Above & Beyond ~ Part 2
The hours stuck in the shuttle seemed to fly by. (Partly because it was a joined effort by everyone to teach Mimi who to use the bathroom as she was floating.) The had just landed in the shipping deck of the DSS and were greeted the operators of the station, a Gazimon and an Andromon, "Welcome to the Digital Space Station Digidestined. Gazimon and I will fill you in on the events of the past few days, but you should get washed up and reunited with your Digimon. They have been anxiously awaiting your arrival." "That sounds great Andromon. Lead the way!" Izzy followed Andromon through the winding hallways of the space station with the seven other children in tow.
"Here are your quarters Digidestined." Gazimon pointed to two rooms across from one another. "The young ladies will sleep here and you guys will sleep in that one there." Gazimon pointed to the rooms as he explained the arrangements. "Your digimon are already inside," Andromon added. "We will meet in the control room in half an hour." He gave last minute instructions then he and Gazimon turned to leave the Digidestined to get settled. "We'll see you guys in a half an hour" Sora said as she entered the girl's room with Kari and Mimi right behind her. "Sure, see ya then" Joe said taking up the rear as the boys entered their quarters on the opposite ends of the hall.
"Biyomon!" Sora lit up upon seeing her Digimon sitting on the top bunk in the corner of the room. "Sora! You're finally here!" Biyomon jumped off of her perch on the bed and flew into her friend's arms. "Palmon! How are you?" Mimi asked as her digimon took a running leap into her arms. "I great Mimi and you look pretty as always." Mimi blushed at the compliment. "Well, thank you!" Kari looked around the room, but there was no sight of her cat digimon. "Where's Gatomon?" She asked the other digimon who were busy getting reacquainted with their old friends. All of the sudden a sound like running water was heard coming from a connected room. "I'm right here Kari. I decided to get washed up so that I would look purr-fect when you arrived. Gatomon hopped into Kari's arms and made herself comfortable. "Are you ready for your first space adventure?" Kari asked the digimon in an attempt to hold back her own excitement. "You bet!" The digimon answered in unison.
Matt and Tai were the first to enter their room and Agumon and Gabumon had already expressed their excitement. Izzy was getting reacquainted with Tentomon and showing off his new laptop. Joe and Gomamon were busy bickering already and Patamon had made himself at home on top of Tk's head. "It's just about time to meet the girls and head down to the control room" Matt said, looking down at his watch. "After the meeting I want to do some exploring. This place is huge" Tk exclaimed. "I plan on learning more about the technology in the ship" Izzy stated. "I just want to lay down. Space travel makes me nocuous ." Joe put a hand on his aching head. "All of that sounds great, but we can't forget why we came here in the first place. We have to find out why and stop whoever is attacking this place" Tai reminded them. "Yeah, you're right Tai. It's time to head down there anyways. Let's go!" Matt said, leading the way out the door. They made a quick stop to pick up the girls and then were on their way .
A huge computer full of intricate patterns of buttons and bars largely took up the control room. On one end was a giant screen, which monitored outside action in the stars. They found Andromon and Gazimon sitting in front of the screen, watching for any disturbances. "Welcome to Control Central. " Gazimon greeted his guests with a smile. "This is where everything insides of DSS is operated. Please take a seat." Gazimon motioned toward a large table in the center of the room. The Digidestined did as they were told. They looked at the machines around them with clueless expressions. (All except Izzy, of course, who has acting like a kid in a candy store.) They took their seats and waited for their hosts to begin.
"Since DSS has been up in orbit there have been many disturbances. All of which have been caused by a renegade group of space pirate digimon called Brachanimon. They've come together from all ends of the galaxy to form the Silver Elite." Andromon began. "The Silver Elite? What do they want with DSS?" Matt asked curiously. "The Brachanimon come from a distant planet called Brachan It used to be a peaceful planet, full of life and prosperity, until Prince Saffron came along. He demanded more power. He wanted to rule all of Digispace, to control all of its riches. In order to do so, he would need a vast amount of energy that only DSS can provide." Gazimon explained.
"DSS is run off of the power of a very large gem called the Julip crystal. Saffron wants to capture the Julip and harness it's power to take over Digispace." Andromon explained further. "You have been brought here to..." "To protect the crystal and put an end to Saffron's terror" Tai interrupted. "Yes, but how did you know?" Gazimon asked. "When you've been a Digidestined as long as the eight of us have, you start to realize that every battle is basically the same." Mimi smiled. "It's always, stop the evil digimon, save the world from destruction and be back home in time for dinner!" Joe laughed. "We could do this job with our eyes closed," Matt joked. "Right Tk? Tk? HEY TK! KARI! LAY OFF THE KISSING FOR A MINUTE AND PAY ATTENTION!" Takeru looked up at his friends around the table "uh...Sorry."
