Feona thumbed off her commlink

Feona thumbed off her commlink. Around the table Tai and Izzy stared at her. Finally Tai broke the silence. "Matt's been injured?"

Feona nodded. "Go wake the other boys. I'll fetch Sora and Mimi. Izzy, you take the digimon." They both moved upstairs.

Feona leant over Sora. "Sora, wake up!"

Sora blinked a few times. "What? I only put my head down a moment ago."

"Matt's been hurt. Get dressed." She moved to Mimi's side. "Come on you, wake up!"

Mimi pulled the blanket over her head. "Go away!"

Feona looked over at Sora. "Can you try? I have things to organise." Sora nodded.

Feona went back downstairs and switched on the computer. "Izzy! Can you unplug all this stuff?"

Izzy looked up from his task. "Why?"

"I need to make a phone call." Izzy walked over and deftly pulled out a connecting wire. "Thanks." Feona punched in the code for Leia's apartments in the palace. She got a pre-recorded message and the option to leave a message of her own. She outlined what had happened and where they were going quickly, then hung up and went back upstairs.

Tai walked over to Joe's bed. "Wake up Joe."

Joe rolled over and put his glasses back on. "What is it Tai?"

"Matt's been hurt."

T.K. sat up suddenly behind them. "Matt's hurt?" His large blue eyes started to well up with tears. "What happened to him?"

Tai came over and sat on the bed. "He got into a fight or something. You'd have to ask Feona. She's going to take us to the hospital."

T.K. started to wail. "Why Matt? Why couldn't you just stay here where it's safe? Why did you have to go off and leave me here?"

Sora hurried in, still doing up the last few buttons of her shirt. "It's okay T.K. He's going to be fine." She traded places with Tai and hugged the smaller boy, rubbing her hand in a comforting manner up and down his back.

T.K. looked up at her. "You really think so Sora?"

"Sure T.K."

A shrill whistle came from downstairs. "Will you guys hurry up?" called out Feona. "We need to get going."

Tai noticed that T.K. kept close by him as they walked through the hospital. Poor T.K. He only just got Matt back, and now it seems like he's gone again. Tai followed Feona as she led them through the corridors. She pushed open a pair of double doors and waved them inside.

Inside Tai was surprised to find that instead of lying on a bed with electrodes attached to him, Matt was floating in a tank filled with a cloudy, green tinted liquid.

"Matt," breathed T.K. The young boy ran to the tank and placed his hands against the clear walls. "Matt, say something. Anything." T.K.'s blue eyes welled with tears.

Sora moved besides the small boy. "Don't worry T.K. I'm sure Matt will be all right."

Feona leant against the far wall. Matt seemed fine.

Doyle once again seemed to read her thoughts. "But how will he react when he wakes up?"

Feona smiled. "If you can do that, maybe we should spend some time apart."

Doyle shrugged. "What for? If you can't trust I know what you're thinking how will you trust I'll save your arse when times get rough?"

Feona laughed. "That's true." She turned to face him. "I take what ever happened was fairly major considering…" She gestured at her face.

Doyle nodded. "Anti-human aliens. I hit Matt with a flying tackle, but I wasn't quite fast enough." He looked at the floor. "This seemed like the fastest way to get rid of them." He smiled a smile with no warmth behind it. "Glowing eyes from a spiked face monster tend to un-nerve everyone."

"Not me," said Feona, smiling as genuinely as she could.

Doyle smiled back. "Thanks lass."

"That's Doyle?" asked Izzy in a quivering voice.

Feona turned to see the young boy standing almost directly behind her, using her body to shield himself from Doyle's view. She looked back at Doyle who nodded slowly. She took a deep breath. "Yes that's Doyle."

The boy's eyes took on a sheen of intense interest. "What is he?" He moved closer. "Do those spines hurt? What are they made of? How do your eyes glow, is it some sort of chemical phosphorescence?"

"Not so many questions at once Izzy," cautioned Feona.

"He's just curious." Doyle knelt down so he was on a level with the boy. "Look kid. I know you've got questions bouncing around in that head of yours, but now is not the time." He looked up at Feona. "I can't let Cracken find out about this." His gaze returned to Izzy. "I will explain, but the intensive care ward of a hospital is not the place to do it."

Izzy nodded. "Okay. But I won't rest until you tell me."

"Atta boy." Doyle ruffled Izzy's hair. Izzy looked extremely miffed. Doyle stood back up. "T.K.?"

The blonde did not take his eyes off Matt. "Yeah?"

"The doctors say he'll be alright in a day or too. The blaster did some damage to his gut."

T.K. kept staring into the tank. "Can he hear me?"

Sora wrapped an arm around him. "I'm sorry T.K., but he's not awake. He doesn't even know we're here."

"Matt," whispered the boy. "Please come back. I need you big brother."

It pained Feona to watch them all. She could feel T.K. reaching through the Force for his brother in a wild, uncontrolled way. I wish I had family who cared about me one tenth as much as T.K. cares for Matt. She walked over to them. "He's okay. The bacta will heal him in no time."

