The Blue Ray cut gracefully through the pink and orange clouds of gas that surrounded the planet of Bespin. A small vessel marked as one of Cloud City's defence force paced it.
In the cockpit of the Blue Ray Doyle shifted uneasily in his chair. "Do they really have to follow us down?"
Feona toggled a switch to level off the ships decent. "Ever since new management took over they've been paranoid over security. They don't want the Empire back."
"Huh." Doyle again looked across to where the escort was keeping pace with them. "So is the new Barron-Administrator as nice as the old one?"
Feona snorted. "Hardly. This guy is a Twilek, Narwa'ness. He'd sell his leku if he though it would turn a profit." She toggled the intercom. "We're making final approach, if you want to watch you should get up here."
Momentarily Joe, Sora, Bukamon and Biyomon arrived. They watched as the Ray cleared the last patch of cloud to reveal the Cloud City hanging in the orange and pink mists, its lights reflecting off the clouds making them seem to glow.
"Wow," exclaimed Joe. "These Jedi sure picked scenic locations to hide our lightsabres."
"You said it buddy," said Bukamon, hovering just behind Doyle's shoulder.
Doyle half jumped out of his seat. He turned to the digimon. "I asked you not to do that."
"Make me," taunted the digimon.
"Bukamon!" scolded Joe.
"What?"
Doyle rolled his eyes and extended the ship's landing struts. "Enough bickering."
Gabumon sat in the corner of the ships cramped cargo hold, watching Matt sleep. The young boy's hair, once shiny and well kept was now unketempt and matted with sweat. Gabumon could see Matt's eyes rolling under their lids, the boy caught in some sort of deep nightmare.
"Oh Matt, why do you let him do it?" Gabumon got up and tenderly brushed Matt's tangled hair away from his face.
Matt cringed away from Gabumon's touch and put his hands over his head. "No, please! I'll do better! I swear I'll do better!" He started to scream.
Gabumon winced. Even when he sleeps he can't rest. He tried to force Matt to uncurl from his foetal position.
"No… No!" Matt jerked upright, his eyes wide and unseeing.
"Matt! Matt, it's okay, I'm here!" Gabumon gripped Matt's shoulders until Matt's eyes came into focus.
"Ga… Gabumon?" Matt put a hand to his head. "I… They…"
Gabumon let go of Matt's shoulders. "It was a dream Matt. Nothing will hurt you as long as I'm here."
"A dream."Matt leapt to his feet. "How could you let me fall asleep? I have to practice."
"You were meditating." Gabumon shrugged. "Then you started to snore and I thought it would be better to let you alone to sleep awhile." He looked into Matt's eyes, his own eyes full of concern. "Matt, you can't keep this pace up. It'll kill you."
Matt ignored Gabumon and started to move through a series of self-defence moves.
"Matt," insisted Gabumon. "You need rest. Those nightmares are taking away whatever sleep you get."
"Nightmares?" asked Matt, faking nonchalance. "What nightmares?" He wilted under Gabumon's steady gaze. "Okay, so I'm having nightmares. Big deal."
"Matt, you're screaming in your sleep. That's not normal."
"Look, if you're that worried, I'll practice for two hours, then get some sleep. Will that stop your incessant mothering already?" he asked with venom, then stormed off.
"I'm just looking out for you Matt," said Gabumon
softly to Matt's departing back. "No one else will."
Sora turned in a slow circle, her eyes closed in concentration. Finally they snapped open. "I found it."
Feona nodded. "Well then, let's get going. That credit-grabbing Twilek is charging me by the hour."
Sora nodded, then led the way through the winding passages of the city, her boots making a soft slapping sound that reverberated off the walls.
Doyle cocked his head. "Some echo."
"People here value their privacy," explained Feona. "A hard environment that reflects sound makes it very difficult for sneaking around and eavesdropping." She kept her eyes moving through the crowds, checking for anyone paying too much attention to them. After all, if the Imps could be bought to go after the kids, I'm sure some of this lot could.
