Xantos wandered through the large city, not knowing where he was going or why. His metal boots clicked and echoed in a steady beat. As he neared the outer fringes of the city, the robotic human noted many seedy buildings and old houses. Eventually, he heard the sound of conversation and fires crackling. His left eye, which was also a mini monocular, focused forward. He easily saw the gang of humans, Digimon, and robots. They were armed with only small blasters and the robots appeared primitive compared to his own state-of-the-art metal armor.
Xantos walked into the camp.
Digimon and humans clicked the safety's off, wondering the same thing; Who in their right mind would walk right into a Morhin Union Army camp?
A Peacekeeper droid walked directly in front of the intruder. It was a sad mistake, the robot was programmed to not think of it's own safety. "This is a restricted area, no civilians may…" A quick slice from Xantos's stiletto blade across the droid's thin neck cut it's speech off forever.
"Anyone else wish to tell me off?" Xantos asked the wide-eyed squadron. A dozen Peacekeepers jumped him at once. Though caught by surprise, Xantos was quickly in charge of the fight. With impossibly fast reflexes, he slashed, hacked, and thrust, with his short blade, wreaking havoc and sending bits of metal and wires.
Less than a minuet later, Peacemaker carcasses were strewn about the amazing fighter's feet. "Now then, where's the leader of this pathetic army?"
"This 'pathetic army' is Morhin's 3rd Scout force, one of the most experienced and powerful teams in the army." A huge, grizzled man with a burly moustache easily pawed his way through the crowd. "What the hell do you think you're doing coming in here and destroying our Peacekeeper droids! These cost thousands of dollars each!"
Xantos had to look up to glare at the commander's eyes. "Tell me something my good man." He reached down and picked up a random piece of metal. "Is this what you call top-of-the-line or do you simply enjoy throwing money away?"
The crowd murmured comments to each other at the odd man's bravery.
Anger flared briefly in the leader's eyes. "Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Commander Jackson of the Morhin…"
Before he could finish, Xantos had waved a hand and said, "Oh, don't try to impress me with all your military mumbo jumbo."
Jackson snarled in rage.
"Now now, no need to get frustrated. Perhaps we can work together."
The Commander forgot his anger. "What do you mean? Are you part of the Morhin Army?"
"No, actually I came here following someone. You wouldn't mind telling me what's been happening here, I'm a foreigner."
Jackson shrugged. "Nobody tells me nuttin`. All I knows is that Morhin wants to crush any rebellion that stands in his way. We've lately discovered a new faction called RAM."
Xantos nodded, thinking to himself. Taichi is surely here. This is my chance. "I shall join your squadron, but only if I receive immediate promotion to second in command. I'm sure my, ahem, resume is enough proof of my skills."
Jackson leaned to glance again at the wreck of machines. "Done deal. But you're payin` me back for those Peacekeepers."
"Of course… Commander." Xantos did a light salute. "Now then, what's are next plan?"
Sora stood in front of General Skot Homidon. He was in one of his rare, light and easygoing moods.
"Sora, I've called you here because we've noted your… abilities. I apologize for any privacy violations, but we secretly record and observe high scores in the simulator room. You have nearly double the score of our previous sniper."
"Er… if you don't mind me asking, what happened to him?"
"Missing in action. Sent him to assassinate Morhin's previous right hand man or in that case, Digimon. He did the job, but we assumed he was captured."
"Sir, I don't think I like the idea. Killing people secretly, it seems so cold-blooded. And then there's the thing with getting captured or killed. Couldn't I just run the show from behind?"
"I'm sorry Sora, but we're in a jam. We've been in a defensive position for a while. A sniper could let us regain territory, especially one with your skill."
"No, I couldn't handle the pressure!"
"Oh, yes, almost forgot. Homidon reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a bottle of pills. "New design. Made to keep your nerves steady and supposedly not habit-forming. Careful though, too much and you'll be out like a light." He tossed the tube to her.
Sora caught it, and looked it over. Only five pills small, white pills were inside. "Sir, this all happening so fast, can't I take the day to think about it?"
"I'm sorry for the suddenness, don't worry, we'll start with relatively easy missions."
Sora sighed. There was no point in arguing. Damn you, fate. She thought to herself.
