Sweat immediately formed on Taichi. He tried to remain calm, but his composure deserted him.
"Well now, it appears our little mouse has gotten to a dead end." He tapped the visor with flat of his stiletto. "Get up." He ordered.
Taichi quickly did so, not wishing to anger Xantos.
"What should we do wit` `em?" A human soldier carelessly tossed his blaster. He roughly poked the muzzle under Taichi's chin. "I say we kill `em. One less RAM to worry about."
Commander Jackson smacked the soldier in the stomach, sending him sprawling and out of breath. "Idiot. Don't speak outa` turn." He turned to Taichi. "First we'll squeeze some information outta` him. The we'll kill him."
Many troops were amused by this and laughed heartily. Taichi remained silent all this time, dreading the future. There was at least 30, plus Xantos himself who probably counted as another 10.
"So then, how about telling s RAM's secrets, like for example, where it is."
Taichi knew he couldn't reveal his identity in front of Xantos at a time like this. He also knew he couldn't impersonate someone else. He decided to act like he lost his voice. He pointed to his neck, then rubbed it gingerly.
"What's the matter with you?" Xantos questioned the silent soldier.
Thinking quickly, Taichi imitated being slashed in the throat. The stares were embarrassing but Xantos seemed to buy it.
"Looks like he's a mute." Xantos looked at Jackson and shrugged.
Grunting, Jackson's fist came crashing down on Taichi's shoulder.
Taichi couldn't help but cry out in pain.
"He ain't no mute! He's holding out!" Jackson roared.
This did not please Xantos. He grabbed Taichi's neck and held the deadly blade in front of his faceplate. It could easily penetrate the Plexiglas.
The computer suddenly came to life. Its voice was distorted from low battery power, but it said "Tectonic movement detected sir. Recommend using the jetpack."
The earth jolted, sending all of the soldiers to their feet. Taichi yelled "Jetpack on!" Unfortunately, he was in the middle of his fall, and blasted off going horizontal about two feet from the ground.
Peregrine is nothing like this! The jetpack quickly burnt out though, and Taichi was sent rolling out of control a little ways before he got up and dizzily continued. He'd put a good distance between himself and the soldiers, who were mere specks in the horizon. Grinning to himself, the resourceful pilot continued on.
"I don't like it sir." One of General Skot Homidon's lieutenants said. "There's been 3 quakes in the last few hours, each more powerful than the last."
"Continue with mission." Homidon said sharply. "We've seen plenty of earthquakes, we won't back down for just one."
"Yessir." The soldier said halfheartedly. The squad continued jogging to the enemy. Not a minuet later, he spoke again. "Some big patches on the radar dead ahead sir!"
"ETA to arrival?"
"2 minuets."
Homidon looked ahead. Between his force and the enemies was an old church. "All units, halt!"
The troops immediately came to a stop, some bumping into each other. They intently waited for his next command.
"If your Powerarmor number ends in an even number, split up and head into nearby buildings. Shoot from windows. The rest, get into order, 20 wide and 5 deep. Wait for my shot. Do not shoot at the church at any costs!"
Lizarddramon nudged Wex. "Religious guy, ain't he?"
"Quiet! Here comes some one now!" Wex pointed at the figure
Little did either of them know it was really Taichi.
It was quite a surprise for Taichi to turn the corner and find most of RAM's troops staring at him. It was even more surprising when the ground rumbled violently. This earthquake was the strongest yet, sending everyone onto the pavement and poorly built buildings tumbling down. Large cracks appeared in the ground, causing some troops to get legs trapped. One enormous fissure split open between Taichi and the rest of his comrades. For what seemed like ages, the tremor continued. Finally, it began to slow down, and stop completely. Amid groans and grunts, Taichi weakly stood up.
General Skot Homidon rubbed his back in the place a sharp rock had happened to be lying. "Sir, one of the buildings our troops were in collapsed! We're guessing between 30 and 40 were in there!" his comlink buzzed.
A war cry rang out in the still air. The enemy force had already recovered and was charging. It was much smaller than Homidon had expected, a little over 150. They had little or no body armor, and didn't even wear breath masks. Of course, neither did Homidon, but he thought it'd be a good impression to his followers if he could take the unhealthy air.
