"Reactor normal, systems ready, weapons, online. We're ready to go." Agumon reported. "What's up?" He noticed the blank look on his friend's face.
"Nothing much. Just thinking about Sora."
"Oh." Agumon put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "You've done that a lot lately."
"Yeah, so?"
"I dunno, I'm just getting the impression that you two…" His voice trailed off
"What? Come out and say it!"
"That you two were becoming more than good friends." Agumon looked away.
"No way! There's no romance or anything."
"Well why not? She's really a nice girl."
"I don't want to get too close. Because one day, she'll be gone, and the more friendly I get, the harder it'll be to handle it." Taichi looked down.
Agumon was silent for a moment. "Jeez, you really should lighten up."
"I try, but it never works."
The orange dinosaur sighed while shaking his head. "How did I end up working with the pilot who has no sense of friendship."
"If I didn't, you wouldn't be sitting next to me."
"Oh, well, uh…" Agumon was taken off guard, but he was saved when the comm unit buzzed to life.
"Attention Peregrine, the Chimera Elite will be boarding now. Takeoff in ten minuets." Taichi lowered the ramp to let in the seven troops. Most were humans, but there was an Ogremon, sporting his bone-club weapon, and a Frigimon, who only needed his fists to cause havoc. They piled up into the hallways, hoping the pilot's ship was fast enough.
Taichi put a little power into the repulsion engines underneath his ship to turn and face the huge doors. Anxiously, he waited for the person to give him permission. Finally, the comm buzzed and Taichi was cleared to take off. The door creaked and shifted open like a giant's mouth. Careful not to scrape against other ships and freighters, he went nearly to the roof and feathered the throttle. Once he was clear, he wasn't so gentle. Shoving the throttle forward, Peregrine's engines roared to life and kicked itself forward. Taichi decided to take a quick run to see how well his ship had been tuned.
With silent exhilaration, he pushed Peregrine's engines to the limit, going a full 450 kilometers an hour. Doing a wide, lazy turn, Taichi reminded himself to thank Zubla greatly for providing the funds to make his ship top-notch.
"Uh… Peregrine? Are you going to proceed with the mission?"
"Oh, yeah, uh sorry." Taichi turned his ship around to the direction of Fuji Mansion he went off into the darkness
A half-hour, more or less, later, Taichi was hovering over the one-story building. As softly as possible, he touched down and let out Zubla's elite troops. It was silent outside, no crickets chirped, no bike engines roared, and no noise at all. Agumon shifted, waiting for something to happen. Taichi sat completely motionless. He was never fond of the dark. The lights in the cockpit were dimmed to the lowest setting, to avoid attention. The comm quietly crackled to life, and the voice of one of the humans spoke up. "Pilot, we've found the goods and have met no resistance. There's a lot of stuff, and we might not be able to fit all of it in your ship. Suggest we bring them outside the ship with a tow platform? There's one right here."
Taichi hadn't used them in awhile. They were basically just Eight by eight platforms with hover engines and a protective metal shield. "Yeah, sure. Any model fits on my ship."
"Right. We'll take a couple minuets to put the stuff on it." The comm turned itself off. Taichi waited. Breathing very deeply, Taichi spoke to Agumon. "Hey, it's been awhile. Want to check to see if everything's OK?"
"We're supposed to stay here." Agumon kept staring out the window
"I know, but, it's been at least 25 minuets. We should be getting out by now."
Agumon shook his head. "No, we'll wait a little longer."
"If you say so…"
The orange dinosaur chuckled. "What's with you Taichi? You're acting weird."
"Hunh? What're getting at?"
"Are you actually caring about these guys?"
"No way! I'm just tired. Loss of sleep makes you do weird things."
"Mm-hm, right."
"Will you shut up? I'm perfectly fine."
"Ever since Sora came along…
Without warning, an enormous explosion rocked all of Fuji Mansion. Taichi bolted up, but didn't move. What was he supposed to do? Then there was another explosion, even bigger than before. A fireball erupted from the other end of the roof. Gunfire rang out as Taichi watched two of the Chimera Elite humans pulling the floating tow platform. "Pummel Whack!" cried out the Ogremon. He made another hole and climbed out of it, assisting another human as he tried to pull up a second tow platform.
Everything was happening at ten times normal speed for Taichi. He only had time to see another tow platform come out. As soon as all three were attached, at least ten soldiers, dressed in odd, green uniforms began attacking Taichi's ship. Not with puny lasers, but large, threatening Pulse Cannons. They were so large and bulky it took two men to carry it.
Taichi knew he couldn't stick around.
"Agumon, get us out of here!"
"Without Zubla's men?"
"Yes! Go!"
Agumon sighed. "Alright, but I blame you if we get in trouble."