Joe nervously fingered the hilt of his lightsabre, concealed under his outer robe. "Sounds like this is a lovely place," he commented.
"I hate to say it," said Bukamon, "But I think Joe's right. These people don't seem too friendly."
Feona snorted slightly. "Paranoia is an art form to these people, that's all. In general, once you win their trust you can find some of your most enduring friends in the smugglers and petty criminals."
"A lot of heroes of the Republic came from fringe groups," added Doyle.
"Really?" asked Joe. "Who?"
"Han Solo and General Antilles were both smugglers before joining the Rebel Alliance," said Doyle.
Sora came to a halt at the end of the hallway. "It's behind this door."
"Oh…" Doyle clamped down on his tongue to stop himself from swearing. "Drat," he finished lamely.
"What?" asked Joe. "It's just a door."
Feona tapped a finger on the nameplate next to the door. "Baron's Office," she explained. "And there's no way that creep is going to let us search the place without 'compensation'."
Sora shrugged. "Well no one's in there now, if that helps."
It helps," nodded Feona. She turned to Doyle. "Take Joe with you?"
Doyle nodded. "Double click as usual." He took Joe gently by the arm.
"Hey!" protested Joe. "What's going on? What are you going to do?"
"Breaking and entering," replied Doyle blithely. "Don't worry about it."
"Aww," protested Bukamon, floating alongside. "I thought it was gonna be something serious."
Feona watched Doyle lead the panicking Joe off, then turned to the door lock. "Huh."
"Something wrong?" asked Biyomon.
"Narwa'ness is a tight-fisted miser." Feona dug in a pocket and pulled out a thin strip of metal. "The old thirteen-twenties were taken off the market some time ago, due to a small design fault." She carefully inserted the strip into the casing. "Using the right tools, you can short out the lock… like so." A small chirp came from the panel and the door slid open. "Too cheap to buy a replacement lock, I'll bet."
"Lucky for us." Sora moved into the room, towards the back wall. "It feels like it's in the wall."
"How did it get there?" asked Biyomon. "Was it built into the city?"
Feona spread her fingers out on the wall. "I don't think so." She moved her hands over the part of the wall Sora indicated until she felt a fault in the metal. "Aha." She reached into her belt and withdrew a long, needle-like device, which she inserted into a tiny hole.
The wall panel swung open, revealing a keypad.
"It's a wall safe," realised Sora.
"How did you know what to look for?" asked Biyomon.
Feona inspected the panel. "Shady past, don't want to talk about it." She tapped a code in experimentally. The panel beeped twice and Feona shook her head. "I take back what I said about Narwa'ness being cheap. This is a top of the range, modified lock. He's even taken out the manufacturers bypass."
"Can't you open it?" asked Sora.
Feona shook her head. "Twelve-digit code, three miss-codes and you're locked out for twenty-six hours."
"So what do we do now?"
Gatomon sat on a branch in a tree, enjoying the dappled sunshine coming through the leaves. Her discussion with the Gabumon had disturbed her more than she cared to admit. It had been many years since she had let slip that she'd been waiting for someone, and yet, she'd almost been shouting it loud enough for even Myotismon to hear.
She shuddered. If he did hear me, then it would start all over again. She absentmindedly rubbed the back of her paw, where a scar was hidden under her glove. My loyalty must be to him, and him alone.
Slowly she became aware of a shadow falling over her. She looked up. "Wizardmon. It would be you."
The wizard digimon hovered over to sit beside her on the tree branch. "Thinking about the past again?"
Gatomon nodded. "It's all that Gabumon's fault, stirring up feelings I shouldn't be having."
"Maybe you should be having them." Gatomon saw the mask covering Wizardmon's face twitch, as if the sewn mouth underneath was smiling. "Did it ever occur to you that you should never have been working for Myotismon at all? That your true life lies elsewhere?"
"A dream only," she replied sadly. "Dreams do not come true just by wishing them."