"You all must be prepared when the Silver Elite attacks again. Our defenses are wearing thin. We do not have enough power to sustain any further damage to the station." Andromon warned. "Don't worry Andromon. You can count on us!" Kari assured him. "That's right! We'll be ready for them!" Tai shouted confidently. Everyone rose from the table and started to go their separate ways, when a blast from an approaching Brachanimon brought them back together. "There's no time to go exploring now Digidestined! We have a job to do!" Within minutes the kids had their suits on and were ready for a battle.
"Each suit is equipped with a jet back to keep you from floating away uncontrollably." Izzy shouted some last minute instructions to his friends before opening the hatch to the outside climate. "Everything will work the same here as it does back on Digital Earth, so just stick to your guns." "What about the Digimon? Sora asked. "Don't worry Sora. The gravity doesn't affect us digimon here. We can walk right outside just as if we were on solid ground. Or at least that's what Gennai told us when he gave us these amulets." Biyomon explained. "That's right Biyo." Izzy agreed. "Gennai calls them Digital Neutralizers. As long as you're wearing them, you will be able to function normally, but if it comes off, you'll have no control." "Okay, enough with the chatter already. Let's get out there!" Tai exclaimed. The hatch was then opened and the kids found themselves on a galactic battlefield.
As the battle raged on, the Digidestined were extremely outnumbered. The Brachanimon were virtually powerless except that their large numbers made them a wicked force to be dealt with. "If we don't do something we're going to lose the crystal!" Tai screamed at his friends who were giving the attack their all, but still failing to grab the upper hand. The digimon themselves were exhausted and they wouldn't be able to take much more. Even though they had all digivolved to their highest point (Matt & Tai's at Mega and the other's Ultimate,) they were still dropping like flies.
"Tk! Angewomon and Magnaangemon can't fight anymore. They're way too tired!" Kari yelled over to her boyfriend as they watched their digimon struggle. "I know Kari, but we can't give up! We've got to keep going!" Tk yelled back in reply. The digimon however, had given every last ounce of strength that they could muster and drained of all energy, they were forced to return to their in-training stages. By that time the Digidestined had assembled altogether, all hope was lost. "Now what do we do?" asked Mimi, who was trembling like crazy. "I don't know Mimi" came Matt's reply. "May I make a suggestion?" came a voice from beyond the stars.
Prince Saffron came into view at light speed and stood on floating surfboard-like machine. "You must be Saffron!" Tai spoke in defense, not wanting to hear anything that he had to say. "So, you've heard of me?" Saffron snickered. "Unfortunately" Sora muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well you better go back where you came from buddy, cause there isn't no way in hell you're getting your hands on that crystal," Tk shot back. "Really? I'd like to see you stop me" The Prince laughed wickedly and waited for someone to step forward. "Just as I suspected, all cowards. Step aside and let me take what I have come here to get."
"Never!" Tk shouted as he lunged forward in attempt to catch the Prince off guard. Unfortunately for Tk, Saffron was quick on the draw and he blasted him with a scorching beam of laser that sent a sharp pain through the whole of the young boy's body. The immense pain, being too much for him to bear, sent him into a deep coma. "Tk! Kari, Tokomon and Matt raced to the boy's aid, but were stopped by the Prince with a blast of liquid ice that left them frozen in time.
"What did you do to them?" Tai demanded. Saffron laughed. "The same thing that I'm going to do to all of you." "Not if we can help it! No one turns my Kari into a Popsicle and gets away with it." Nyaromon and Tsunomon attempted to attack the Prince, but at their weakened state as well as the power of the digivices frozen, there was no way that they could win. Saffron turned them, as well as the others into frozen statues. He stayed to admire his work for a moment longer and before turning to go, his eyes focused on Kari and Gatomon. "You will make an excellent bride my dear" he told an immobilized Kari. "And what good are you without your cat friend here? We'll come back for the Julip Crystal later." He placed Kari and Gatomon on his space vehicle and left the others as space trash.
Watching safely from the viewing screen inside of the station, Andromon and Gazimon emerged for their sanctuary when they were sure that Saffron would not return. They gathered the injured Tk as well as the frozen bunch of Digidestined and brought them inside of DSS. "Bring the young boy to the infirmary Andromon. I'll slide these one's into the docking pad. There is nothing we can do for them" Gazimon instructed. Andromon nodded and did as he was told. He placed Tk in a hospital-like bed and hooked him up to all of the fancy machines before leaving to help Gazimon with the others.
~MPF