Taichi stood stock-still as he saw that he was caught between a 10-foot gap and a bloodthirsty army.
Agumon was nearly out of the old RAM basement/fall in shelter, the fusion generator he had found tucked under his arm. It was silent except for the soft echoing clicks from his claws on the metal walkway and pitch black, save a dimming headlight. He didn't like the fact three earthquakes had struck recently. In Japan, there were also lots of tremors. Not recently, but they did happen.
A flash of something appeared in the corner of his eye. It was gone as Agumon turned to look. This is the part where I get eaten. Peachy. Agumon picked up the pace a bit, briskly walking now. There was an odd sound, like someone else was walking slightly out-of-step behind him. He froze in place and swore that he heard one too many footsteps. He dug out one of the many guns in his enormous pockets, clicked the safety off and did a full 360-degree turn, keeping his claw tight on the trigger, ready to fire at any second.
He breathed deeply three times, then continued on, half-walking, half-jogging.
The glow from Agumon's headlight was hardly stronger than a candle. The Digimon toyed with the idea of sprinting for the exit and forgetting the generator. Yeah, I can just say there wasn't anything. He ran about two meters, then stopped. No, it's just my imagination screwing with my head. He turned around to retrieve the abandoned machine, but as his light trained on it, a shadowy appendage reached out and snatched it away.
Agumon's blood turned to ice. His heart skipped quite a few beats.
An unearthly growl, deep from within echoed around Agumon, seeming to surround and circle in on him. The beast's features were blurry in the dim light, but Agumon made out a double row of yellow stained teeth and amber hued eyes to match. Its face was scaly and brown-black. A pair of black, jagged horns jutted out nearly a foot from its head. Its jaws opened so wide, Agumon thought he could stand in them.
Needless to say, he didn't stick around to see if he was right.
Agumon squeezed the trigger and emptied the entire clip then ran faster than he could ever recall. Within seconds, he saw the lights of the elevators. He was sure the monster was behind him from the deep ragged breathing coming from behind. He dug out another, smaller gun and fired aimlessly backwards. An angry roar indicated one shot had hit home. Howls of rage and adrenaline made Agumon wonder if that really helped at all. Closer, closer, the path to safety grew closer. Every step was like running in quicksand. 100 feet, 50, 25, Agumon dove the last couple of feet, arming yet another gun. This was laser based and packed more of a punch. An intense blue beam shot from the barrel into… nothing?
Agumon mashed the call button on the panel and pointed his gun every which way. Hungry beasts from abysses didn't just give up so easily. Finally, a shriek sliced through the still air as Agumon pointed up and fired into the double row of teeth dangling two feet above him. Blood showered about as the hideous monster was shot repeatedly. Agumon reloaded his gun several times, continuing to shoot until he thought the beast was dead, then he shot a few more times.
The elevator finally arrived with an old, balding male human in it. His face was a mask of shock. "What in God's name happened here?"
Agumon returned the gun to his pocket. "I was down here looking for something, and this thing came along." He finally got a good look at the grotesque, mangled form. The body was long and thin. Where there weren't bloodstains, razor sharp scales protruded out. It's thick muscular tail lay motionless. Six legs, each producing long thin claws, slumped over one another.
"Christ, I think I've seen one of these before, or at least heard about one." The man crouched down, knees screeching out briefly, and inspected the dead monster. "This is a Hexalizard. A young female I think. Heh, I remember my old mom at the dinner table. 'Eat your dinner or the Hexalizard will come and gobble you up!'"
"This is a female?" Agumon said with some alarm in his voice. "It's huge!"
"Nah, some really old females, now they're at least 4 meters long. Males are a bit smaller. Took a lot of courage to take on a young female, they're ferocious."
Agumon chuckled, scratching the back of his head. He looked down and noticed his carpenter pants were soaked with blood. "I gotta get cleaned up. Hold on while I get that fusion generator I left." He retrieved the engine, slightly dismayed at the fact a set of long claw marks penetrated into the core. It'd take a lot of elbow grease to patch it up.
The two boarded the elevator. Agumon was glad to get away from the disturbing beast, which was already raising up a stink.
As they shot upwards, the lights flickered on and off several times. "These elevators haven't been maintained in years." The old man mumbled.