Taichi was bored. He sat on a large box watching Wex show off his bombs. "This one's my first ever. Made it when I was fourteen." He suddenly pressed the detonate button.
Taichi's eyes bugged as the timer counted down from five. "Are you insane!?" He yelled, hitting the small bomb out of Wex's hand. He then dove for shelter behind a pile of crates.
The bomb technician's laughing broke the tension. "Relax Taichi, hasn't exploded in ten years, never will. Never figured out what went wrong…"
"Dude, you trying to make me piss in my pants?" Taichi didn't think it was funny.
"Sorry, can't help but do that to all the new guys. Makes `em get the impression I'm crazy."
"You are crazy." Taichi observed the set of explosives. "What's this one?" Taichi picked up an enormous oblong stainless steel shelled bomb. The only thing that obscured its mirrored armor was a panel with a number display.
"That's my biggest one, call it Judgement. I'd say you'd get a blast of nearly half a mile in diameter. Woah! Careful there! It's got a core of nitro glycerin. Nearly two gallons in there."
Taichi carefully placed it down. "That's why it's in a metal casing, right?"
"Metal casing is just so it doesn't detonate under heat or extreme handling. When it's in the last ten seconds, the metal coat falls off.
The amazed pilot shook his head. "You have too much time on your hands to make these."
"They'll come in use one day."
"Right…"
Lizarddramon suddenly barged in. "Hey, we got patrol duty, suit up guys."
"Patrol duty? Since when?"
"It's one of Homidon's regulations. Everyone pulls their weight." Wex explained.
"Price of heroism." Taichi muttered.
It was a cool, cloudy day above ground. Everything seemed to be in shades of gray. Taichi chatted with Wex and Lizarddramon.
"So, how long have both of you been here?"
"I came here about three months ago. Wex is one of the original founders." The lizard man Digimon replied.
"Along with your sister." Wex added. "Homidon was only planning on making a shelter for the victims of Morhin's greed. He kinda went above and beyond though. Nice guy, Homidon, but he can be stubborn."
"Tough as nails though. By the way Taichi, who's that girl you brought along? Sora is her name right?"
"Yeah, so what about her?" Taichi hated getting into conversations like these.
"Where'd you pick her up? Or is she your girlfriend or somethin`?" Lizarddramon asked.
"Nah, a gang destroyed her house, and we became friends after that."
"Friends, right." The helmet next to Taichi muttered.
"Oh, shut up! I'm serious!"
Lizarddramon spread his arms. "Hey, don't take it like that. She seems like a nice girl though, you should consider yourself lucky. Wasn't she the one that saved your life the other day?"
Taichi had had enough of this. "Why can't anyone just leave this subject alone? Sora's nice I'll admit that, and maybe I've gotten interested into her, why does everyone have to make it so complicated?"
Lizarddramon sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry, take it easy, you're really uptight, you know?"
Taichi looked over at Wex, who was standing still and silent. "Wex?"
"Oh God… look."
Taichi and Lizarddramon exchanged glances then walked over to Wex. They followed his eyes to see a gruesome sight as well as a rancid smell. A dead Tyrannomon lay in a heap, dried up blood surrounding it. Its jaw was slightly slack, a lifeless pink tongue dangled out. Its eyes were rolled up and white.
"Jesus Christ, what did this?" The astonished Digimon said in awe.
No one replied. Taichi took a few steps forward. Something didn't feel right about this place. "What do you think? Another Digimon? Some crazy band of pirates?"
Wex and Lizarddramon followed behind him reluctantly. "Phew! Sure wish Digimon get deleted like they used to, this one's going to stink up the neighborhood for quite awhile. Wex commented, waving a hand in front of his face
"Wait, look right there, couple of punctures in the skin on it's back." Taichi observed.
"Only thing that could make a hole that clean is a laser, or a blade." Wex spoke his thoughts aloud.
"A blade? Heh, who'd use a blade nowadays?" Taichi swallowed back his fear. No way Xantos is here.
"You're right, probably just some drunken group of pirates with a really big laser. All kinds of wackos nowadays" Lizarddramon jumped to the ground. "Let's keep going."
Wex and Taichi agreed and followed their friend.