With a roar, Peregrine's engines sent its occupants forward with great momentum. Taichi avoided looking down at the confused faces of the seven Chimera Elite. The Fuji Mansion guards didn't quit. A powerful blue shaft of light ripped through the darkness. Taichi swerved to avoid being destroyed by it. Another laser shot upwards, and another. Taichi wasn't as fortunate. The three tow platforms were ripped to shreds.
Taichi groaned. This was a total failure. Zubla would skin him alive.
Zubla went from a nice, friendly approach, to an enraged tyrant in the space of that night.
"You not only abandoned my best troops, you lost 50 million yen worth of goods! I was trustful of you! I repaired your ship! I visited you constantly the days you cracked your head! You turn around and leave my Elite troops! I can't believe your irresponsibility, your stupidity, your… your… erg!" He couldn't speak anymore, except for one last sentence. "Get out!"
Eager to get away, Taichi quickly exited. Agumon sat on a bench, waiting. "Whew, he came down pretty hard on you."
Taichi said nothing and walked past him.
"Well, what now?"
"We're leaving."
"Come again?"
"Leaving. We can't stay here. Our wallet's as fat as it'll ever be." Taichi led Agumon back to their room.
"Oh man, I thought we'd stay here for a longer time. But, I guess you're right."
Taichi packed all of his belongings into a bag, then quietly walked out. But he didn't go to Peregrine right away. First, he needed to make a visit.
Sora was surprised to see her friend at the door. "Taichi, what're you doing here?" She saw the bag in his hand. "Oh no…"
"C'mon Sora, we have to go. I thought about what you said, and I guess I agree. We're out of here."
"Zubla never forgets a failed mission. I was just fired anyway."
Taichi nodded. "OK pack up. We'll leave in secret."
"Pack what?"
"Oh… yeah. That's OK. I've got about 80,000 yen. That should go a long way.
Sora closed the door behind her and silently followed behind Taichi.
No one in the group noticed the one blue eye watching from the shadows.
"OK, reactor is completely recharged?"
"Yup. We have enough fuel to travel around the world twice." Agumon reported
"Good. We might have to."
Taichi ran one last system check. This was it, the fateful step. After this, he could never return to Zubla's place. He looked out the side of the windshield, at the door leading back into the main cavern. Sora joined him. "This'll be our last look inside of Zubla's place."
Sitting down in his seat, Taichi strapped in. "Don't even mention his name." He waited for Sora to strap in next to him. Agumon was in the gun turret, in case they met resistance. "What's done is done. Just look out into the future."
"I suppose you're right." Sora looked from one gauge that dotted the Heads Up Display to the other. "How hard is it to drive this?"
"If all the little lights are green, then you're fine."
Sora didn't reply.
"Here we go," Taichi mumbled. "This is Peregrine, requesting to leave Chimera Institute."
After a moment, the person replied. "Have you been cleared by Zubla?"
"Yeah." Taichi lied.
"OK then, one moment."
The massive metal doors rumbled and groaned as they shifted open. Taichi wasted no time taking off. The comm buzzed to life. "Hold it Peregrine! You're not going anywhere until I verify it with Zubla!"
"Do it Agumon." The pilot shouted to his friend. A threesome of red lasers fired at the room that housed the door controls. Just as he'd hoped, the doors froze with plenty of space for his ship to exit through. He slowly pushed the throttle, flew through the opening, and then roughly threw it forward. With a rock and jolt, Peregrine was in the sky, blasting out like a hornet from its nest.
Sora was glad to be in a seat this time. The ride was nothing less then thrilling. A smile played across her face, and she decided on the spot, that she liked flying.
Lightly twirling upwards through the dark sky, Taichi felt at peace. Normally, Peregrine could hardly do such tricks without the threat of stalling. Taichi leveled out his ship's flight then said to Sora, "What do you say? Land or sea?"
Sora thought for a moment, then said, "I always loved the ocean when I was younger. Let's go across the Pacific."
Nodding, Taichi set a course straight across the enormous ocean. Then, he threw forward the throttle, getting a respectable 440 kilometers an hour out of Peregrine's, then put on the autopilot. He reclined his seat, enjoying the sense of freedom.
Peregrine was fully stocked with enough food and water for several weeks, and the reactor had plenty of fuel. They'd start a new life, find a job, and rent an apartment. The three of them, Taichi Sora, and Agumon…
Xantos grinned underneath his robes. The ship was headed over water. The tracking device worked perfectly. Within the safety of his small but nimble jet, the Nightwing, the odd person began powering up the stealth generator, which rendered him completely invisible to both radar and the naked eye. Heat seeking missiles could still track the engine, but who would fire at what they didn't know was there?