A loud, screeching made Agumon wince. "Years or decades?" He asked. A jolt sent both Digimon and man to the floor. The lights went dead and the elevator stopped completely.
The earthquake struck. Agumon remained on the ground, riding out the tremors with the old man, hoping the elevator wouldn't slide down a hundred feet and crash at the bottom. The earthquake slowly became less intense, slowing down, going from intense to slower, less powerful. Finally, it stopped completely. Agumon looked up, at blackness. Straight ahead, blackness. Left, right, blackness. Everything was so dark, Agumon couldn't tell the difference between his eyes open and closed.
"Unh… erg…" The old man groaned.
Poor guy must've hurt himself. Slowly, Agumon stood up. It was still pitch black. There should be a hatch going up or something. It took a lot of effort, but Agumon hoisted himself onto the thin railing, then examined the roof for a hatch. This is great, I'm stuck in an elevator with an unconscious person, and we could plummet to our deaths at any minuet. The Digimon had had enough for one day. He jumped off the railing, narrowly missing the man's hand. Might as well wait it out.
Hikari angrily mashed the elevator call button. C'mon! Work! She sighed. San Francisco was just as notorious for earthquakes as Tokyo. She waited for a minuet, two minuets, a third. She sighed and went to the nearest call station. "Maintenance to elevator D, dorm level."
After a moment, a reply came. "Sorry ma'am, we're swamped. Lots of movement out there, so we can only tend to emergencies first."
Hikari jabbed the 'talk' button. "What if there's people on that elevator?"
"Relax, they'll just be in the dark for awhile."
Grumbling, Hikari sat down on a bench.
Hardly a moment later, one of her fellow nurses came running, panting for breath. "Hikari! You're never around when I need to tell you something!"
"What is it?"
"Your brother, we haven't heard from him since this morning, when he was patrolling. Also, RAM soldiers encountered the earthquake. Lots are hurt, we're getting ready for a whole wave of emergencies."
Hikari heard only half what the nurse said. "My brother? He's gone?!" Hikari was both frustrated and worried. "If he's hurt, I'm going to make sure he gets only a drop of anastasia."
Taichi did some crazy dance, running and dodging, bobbing and weaving amid laser beams and thrown grenades. He finally made it out of the melee, taking a few potshots at random targets. Continuing along until he found a reasonably short gap, Taichi leaped across onto the opposite side, rolling once and continuing along.
A bullet rang out through the air, making a loud ping as it bounced off a fallen piece of metal. Taichi looked up, and saw a figure waving at him. Sora, so she's broken from this pacifism. He rushed to the tall building she was in.
About a dozen other troops fired from windows, but Sora was at the highest, just under the roof. Doggedly, Taichi willed himself to climb up the long stairs, as though he was going to heaven. With Sora at the end. He finally made it to the floor twelve, walking the last few feet of the empty room, then collapsing next to Sora.
"Hi Taichi."
"Hi Sora."
"You've been out for awhile, something happen?"
"Ah, you know, trapped in a sewer, almost killed by bad guys, nothin` new."
Sora cracked a smile at how casual they were acting.
Taichi became serious. "Xantos, he's here. But I don't think he knows I'm with RAM."
Sora breathed deeply and fired a shot. Sloppy. Got him in the hand. "Taichi there's a case of pills in my bag. Get me one, please."
Still out of breath, Taichi did so. Sora took the pill dry.
Pulling off his helmet, Taichi slid up to a sitting position next to the window. He patted his hair. "Christ, I'm never wearing a helmet again." His hair was a wacky, tangled mess of hair and dirt and gravel that found it's way in there.
"You know, I was really scared when I heard you were gone." Sora felt the pill working already. Her nerves were relaxing, and her brain was becoming more clear and calm.
"Yeah? Sorry, I just love adventure, the safe kind that is."
"Oh, there's such thing as safe adventure?"
"Well, like flying Peregrine through huge open fields, the whole exhilaration of it."
"Mm," Sora was becoming distant, focusing only on sniping. She hit targets square between the eyes. That way they'd die instantly instead of bleeding to death.
Speaking of Peregrine, I was thinking, you know, after this, if uh, you wanted to go somewhere tonight."
"Like where?" Sora reloaded the sniper rifle.
"You know, maybe there's a place out there with a nice restaurant."