No sooner had they walked away when all three troops heard the sound of steel hitting steel from over a short hill. "I'll go and investigate, wait here." Taichi said as he dropped to the ground and slowly crawled nearly to the top. He peered over, and silently gasped. A whole enemy camp! Taichi remained motionless, afraid to even breathe. His voice was hardly a whisper as he told his comrades to mark their position and head back to base.
"Right, stay there Taichi, we'll come back with all of RAM's troops." Wex and Lizarddramon trotted off."
Taichi trembled, checking his laser's safety for the third time. Unfortunately for the pilot, his luck had deserted him again. An Otamamon had wandered near him, and began pestering Taichi for food.
"Hey mister, spare some food?"
"Quiet! No I have none on me!"
"Aw come on! I'm hungry! Please?"
"I said shut up, unless you want to be blown to ashes!" Taichi hissed rather loudly.
Too loudly.
A sentry heard the high pitched voice and the harsh response. He decided to investigate.
Taichi cursed at himself, then waited for the sentry to come close enough. When his foot was in reach, Taichi lashed out and dragged the sentry down. The soldier quickly realized what was happening and yelled out for help before Taichi elbowed him in the stomach.
Everyone's attention was caught, and Taichi bolted.
No sooner had Xantos sat down in a tent, the camp exploded into action. The sudden sound up guns being drawn and shouting caused him to peer outside. Every soldier in the camp was running up the hill to see what had happened. Xantos was still in a fighting mood, and decided to join the action.
Taichi couldn't recall ever running faster. Down random paths he tore, only more motivated to run when explosions came frighteningly close. Judging the distance between himself and the rampaging army, Taichi ran into a rotting warehouse, then threw three Jeron-Lasky B40 grenades in random directions. He quickly ran out the other side. Taichi's plan almost worked, except the grenades exploded early. About a third of the force though, was under the roof when the whole building collapsed.
Taichi caught his second wind and continued running.
Xantos groaned as he watched the building collapse on nearly 100 troops and Digimon. "Well, it appears our prey is more clever than we thought." He spoke aloud. "We haven't lost him yet, come on!"
Taichi realized he was in a tight spot. He was at the city limits where the land became flat and he could be easily spotted. RAM HQ was near the center of the city. He'd have to go straight through the enemy force.
"Computer, can you give me a map of the city?" A small map appeared in the right corner of his vision. "Now show the RAM building and my position." A small building glowed red in the center, quite far from the Taichi's white dot. "Computer, what's the shortest distance between here and RAM HQ?" The map changed to a system of complicated lines.
"The sewer system is connected to nearly every building in San Francisco. A manhole is within 500 feet of RAM HQ."
That's the name, San Francisco! Taichi looked around and spotted the lid to a tunnel going down. He pulled off the top then sighed. "Man, being a hero really sucks sometimes." Taichi climbed down the ladder into the darkness.
Lizarddramon and Wex burst through the door to the RAM building. The huge bomb technician punched the intercom. "Emergency, code red! Enemy camp has been found and marked! Request immediate attack!"
All of RAM HQ exploded in activity. People and Digimon ran everywhere at once, shouting orders and heading to the Armory. Within a minuet, General Skot Homidon had reached the ground level. He directly approached the two troops and demanded, "Status report!"
Lizarddramon saluted and rapidly explained everything. "Sir! Scout Patrol discovered an enemy camp about 3 miles away, in the southeastern outskirts of the city sir! Private Taichi Kamaiya stayed behind to mark their location while me and Wex came to rouse the alarm sir!"
Homidon nodded. "Good work, though I would've preferred if Taichi had come with you."
A young man rushed to the General. "Sir, our radar has detected a lot of movement in the southeastern sector."
"Looks like Taichi's raised the army."
"Hope he's alright." Lizarddramon said sullenly.
"Taichi's too tough to die." Sora had popped up out of nowhere. She carried an old bullet-style sniper rifle and had a light set of armor on, including a belt with half a dozen clips, electronic binoculars, and the case of pills Homidon had given her.
"Sora, glad to see you've made up your mind." The General smiled.
"Yeah, I decided that not doing anything is worst than helping to make peace, even if it means killing."