With a mechanical chuckle, Xantos took off like an arrow into the black sky. "Watch your back Taichi…" He spoke his thoughts aloud. "You never know who'll sneak up…"
It was about 2 AM when Taichi and Sora decided to turn in. The pilot put his seat fully back to make a crude bed. Sora, after searching for the lever, did the same. Agumon was fine with the cushioned seat in the laser turret. Taichi turned off as many of the lights as possible. Only a few dull-green lights illuminated the cockpit. The quiet sound of the engine, and the fact it was so late, was enough to make Taichi and Sora sleepy.
"Taichi," Sora mumbled.
"Yeah?"
"I'm… a little scared."
"Really? There's nothing to worry about."
"I know, but I still can't shake this feeling. That there's some… disaster that's going to happen."
"… Relax. Whatever happens, happens. Just stay close to me."
"Stay close to you?" Sora stifled a giggle.
"What?"
"That's not like you, getting all protective."
"Hey! I'm trying to be friendlier! I'll take it back if…
"No, no, it's alright. It's good to change for the better."
"Well maybe you should change too."
"What do you mean?"
Taichi shifted. "For starters, stop getting all worried."
"Oh, you're terrible! But it's OK to be worried, sometimes. That's what Mom always said…" Sora became silent.
Taichi had a feeling she had tears in her eyes. He did something before thinking. Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't think of the past. The future is much brighter. We can prosper." Sora seemed to be comforted by this. "Good" Taichi thought to himself. "What the hell was I thinking?"
"Taichi?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks, and… good night."
"Night Sora."
Sora's excited voice woke Taichi late the next morning. "Taichi! Look! A bird!"
Dazedly the pilot woke up. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision. A seagull was gliding far in front of Peregrine, but quickly closing in. Taichi realized what it meant. Land was nearby! But they weren't done yet. It could've just been that they were near one of the Pacific Islands. Angrily, his stomach rumbled and complained for food. "I'm, starving. You want something?"
"Yeah, OK." They both walked into the kitchen, to find Agumon halfway in the fridge, eating anything in sight.
"Hey! You didn't scarf the turkey, did you? I wanted some of it Pigmon!"
"Mmph, phorry Taiphi." Agumon said with his mouth stuffed.
"Right, what'd you leave for me and Sora?" He looked in the much roomier fridge. "Want some fruit? There's a few uneaten ones left. Still have three gallons of water."
"Just some fruit I guess."
They had a quick lunch, then returned to the cockpit. Several more birds were flapping by. "Gotta be close now." Taichi's spoke his thoughts aloud. "There was a city on the coast before. San… San… San something. It was a pretty big city, might've lived through the meteor.
"Tokyo didn't last."
"Tokyo was closer, I think."
"Where exactly did the meteor hit, anyway?"
"I think somewhere in Middle East. Iran, Afghanistan, maybe even as far as western China. Kicked up a lot of dust though. Never know what could happen."
Sora just nodded, only half listening. She couldn't shake off the feeling they were headed into danger. She thought about what Taichi had said; that you could choose your own path; that there was no such thing as destiny. "I chose to go with Taichi," Sora thought to herself. "I chose to trust in him… why do I still think this was all destiny?" Just one more question the heap she already had.
It was eight PM when Agumon saw the coast.
'Taichi! Taichi! Taichitaichitaichi!"
"What!?" Taichi thought there was a fire.
"Land!" Agumon pointed a claw at the barely visible coastline.
Taichi gazed at the slowly oncoming beach. They'd made it past the ocean. It was an easy task, but something made it seem like a great achievement.
Sora joined the two in the cockpit. "Finally got there… a day in this cramped ship is enough for me."
Taichi ignored the comment. "There's that San something place, to the right." The pilot switched off Autopilot, lightly turned several degrees to fly over the city, then pushed Peregrine to it's max speed.
Moments later, they were flying over San something. However, to their dismay, it wasn't much of a city. The buildings were fairly intact, most still had windows, and a few didn't have any cracks. The roads were bumpy, but still usable by pedestrians. Traffic signs and lights were up. There was just one thing that bothered Taichi. The whole city was empty. Not a single person, animal, or Digimon roamed the streets. No newspapers fluttered about at the mercy of the wind. No other ships roared overhead. It was a ghost town.
Touching down in the middle of a large clearing, Taichi, Sora, and Agumon stepped down the ramp. The air was hot, thick, and uncomfortable. Trees were sagging down as though they couldn't stand the heat either. There seemed to be a haze covering the city.
"Well, looks like we made a bad choice." Taichi shook his head and sighed. "C'mon, there's nothing to see here."
But before they could turn to leave. Three people, clad in full body armor, helmets, and boots came walking down a nearby street. Agumon noticed them and got Taichi's attention. "Over there, who're they?"
"I don't know, but they're people." Taichi waved a hand at the three people. "Hello! Do you know where this is? Or why no one's here?"
Without warning, one of them raised a laser gun.
Sora put her hands up. "We don't want to fight! We want to know where we are!"