"Is that what this stuff is? Bacta?" asked Joe. "Cause I never heard that submersing a critically injured person could help."

"It's…. um…you know I have no idea what it is exactly." Doyle scratched his head. "Feona?"

"It's some sort of organic compound that promotes healing." Feona shrugged. "Biology isn't really my forte."

"Huh." Joe walked around the equipment. "So how does it work?"

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," muttered Doyle.

Sora was dozing in a chair in the hospital room when she felt Matt start to wake up. She reached out to him the same way that she had reached out to Mimi back in the Gekomons' castle. Matt? Can you hear me?

Sora? Matt's internal voice carried a note of confusion. What's going on? Where am I?

Don't you remember? asked Sora. You were attacked after you stormed out. She could feel Matt starting to come to full consciousness. Matt listen to me. When you wake up you're going to be in a very weird place, but it's all right. We're all here.

Her words fell on deaf ears as Matt started to thrash in the tank. The noise brought T.K. awake and to his brothers side. "Please Matt, don't cause trouble."

Several medics ran in. "What is going on here?" asked one of them. Sora pointed mutely to the thrashing Matt. The medic nodded and together the group pulled the boy out of the tank.

"Let me go!" Matt's eyes were wide with fright as he was hauled out of the tank. "Let me go!" He struggled against the medics causing them to lose their grip on his arms. He fell from the top of the tank to the ground.

"Matt! Are you okay?" T.K. was at his side in a second, with Sora not far behind.

"What's going on? What is that stuff they had me in?" Matt pushed his hair out of his eyes.

Sora tried to soothe him. "Don't worry. It made you better after you were shot, that's all."

"So first I'm shot, attacked by some monster, then half drowned. Oh yeah that makes sense." Matt shivered.

T.K. put his arms around Matt. "It's okay Matt. The stuff was just to make you feel better."

Matt gingerly picked himself up off the floor. The orderlies ran up to him with a hose. "What? I get to be hosed down too? This just isn't my lucky day."

Doyle's voice came from the back. "Standard procedure. They need to recycle the bacta for use on someone else."

T.K.'s nose wrinkled. "Ewww, that's disgusting."

"But necessary. This stuff doesn't grow on trees……I think." Doyle shrugged. "Besides, Councillor Organa-Solo wants to talk to you together later today, so we need to get moving."

All the kids were relieved to see Matt back at the apartment. Tsunomon hopped up right away. Matt smiled and picked him up. "Thanks for the save back in the alley, Tsuno."

"No problem Matt," grinned the digimon. "That's what I'm here for."

"Good to see you back on your feet buddy." Tai slapped Matt on the back, then frowned. "You know storming off like that was pretty dumb."

"Tell me about it," retorted Matt. "I can be such an idiot some times."

Mimi smiled and hugged him. "But we forgive you anyway."

Doyle coughed. "Matt, you need to get yourself cleaned up. We've got a briefing with Councillor Organa-Solo and General Antilles in an hour."

"Right." Matt bent and put Tsunomon down on the ground. "I'll be right back."

The children and digimon watched him climb up the stairs.

Izzy was the first to break the silence. "Well he looks okay to me."

Joe shook his head. "Looks can be deceiving Izzy. After a major trauma like that Matt will have some issues to work out." The oldest Digidestined frowned. "Something feels wrong about this. Like a thunderstorm is coming." He rubbed his arms. "I don't like this."

Sora nodded. "I don't like it either. It's like Matt is running scared in his own mind."

Tai looked from Joe to Sora. "Will you two stop with the ominous warnings? Matt is fine." He puffed his chest out. "I can tell at a glance what people are feeling. I'm a great judge of character."

"Maybe," conceded Joe.

"Enough with the depression already guys, you're making me want to hurl myself off the roof," complained Gomamon.

"And we wouldn't want that to happen," muttered Joe.

The briefing room was really too large for the group. Their footsteps echoed as they crossed the floor to the table where Leia and Wedge sat. The children, digimon and traders took their seats and waited for the general to begin.

"This is some of the footage we've managed to salvage from the gun cameras on the X-wings." The general flicked on a holoprojector in the centre of the table. "We are at a loss to explain any of this, and we were hoping you kids could help."

The children exchanged glances between themselves. Finally Mimi spoke up. "I vote Izzy gets to tell them."

"Why me?" asked Izzy. "Tai's the leader. Plus surely the Digimon themselves would be better able to explain all of this."

"Don't bring us into this," warned Gomamon. "This is human stuff. Nothing to do with us."

"Gomamon!" scolded Joe. "That's no way to talk to these people who've been nice enough to let us stay here."

Leia grinned as she heard Wedge mutter "I could've stayed with Janson, but no………" She decided to impose order on the now fighting group. "Why don't we ask some questions, and you all try to answer them?"

Izzy and Tai exchanged looks. "Okay," conceded Tai.

Wedge looked at his datapad. "To start with. Why do you all have these 'Digimon' following you around?"

Tai shrugged. "We don't know. They don't know. It's something to do with us being the 'Digidestined'."