"Then let's get a move on." Homidon turned on the P.A with a small Master comlink. "All units, report outside, I'll brief you from there." He flicked off the switch then pulled his favorite gun from his holster. A powerful .778 caliber Grizzly Super-magnum, powerful enough to pierce three inch thick steel. "We'll find the enemy camp, attack, and find Taichi, in that order."
Taichi followed the map of the sewer, turning left and right, brushing off slime and small creatures and opening rusted doors. He'd lost track of time in the dark tunnels, but he figured it was late afternoon. He had tried to eat some of the ration bards, but they were mostly tasteless. When he was about a half mile from the exit, he became weary. Thick sludge and fatigue slowed his paced down. This was only made worst when his headlight began to dim, and he encountered a caved in section. The passage was completely blocked by stones and debris.
Sighing loudly, Taichi leaned against the slick wall. "Hey computer, does this suit have some kind of recording device?"
"Negative."
"Too bad, thought if I died down here, I'd at least leave a message."
The computer didn't respond.
"Computer, can you patch me into one of RAM's frequencies?"
"Usage of comlinks is restricted to emergencies because of the possibility of enemies intercepting."
"This IS an emergency."
After a few minuets and a set of clicks and beeps, the computer reported, "Unable to comply, the walls are too thick for this suit's radio.
Taichi opened the visor on his helmet, rubbed his eyes then flipped it back down. He switched to his laser, setting it to the lowest power to save his dwindling supply. These Powerarmors were not meant to be used for more than a few hours at a time.
Just as he was aiming, the computer spoke up. "May I suggest something?"
"Yeah? What is it?"
"These tunnels are very old and brittle. Dismantling things at such a large scale could result in a deadly cave-in."
"Didn't think of that, thanks computer."
"You're quite welcome."
Taichi powered down the laser, then set to work pulling stones out of the barrier.
Agumon was immediately worried when he heard Taichi was missing. He hadn't seen his friend in awhile because of his new duties as a mechanic. It was fun though, to know he could fix Peregrine if need be.
At that moment, he was helping a human engineer fix up an old hover car. Supposedly, it was one of the fastest models, even today. Agumon was a bit skeptical though.
"All it needs is a pair of fusion engines. Then it'll go just as fast with a quarter the cost for fuel."
"Yeah, but if anything pierces the reactor, you'll have a crater for a grave."
"So we'll put an extra set of titanium casing around it."
"If we can scrounge up enough of it. Titanium is expensive."
"Listen, we can make this car work, just get a single fusion engine for me."
"We don't have one here. There might be one in the basement."
The engineer looked expectantly at Agumon. "So, go get it."
"I'm not going down there! No one's been down there for years!"
"Well, you'll be the first in years, go on, there's nothing down there but bugs and slime."
"And leeches, and Raremons, and other parasites that'll suck the blood out of me."
"So hit `em with your wrench or toast them with that attack you have."
Agumon groaned. No arguing with this guy.
Agumon had decked himself out with any gun he could fit into his pockets. Thank you God for carpenter pants that fit Digimon. He thought to himself as the elevator doors opened. A dark cavern was all that greeted him. Within a few paces, the light was swallowed up by the blackness. Agumon's flashlight was hardly less than a fog light and brightly illuminated the dull metal walls and ceiling. Rust and mold dotted the walls periodically down the steep decline. About 300 feet down, the floor leveled out.
Agumon encountered a computer several minuets later. He reached up and brushed off the dust off the monitor. Now where's the Power button, if this thing even still works. Agumon pushed several random buttons. C'mon, where are you? Finally, a crackle of electricity announced he'd hit the right button. It was a substantial amount of time before the computer was ready.
"Computer, access map database." Agumon waited for an answer. The computer didn't respond. Voice activation is standard these days, this computer must be twice as old as me. Awkwardly, Agumon pressed some of the keys. They only brought Agumon to odd, unintelligible strings of words and symbols. Agumon sighed and was ready to turn off the ancient computer, when it showed a simple sentence.
"Open Blast Door? Y/N"
Blowing dust off the keyboard, Agumon tapped the Y key. Echoing loudly, a huge metal door creaked open, shaking dirt off itself. Inside, another long ramp led even farther down.
Agumon shifted the huge flashlight to his other claw and continued farther down into the earth.
