. The quiet cat-girl eyes lit up at the mention of her brother's name. "Just start heading north, Gatomon. You know the cheap hotel up there on the outskirts of Tokyo?"
"Vaugely." Gatomon smirked. "I'll find it."
As Gatomon got the car moving again, Kari turned around in her seat. "You saved Tai?"
"Yep." Matt smirked. "He's safe and sound with Gabumon and another friend right now."
Looking at me, Kari smiled a delicate smile. "So...your name is Xaiver? Did you help save Tai too?"
'Finally...someone giving me credit...' I thought to myself. "Yeah...I helped quite a bit in all that." I glanced over to Matt, who gave me a yielding shrug.
"Thank you...both of you..." Kari smiled sadly. "I hope he's okay..."
"Uh, boyos, I don't mean to cut the chit-chat, but...look in front of us!" Gatomon suddenly stopped the car.
An army truck had suddenly rounded the corner. Although it was not the one already pursuing us with full siren, the driver immediately got the idea that we were the cause of some trouble. He revved his engine and waited for our next move.
"I spotted some movement in that truck bed..." Matt informed. "Probably some guards who won't mind shooting us if we try to go past them."
"Well, there's only one way to find out, hm?" Gatomon said playfully. "Though I think I can discourage the idea of shooting..."
The convertable's wheels spun out as Gatomon hit the accelerator. Our car barrelled forward, straight at the truck. As expected, some soldier revealed themselves from the truck bed, guns aimed. But when they noticed our assault, they instead began to yell at their driver to get out of our way.
With the mad dash Gatomon was pulling, I hoped he'd move too!
When we were almost upon the truck, Gatomon floored the brake and swung the back end of the car towards the truck. It scraped along the side of the truck before our wheels regriped the pavement, shooting us down a left turn.
"A bit of a detour, Matt." Gatomon stated casually. But it won't take-"
A series of gunshots richocheted off the convertable's back fender. I glanced back to see the army truck fast approuching, the guards up top reloading their guns. The driver must've had fast reflexes to turn and pursue us so quickly.
"Great! Just great!" Matt yelled out. "Everyone, get down! They're about to shoot again!"
They fired as soon as we had lowered our heads. This time, the gun fire ripped along the top of the seats.
"Damn!" I exclaimed. "That was too close!" I looked behind to see the truck almost upon us. The guards were reloading, almost casually now. "They certainly have a take-no-prisoners mentality today!"
"I think they's firing warning shots..." Kari suggested. "They're missing on purpose. But this next shot..."
I looked back again. They were almost ready to fire. I carefully stood up on my seat, facing towards the truck.
"What the heck are you doing, Xaiver?!" Gatomon exclaimed. You're gonna get killed!"
"No...I don't think they know what they're in for." Matt chuckled.
The guards were ready to fire now. They paused, confused why I would stand up and make myself a target.
But now I was ready to fire, too.
I allowed a burst of flame to escape my throat, creating a cloud of flame towards the guards. They recoiled in surprise, temporarily disorganized.
But I couldn't see the rubble on the road ahead.
"Xaiver! Sit-" Gatomon exclaimed, but it was too late.
The car bounced hard over the debris, and I was thrown out of the car. I clawed the air frantically, my time airbourne seeming to last a decade, before I saw I was destined to land on the hood of the truck. I turned my body and thrust my claws toward the slick metal surface I was about to hit.
Like a cat landing on its feet, so I instinctfully succeeded at making a secure landing on the hood. I looked into the window to see the shocked driver begin to reach for a handgun on his seat.
I needed to move. I looked up at the front of the truck bed, and realizing that the guards above hadn't seen me, decided that the only thing to do was go around.
I eased my way to the passenger side door and gripped the door's handle, finding a precarious foothold at the bottom of the door. I ducked my head below the passenger window moments before the driver, gun in hand, shot the glass out of the window. I winced as the shards rained down on me, and suddenly lost my footing. My toe claws began to scrape along the pavement streaking by, and I barely supported myself by holding onto the door handle.
Soon I reoriented myself, only to have part of the passenger-side door shot through by the driver. And the shot was much too close to me...
I looked towards the truck bed. It was tall, allowing the soldiers above to have a nice vantage point, and was made of planks of wood criss-crossed together. I grabbed onto the top of one of the planks to the left of the door, an swung myself over to the side of the truck moments before three more bulletholes appeared where I had been standing.
Now I held onto the beams forming the side of the truck bed. I looked up to see one of the guards staring down at me in disbelief.
'Oh crap...'
Suddenly I remembered a basic fact of life: wood burns. I took in a deep breath and exhaled a blast of fire into the inner workings of the wood. Sure enough, a fire was kindled.
The staring guard began to yell at his comrades, who all stared over at me.
'Enjoying the show, people?'
Suddenly they looked past me, yelled, and readied their weapons at something beyond me. I looked over my shoulder to see the convertable pulling up alongside the truck.
They were about to fire at the convertable! There was no chance the soldiers would miss this time! And I was not in the position to ready another attack myself...
Matt suddenly sprung up and yelled at the guards. "YOU'RE ON FIRE!"
The guards paused for a moment, quickly noticing the flames spreading about the bed, before they dashed over to the front of the bed, yelling at the driver to stop.
"Xaiver! Jump!" Matt shouted, sitting down.
I turned, took a deep breath, and propelled myself off the wooden frame towards the back seat of the convertable. I landed cleanly on the seat, landing partially on Matt's lap.
Gatomon revved the engine and shot past the slowing truck. The flames were spreading quickly now, and the guards were already beginning to climb off the truck.
"Alright! Home free!" Gatomon shouted.
"Yeah, and you can get your head out of my lap now, Xaiver." Matt groaned.
I blushed, and raised my head. "Sorry...it's, uh, fuzzy." I shrugged.
Kari giggled at my comment. Matt only rolled his eyes and pushed me away.
"Okay, lover boys, that's enough." Gatomon playfully admonished. "Save it for when you're alone."
"Hey!!!" Matt and I said in unison.
Gatomon laughed. "Kidding! Kidding!"
Geez. What an interesting group we were gathering.
Ed: I made a promise. To finish this story. And I will. Even though it looks like I'm going to be homeless around Jan. 14th, I will not stop working on this story. I'll live up to my promise. Sorry, fans, that it's been so hard for me to do so. If you'll only stick with me through a little more, I'll knock out some awesome chapters. Thanks, everyone!