"Right," continued Izzy. "We were chosen by someone or something to protect the digital world from the evil digimon."

"And what then does this have to do with you having digimon?" asked Leia.

"Well you see, we can't fight against the digimon ourselves, so we use proxies instead," explained Izzy.

"Okay, I can accept that." Wedge checked his datapad again. "So what is with the glowing that Leia reported? And the glowing squares and those funny devices lighting up?"

Everyone looked at Izzy. He looked back. "Why should I tell?"

Sora shrugged. "You figured it out."

Izzy sighed in defeat. "Okay." He unclipped his digivice from his waist and showed it to the adults. "This is a digivice. It serves as an energy conduit between our partner digimon and ourselves. Our digimon can use the energy borrowed from us to 'digivolve' to the next level of development for a short period of time. The process of digivolving radically changes their body structure and is usually accompanied with an increase in mass. Once they run out of energy they dedigivolve back to their original level, although in extreme cases of using more energy than they gained, they would return to an even lower level." He pulled out his tag and crest from beneath his shirt. "These crests act as catalysts for a further digivolve. They can only become active after the specific trait they engender is apparent in the owner. They also cause our digivices to glow the same colour and shake."

"Now here's the important one." Wedge leaned forwards. "Why were they after Leia?"

Tai spoke first. "No idea. It's not their usual style to go after bystanders, just us." He looked at Agumon. "Any ideas?"

"Not one. If Myotismon was behind the attack I can't see what he'd get out of killing her."

Motimon spoke up. "Maybe Myotismon isn't behind it. He wasn't there when they went after her."

Tai shook his head. "It was Demidevimon, he was the one who attacked Leia. He wouldn't risk crossing Myotismon by joining someone else."

Wedge frowned. "In your opinion, is the only reason any of this happened was because you were present?"

Izzy nodded. "It seems reasonable. I can't believe that Myotismon has any designs on your government."

Leia nodded. "I agree with your reasoning." She looked at Wedge, who nodded his agreement. "Well with us all agreed that I'm not the target of Myotismon's attacks, the only thing that remains is to decide what it is that you must do now."

"Yavin IV." Everyone turned to look at Doyle. "What? That's where they need to be sent."

Feona rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just don't ask. Please."

Wedge sighed. "Okay, I won't. Too many crazy things have gone on today starting with monsters, ending with vague instructions from weird people."

"So they go to Yavin. Then what?" Leia looked at Doyle.

Doyle shook his head. "No idea. All I know is that there is some prophesy about them somewhere. Something about "the seven jedi who will stop the darkness."" He got up. "But that's you're business, not mine. I've delivered the message, and now, I'm going."

"As am I." Feona got up. "I have a business to run and fun though this is, I can't afford to let my ship gather dust in some bay, collecting docking fees."

"But you could be an asset," countered Leia. "You could go to Yavin and train with the other Jedi candidates."

"Forget it. I know what I'm doing already." Feona passed a piece of flimsy to Tai. "Here. You need me, you call, okay?"

Tai turned it over in his hands. "What is it?"

"Personal commlink frequency." She looked around the group. "Good luck at Yavin." Then she and Doyle walked out the door.

Leia sighed. "Pity. We need all the help we can get." She looked at the kids. "You okay with going to Yavin?"

"We would," replied Tai, "if we had any idea what Yavin was."

"It's a training centre for Jedi like yourself. My brother, Luke runs it." Leia got up. "I think it would be best if you went. You've already shown that you have capability with the Force, why not learn to use it properly?"

Tai took a silent poll round the group. He could see no objections in the others eyes. "So when do we leave?"

Leia smiled. "Tomorrow. My husband is making a supply run. He'll take you." She motioned for them to follow her. "I have a gift for you all for defending the city."

Mimi perked up. "A gift? As in present?"

Leia led them into a set of rooms. She motioned for them to sit on the couch. "Wait there." She moved into another room and returned with a pile of clothes.

"Oooooooooooo, clothes!" cooed Mimi.

Leia put them down. "I had these made this afternoon. They're Jedi robes." She passed them out. Each set matched their owners crests colour.

"Ew…green," complained Mimi.

Izzy turned his from side to side. "I don't think purple is my colour."

Leia shrugged. "Prophesy says that you wear these. And 'Brandish lightsabers of pure flame' but I think that bit is hyperbole."

"Looks like we're on our way to Yavin then," commented Tai.

Myotismon looked on in his scrying crystal. "Yes. Come to Yavin, meet your destiny."

He felt Exar Kun drift up behind him. And then, you will die.

Authors Notes-

Phew, finished at last. This is what happens when your computer crashes several times, wiping the chapter each time.

So, on to business. Two things

  1. I am taking requests for Star Wars characters that appear in the books and the movies to appear in this. I have only one stipulation, they must be ALIVE during the Jedi Academy Trilogy. All you have to do is write a review and I will try to put your favourite character in.

2. Since I suck at drawing, I'm looking for a fan artist to draw the Jedi-Destined. I will run this as a competition and will give a prize to the best one. Contact me at fiona_izumi_burch@hotmail.com for further details if you are interested.