"Why are we here boss?" asked Demidevimon.
"Our ally says that the Digidestined will be coming here, to this world." Myotismon clenched his fist. "They only have simple traders as friends. We will crush them." He surveyed the cityscape. "Gatomon."
"I'm here my lord."
"Ready those of our army who can fly. Our battle will be fought in the sky of this sprawling metropolis." He heard Gatomon pad quietly away. He smiled to himself. Exar Kun even now was bending the wills of those on Yavin to his own. Soon an army of jedi would serve them both. "And then the Digidestined will die."
"Come on, wake up." Feona shook Doyle hard.
Doyle muttered in English for a bit until he opened his eyes. "What?"
"We're dropping out of hyperspace in half an hour."
Doyle sighed and threw off the thin blanket he had been sleeping under. "We should wake the kids up. They'll want to see Coruscant." He walked over to where Matt was sleeping with T.K. in his arms. "Wake up," he called gently. Two pairs of blue eyes fluttered open.
"What's going on?" asked Matt groggily.
"We'll be arriving soon. You'll want to watch," Doyle assured them.
Over on the other side of the cargo bay Feona was gently shaking Izzy awake. "Come on Izzy. Time to wake up."
Izzy's fingers spasmed over the computer case he held to his chest. Slowly his dark eyes opened. "Good morning." He sat up slowly.
"You feeling alright?" asked Feona.
"Just a little dizzy," he replied. The boy got shakily to his feet. "I'm fine."
Feona nodded and moved out of the cargo bay trusting Doyle to wake the others and move them into the lounge. She walked down the passage and entered what was formally her cabin and now functioned as the girls' dormitory. "Wake up Mimi, Sora."
Sora's eyes opened and she gently prodded Biyomon. "Wake up Biyo, it's morning."
Mimi stuck her head under her pillow. "Go away."
Feona sighed. "Mimi, if you don't get up I'm going to get a bucket of water and pour it all over you."
Mimi sat bolt upright. "I'm up."
"Good." Feona took a jacket out of her closet. "You may want to come to the lounge. We'll be landing on Coruscant soon and you won't want to miss the view."
Feona watched as Doyle slid easily into the co-pilot's chair and the children and their digimon gathered behind him. Out the view port the white streaks of hyperspace passed by. "Doyle?"
"Huh?" Doyle stretched like a cat.
"When we revert can you start trying to get us an appointment with Councillor Organa-Solo?"
Doyle dropped his hands back to his sides. "Sure."
Izzy watched the star streaks. "Fascinating. What are they?"
"We're travelling at about point four past lightspeed. Those are the rays of light from other stars." Feona checked her panel. "Two minutes."
"Everything looks good," replied Doyle.
Izzy persisted. "But how can you break the speed of light? Surely special relativity…"
Doyle shook his head. "Not valid kid. Hyperspace is some sort of dimensional plane that relativity goes out the window."
"Intriguing."
"Coming up on our exit vector." Feona put her hand on the hyperdrive levers. "Get ready to cut in sublight engines." She pulled back on the levers and the starlines snapped into small white specks.
"Oooo, pretty," cooed Mimi. Outside the window sat Coruscant. Its surface was laced with strings of lights.
"You know," said Feona, "the whole planet is one big city." She punched a few buttons. "We can get you some training there."
"Training?" asked Joe.
The children remained in the cockpit as the Blue Ray made its approach to the spaceport.
"Aha!" called out Doyle.
Feona half turned to face him. "What?"
Doyle shut down a monitor. "We've got a reply from Councillor Organa-Solo's office. We can see her this afternoon as it's 'important jedi stuff'."
"Technical term that," grinned Feona. She set the ship down on the landing pad and turned to the children. "So, what are we going to do with you? You really don't look presentable to a high ranking member of the New Republic."
"Hey," protested Tai. "We've been hiking for three months. Let's see how hot you'd look after that."
"We could all do with a trip to the baths," suggested Izzy.
"Okay. I'll find out where the spaceport baths are." Feona pulled up the data packet they'd been sent on arrival on a datapad. "Here they are. Now I just have one problem." She faced the group. "We've got two girls and their digimon, and five boys and their digimon, plus me and Doyle. How are we supposed to work this?"
"I'll be okay," said Doyle. "Ex-school teacher remember. I think I can cope with ten people in the baths."
"That's what he thinks," supplied Gomamon.
Tai slowly rinsed the shampoo out of his hair using the thin trickle of water from the showerhead. At least it's hot, he thought. Finally removing all the detergent, Tai stepped out of the shower and pulled on the robe he had been given. Now if only Doyle will hurry back with our clothes. Tai looked around. As he had guessed, he had been the last of the boys to finish, probably due to his unruly hair. Joe stood, looking like a drowned rat while Matt, hair plastered flat to his skull, was busy drying T.K.'s hair with a towel. Izzy was shivering slightly, his hands tucked inside the overly long sleeves of his robe. "You okay Izzy?"
Izzy looked up. "I'm fine Tai. Just a little warm."
"Huh." Joe moved over to the red head and put a hand on Izzy's forehead. "You're running a fever Izzy. You should rest."
"I'm fine," insisted Izzy. "Just over heated from the hot water."
"Sure," agreed Matt sarcastically.
T.K. moved to face Izzy. "I don't want you to get sick Izzy. You would tell us if you felt bad, wouldn't you?"