Hesitantly, he lowered the weapon, then conferred with the others. After a moment, the leader spoke. "Come over here, we need to question you."
The three friends did so.
"Do you know of anything that's going on here?" The leader, allegedly female because of her higher voice."
"No, we just arrived."
"From where?"
"Odaiba, Japan."
"Really? Made it past the Pacific without getting mugged by air pirates?"
"Yeah."
She nodded in admiration, then motioned to one of her comrades. "Give `em all a scan."
A green light produced from an odd device washed over Taichi, Sora, and then Agumon. "They're clean, all of them" A gruff voice told the female leader.
"Alright, we might as well report them back to the base. The guy and the Agumon look good for fighting. And the girl… ah, we need more medics anyway. Follow us." The three guards turned and walked the other way.
Along the way, the third person handed each of them air filters to put around their mouth. "Air's not very healthy around here since they shot the methane bomb."
"Who's they?" Taichi's voice was muffled under the awkward breathing device.
"You'll see when we get back to the base."
After a series of turns, they arrived at a large, four-story building. "Don't be fooled by it's appearance, we're a pretty big group. Most of HQ is underground. Protects against bomb attacks."
2 big guards wearing the same trademark armor stood on either side of the doors, each carrying a variety of guns.
"We found these three near the park. Nothing on `em except a cash card on the guy."
Wordlessly, the person on the right opened the thick metal door. The group moved indoors, and the metal door creaked shut behind them.
Inside was a bustle of activity. People went around, some empty handed, some with papers. Benches were filled with people and Digimon, mostly sleeping. In one corner, behind desks were people tapping away on computers. There was even a small booth that gave out food. The far wall was taken up by rows of elevators, all of them busy. It took awhile to find an empty one for all of them to go down on. When they boarded into the cramped space, the leader spoke aloud, probably to a computer. "General Skot Homidon's office." The elevator creaked for a moment, then shot down surprisingly fast. Lights flashed by through the transparent sides.
After a moment, the elevator slowed, then stopped completely. Silently, the doors swooshed open to reveal a long hallway. At the end were more guards. The leader informed one of them about what'd happened, then he nodded and opened the large door. Inside was a spacious room, filled with paintings, pottery, and other old artifacts. A large desk filled with papers, pens, and three computers sat in front an old man.
He wasn't just any old man though, the trio found out. He was the head of this whole place. His eyes were gray and warm, but the rest of his face wasn't. Thick wrinkles lined around his eyes and mouth. His white hair was long and pulled back. Along his face were several scars, a big one going from his bushy white eyebrows past his thick moustache and beard to his thin, cracked lips. He wore round, metal shoulder protectors, a good-sized cloak, and his shirt was baggy and filled with medals and badges. His boots were shiny black and well polished.
General Skot Homidon stood up. His voice was deep and firm. "These are the three that are newcomers?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, leave us be, please." The three troops obeyed, leaving Taichi, Sora, and Agumon alone with Homidon. "So, I understand you three are from Japan?"
"Yeah."
"Well then, what brings you across the ocean to come here?"
"You see, it's pretty bad there. Lots of gangs and crime."
"I see. The General walked around his big desk. He was very tall and muscular up close. Taichi had to look up to see him. "Well then, I suppose you haven't heard about what's been happening here in the Morhin Union?"
"Morhin Union? Wasn't this called the United States before?"
"Yes, yes, that was before the meteor. Most of the US was in shambles. People were panicking and flooding the streets. But then a group rose up and took control. Their leader was a smart man named Morhin. He threw away the Constitution though, set up a monarchy. The power warped him, and he became merciless and cruel. He forces people to work with his Peacekeeper robots, and kills anyone who doesn't follow his orders. However… lately there have been a lot of uprisings. Most are small, but here, we have nearly 4,000 troops, 500 Powerarmor suits, and a full stock of lasers, artillery tanks, and explosives." He put his hands behind his back and walked around them, looking at his collection of relics from the past. "I started the Rebellion Against Morhin to stop him. He's gone too far. But I need all the help I can get." He turned to face the three watchers. "What do you say? Will you join our rebellion?"
Taichi, Sora, and Agumon looked among themselves. Agumon spoke first. "I'm in. I may eat and sleep more than anything, but I can't sit knowing there are people getting killed under the fist of some tyrant."
Taichi never heard Agumon this way.
"I will too. If this will bring freedom to other people and for me, I'll fight for it."
General Skot Homidon looked at Taichi. The younger man blew out his breath. "I don't know. This isn't even my home country. Why should I fight for it?"
"Because, it'll help other people." Sora turned to Taichi. "Please Taichi, I can't fight without you next to me."
Taichi looked back up. "Well," he turned and smiled at Sora. "You've convinced me. I'm in too."
Homidon smiled. "Very well then, welcome to the Rebellion Against Morhin. Otherwise known as RAM."