"With guys like these roaming around, I doubt it."
"Aw come on, you never know."
Sora smiled slightly. "You think you can ask me out on a date when I'm on these pills?"
"What!? No, no, I'm not talking about a date, we could make a whole group thing, with my sister, and Wex, and Lizarddramon, you know, just hit the town as a little celebration after all this fighting."
Sora paused a moment, fired another shot, then turned. "OK, so long as none of us get killed."
"Cool, here, I'll give you a hand." Taichi positioned himself next to Sora. Firing at a crowd, Taichi hit only one time for every five. Sora used each of the ten bullets in the clip efficiently, hitting perfectly every time. "You know, I was worried about you too." He said as an afterthought.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, snipers, tend to be the first to go."
"There's a morale booster for you." A loud whistling rang through the air. "What was that?" Sora looked up from the scope. A bomb had been launched and was making it's way toward them!
The hissing bomb landed through the next window, bouncing and rolling along the concrete floor. "Yipe!" Taichi dived, grabbed the bomb, and launched it out the window, back from where it came. It didn't make it to the other side, instead rolling into the fissure between the two armies. Some overeager troops on either side were too close when the crack widened slightly, and both sides had a few more casualties to add to the growing number.
The fight lasted on for several more hours, past the sunset. Flashing lasers and explosions illuminated the city. Homidon's three-pronged attack was a flop. Half the troops from one team arrived, but they were still on RAM's side of the fissure. The other team didn't appear at all. The General feared the worst. Finally, scattered and leaderless, (Jackson turned at the wrong time. The last thing he heard was the muffled sound of a sniper's gun), the enemy troops put up a white flag, which was really a shirt borrowed from one of the surviving soldiers.
Homidon ordered for a head count. Of the original 500 troops, he counted 318. A hefty loss, but the other force, with just several dozen remaining, was stripped of weapons and escorted to their camp, where they'd pack up and leave for good.
Xantos watched all that had happened from in the shadows. He silently and swiftly followed his troops along back to the camp. Being second in command, he was their leader now. Ten fully armed RAM troops were guarding the remains of his soldiers. Ten, a bit much. I'll have to do this strategically. Xantos twitched his wrist at a certain angle, and the stiletto blade popped out, eager for more blood.
Taichi flopped down onto his bed. He was exhausted, physically, and mentally. Xantos is here… It was 9 PM, nearly 14 hours since he'd left that morning. After braving an entire army, getting lost in the sewers, escaping from an enemy that could've slaughtered him, and surviving an incident between two galvanized armies, Wow, I never stopped and counted. I could've been dead more times than I'd like to think about. He rolled over, then went back to on his back. Forgot about that bruise. He felt sleep quickly approaching, when a loud knocking at the door chased it away.
Sighing, Taichi flipped the switch to open the door. A flash of orange burst into his room. "Taichi!"
"Agumon! Where've you been?"
"I should be asking you."
"Oh, this and that. Did you feel those tremors?"
"Yeah, we got shaken a bit. I was stuck in the elevator, but your sister and some other guys got me and an old guy out."
Taichi finally noticed Hikari, standing quietly at the door. "Yes, he was quite eager to get out of there. I would be too, if I had to go into RAM's basement."
"What were you doing there?" Taichi asked.
Agumon mimicked Taichi's tone. "Oh, this and that."
"Well now that the partner's are reunited, I've got a lot of work to return to." Hikari turned to leave.
"Hold on sis, we've all been through a lot, I was talking to Sora about, you know, finding a town that isn't filled with bloodthirsty armies and taking a night off."
Hikari smiled her gentle, innocent smile. "I'll see what I can do. By the way, I've heard about a floating city somewhere over the ocean. It's a nice place, if you have a thick wallet."
"Yeah, I'll keep it in mind. I've got a lot of scrapes to scab over, goodnight."
Hikari nodded, still smiling. She kissed him gently on the cheek. "Don't go scaring everyone again, OK?"
Taichi chuckled. "You know me, I can't resist the thrill of adventure." He closed the door, Agumon was already in bed, snoring uproariously. Taichi crawled into bed himself, grabbing some sheets from Agumon before the Digimon could bundle himself up like he usually did. Taichi finally let sleep envelope around him. His dreams mercifully let him rest peacefully.