Izzy cringed inwardly. He could sound as authoritative as he liked, but when he stood by T.K. there was no hiding the fact that he was the same height as the boy three years his junior. "I'm fine T.K. Just a little tired."
"Hey, I'm back!" Doyle walked in carrying several carryalls. "I got some odd looks at your clothes, but they all cleaned up fine." He put down three of the bags. "I'll be back in a minute, I'll just give these to the girls."
Tai, Matt and Joe each took one of the bags and started to pull clothes out, sorting them into piles. Soon all the boys were dressed.
"Hey Matt, you look funny with your hair like that," laughed T.K.
Matt found a mirror. His reflection showed his hair sticking up at all angles just like Tai's. "I really need a comb."
"Here." Joe finished flattening his hair and passed his comb over.
Matt passed the comb through his hair a few times then studied the result. "Better. I though I might get stuck with 'Tai hair' forever."
"Hey, my hairs not that bad!" Tai fixed his goggles, then pulled on his gloves.
Someone banged on the door. "You guys decent?" came Feona's voice from the other side of the door.
T.K. replied "Come on in!"
Feona walked in followed by Mimi and Sora.
Mimi spun in a pirouette. "I feel all squeaky clean!"
"Come on," cautioned Feona. "We should get back before your digimon wreck my ship."
Sora frowned. "I still don't see why we couldn't bring them. With all the weird things already in this place they wouldn't make much of a difference."
"Ahh, but they are recognisable," countered Doyle. "We wouldn't want someone to ask what your digimon were. It's bad enough that you kids dress funny…What is with those freaking gloves anyway?"
"Hey," countered Matt. "They're all the rage back home."
Feona sighed. "Come on. We need to get the digimon anyway before we go to the palace." She shooed the children out of the room.
"I'll catch up," called Doyle. "I still need a shower."
"We'll see you there then," replied Tai.
"You just love organising people, don't you Tai?" commented Feona quietly.
Tai shrugged. "Maybe. That's just the way I am."
Myotismon stood on the balcony of a Coruscant building. Above him the lights of the various craft sailed past. Behind him he heard Gatomon's near silent footfalls.
"You called me, My Lord?"
Myotismon smiled. "Give the order to our troops. They are to attack the Imperial Palace." He listened as Gatomon's footfalls retreated. "Demidevimon?"
"What ever you want boss."
"Our ally has a request." Myotismon turned and held out a datapad with a picture on it. "This woman poses a threat to our plans. She will be able to reach Skywalker, despite Exar Kun's best efforts to control him. You are to avoid the fight and instead you are to attack her. One blow should kill her."
"Got it." The bat digimon flew out the window, into the night. Myotismon smiled his cruel smile again.
"Remember, try to make a good impression." Feona gave a suspicious look to Gomamon.
"What? When have I ever made a bad impression?" Gomamon wriggled slightly in Joe's grip.
"Oh, the first time you and Joe met," supplied Mimi.
"That was his fault," protested Gomamon. "I did nothing to make him freak out."
"You were a brown flying seal. What was I supposed to do?" Joe shifted his grip. "Quit wriggling, Gomamon."
"Just be polite all of you. This woman is a highly placed politician, and jedi." Feona gave a final tug on her jacket. "Let's go." She walked confidently into Councillor Organa-Solo's inner office.
Inside sat the councillor, looking every inch as serene as in the telecasts.
"Good evening Captain Seacrest." Leia offered her hand.
Feona took it. "Thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice Councillor."
Leia waved her hand. "Please call me Leia. I've had people brandishing my title like a weapon all day."
"In that case I'm Feona." She gestured behind her. "I don't know how much you were told about them."
"Very little," conceited Leia. "The message we received claimed that there were seven candidates for jedi training in your care. Are these children they?" Leia motioned to an area set up with several couches and a low table.
The children and their digimon sat down with the adults.
Joe shifted in his seat. "Can I ask a question?"
"Of course…" replied Leia, unsure of his name.
"Joe, ma'am." Leia nodded for him to continue. "What are jedi? If you want us to train as them shouldn't we know what they are?"
Leia turned to Doyle and Feona. "You never told them?"
Doyle shrugged. "It never came up. We only found them this time yesterday."
"Hello, we are here," interjected Matt. "You can talk directly to us you know."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you." Leia folded her hands in her lap. "A jedi is a person who uses the Force to help others. They are given special training to allow them to use their powers."
"Powers?" asked Izzy. "What abilities would these entail?"
"It varies from jedi to jedi. In general jedi can read minds, have some degree of foresight, can enhance their own senses and co-ordination, and have some telekinetic ability." Leia produced her lightsaber. "This is a lightsaber. It is the preferred weapon of a jedi."
Tai turned to Feona. "Don't you have one of those?"
Feona turned white, then red. "It was a secret Tai. No one was supposed to know."
"Excuse me," interrupted Tentomon.
Leia leant over to Feona and Doyle. "The insect talks? I thought it was a pet." Doyle made a 'I'll explain later' motion.
"Excuse me," repeated Tentomon, "but something's wrong with Izzy."
Joe shifted to face the smaller boy. "Izzy?"
"I'm fine," he insisted. Under the mop of red hair though his face looked very pale.
"You don't look it," quipped Joe. "In fact you look about ready to drop."
"Can we just get on…" Izzy was interrupted by an explosion outside the place.
Leia moved quickly to her computer terminal and called up an exterior view. "These friends of yours?" she asked, holding up the screen. On it the group could see several digimon attacking the exterior of the building.
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