Meanwhile, General Homidon was busy organizing all of the troops. It took quite some effort, as many eager fighters wanted to attack immediately. Soon enough though, three groups had been made. One team, made of half the Powerarmor troops, would lead a frontal assault, while the other two teams would attack from behind and to the right. This way, the enemy would have to retreat onto the tidal flats where they would no cover. Years ago, there was an ocean there, but it had long retreated for unknown reasons.
"OK, everyone ready? Move into position. I'll lead the charge. Wait for my shot. Let's take `em out!"
Taichi was making little progress in the sewers. The blockade turned out to be a lot thicker than expected, and boulders nearly as big as Taichi were difficult to even shift. This was a stupid idea. I should probably go back above ground. Leaving the mess behind, Taichi headed the other way.
Before he got 10 paces, the ground shuddered beneath him. Jumping back in surprise, Taichi waited. Nothing moved for a moment. Aw man; don't tell me this place is sitting on a plate like in Japan. He breathed slowly, as though he would set off another tremor if he made any sudden movements. Taichi stood up, deciding it was just a small quake, and continued on.
Agumon had felt the tremor as well. Only a bit of some dirt had loosened from the ceiling. He had found a large room with several doors expanding out. He brushed the dust off the signs until he found "Control Room. Danger! Authorized Personnel Only!" Agumon fiddled with the locked door's handle, but it broke off easily. The door screamed for oil as Agumon opened it, creating such a ruckus, he was afraid of disturbing blood sucking creatures.
Training the flashlight across a row of control panels, monitors, and seats, Agumon spotted a lever on the wall. Now let's see, Agumon approached it with curiosity. How do I turn this stuff on? He gripped the lever and yanked with all his might. It budged little by little, until the pole gave out and sent Agumon flying skidding on his back. Gently rubbing the injured area, Agumon heard a generator begin to power up. Dim lights revealed a row of switches. Each one had a label above it. Agumon went to the first one, which read "Lights"
Well, why not? Agumon grunted as he flipped up the rusted switch. The lights flickered several times, then warmed up to a pale yellow. It was still dark, but Agumon didn't need his flashlight on to see. The dinosaur Digimon continued flipping switches, including "Air Filters" "Running Water" "Climate Control" and "Cleaning Robots." Agumon returned outside, finding the room to be filled with little droids scattered about, returning to work after years of dormancy.
Heh, cool. Agumon checked the doors and found "Supply Room." OK, time to find that fusion generator. He opened the door, which was just as loud as the previous, and found cobwebs and dust covering sheets of metal, old outdated guns, and random parts to ships.
C'mon, where are you, you little bugger? Agumon dug through the pile of junk.
The battery gauge in Taichi's Powerarmor was fading to nothing. Even Life Support was at minimal use. The air was thick and hot in the sewers, not to mention smelly. Weary of traversing through the tunnels, Taichi fell down heavily. He was out of rations, and water, and it was another two and a half miles back out.
Man, I feel like crap. He tilted his head back, staring at the blank details of the sewer roof. After a moment, a dirt clod landed on his faceplate. Reaching up to brush it away, he only discovered two more bits of dirt fall on him. In fact, pieces of dirt were shaking lose all over the cavern. The particles turned into chunks, which became entire sections. The ground was trembling again. This time, more violently and longer. Taichi stood up, only to fall again as the earthquake doubled in power.
Thinking quickly, Taichi pulled out his shield, and held it upwards. Rocks clanged against it for what seemed like an eternity, until, as fast as it had started, the tremor stopped.
I gotta get out of here before I'm crushed. Still tired, but motivated, Taichi continued on.
He got about ten feet when noticed a thin beam of light protruding from the roof. Taichi reached up and prodded the hole. Street pavement rained down on his helmet. For a moment, he stared in silence, then burst into action chipping away at the barrier between him and fresh air. The thick metal gloves easily dulled out the pain as Taichi jumped to knock off chunks of the cracked rock. Several minuets later, Taichi broke through and let orange, afternoon sunlight into the gloomy sewer. Cheering in silent victory, he jumped several times to get a hold of the edge. Through some unknown force, the exhausted soldier pulled his aching body out from the sewers.
He lay on the ground and smiled, stretching his sore joints.
"What're you so happy about?" A familiar robotic voice said as cold steel prodded Taichi throat.