"That's Myotismon talking," retorted Wizardmon. " He'd say 'Dreams are for the weak.' What do you say Gatomon?"
"Dreams and hopes are the only things he hasn't taken from me." She sighed. "She comes for me in my dreams now."
"She does?" asked Wizardmon. "Then maybe she's closer than you think." Gatomon snarled. "But she's human! And if she's human, then I'd be nothing better that some pet!" she spat.
"Really?" asked Wizardmon with an air of patience. "You don't think maybe Gabumon is stronger for having someone else?"
"I need no one." Even as she said it Gatomon knew it was a lie, one uttered by force of habit.
"I remember what you told me when we first met, Gatomon, and I know that whatever Myotismon did to you, it hasn't crushed you completely." He decided to change tack. "There's a rumour that Myotismon found out something interesting from that glowing cube."
"Eight children." Gatomon looked away from Wizardmon. "I was there. It said there was eight Digidestined children, not seven." She looked at Wizardmon. "What you're suggesting is dangerous to believe. I think it would be best if we spoke no more about it."
"And what if the Digidestined return here?" asked Wizardmon.
"I just don't know what I'd do then."
"This is crazy."
Doyle turned to Joe. "Will you quit saying that? You're going to jinx the whole thing." He turned to Sora. "Still paperwork?"
Sora, her eyes closed nodded. "Accounts. You should see the mark-up on some of this stuff."
Joe shuffled from foot to foot. "I'm telling you, someone is going to come into this office and spot us."
"There's no personal effects, no paperwork around, and no sign that anyone has been here apart from cleaning droids," said
Feona. "Its an abandoned sectaries office." She snorted. "Narwa'ness probably didn't trust anyone enough to have one."
"Isn't spying on someone's thoughts… well… wrong?" asked Joe.
"Technically not illegal," said Doyle, "But morally questionable, yes."
"Don't worry Joe," said Sora. "I'm just scanning his surface thoughts. That's why we've got to wait until he opens the safe himself."
"Oh, and that makes it so much better," said Joe. "I know its for a good cause, but isn't it still wrong?"
"Give it a rest already!" moaned Bukamon. "We get that you don't like this. We didn't hear any suggestions from you about ways around it."
"Shh," said Sora, closing her eyes. "He's going to the safe."
"'Bout time," muttered Doyle.
Sora scribbled on the scrap of flimsey she'd been given. "Got it."
"Time for phase two, then." Feona considered. "Ideas for how to get him out of there?"
"Fire?" asked Joe.
"Nope," replied Doyle. "Fire-suppressant system."
"Something in the main plaza?" asked Biyomon.
"Security would handle that," said Feona.
"What about an aerial attack?" asked Sora. "Wouldn't he go to a control deck or something?"
"Or his own personal bolthole," replied Feona. "That'd work, but how'd you get back to the ship if it's flying an attack?"
Biyomon raised a wing.
Feona shook her head. "Forget I asked that."
"We have a plan?" asked Doyle.
"We have a plan," confirmed Feona. "Stick with Sora
here, and get ready." She tapped the door release. "Come on Joe, Bukamon.
We've got a city to scare."
"So…" Doyle searched his brain for a topic of discussion. "How'd you kids get to be running around saving the world anyway?"
Sora shrugged. "We went to summer camp."
"And?"
"That's it." She shrugged again. "We haven't really discussed much of our past with each other. It tends to make us remember the things we lost." Klaxons started to wail. Sora closed her eyes and concentrated. "He's on the move." She waited until his presence moved out of the corridor and into the plaza. "He's gone."
"Let's go then," said Doyle, pushing the door release. He looked out of the doorway, along both ends of the corridor. "Clear."
"Of course its clear," said Sora. "I'd have said if it wasn't."
Doyle nodded distractedly. "Right. Sorry." He used the lock bypass Feona had left with him on the door, and Sora was amused to see that he did it with much more difficulty than his partner.
Sora entered as soon as the door slid open and stuck the pin into the small hole, revealing the keypad for the safe. She stood to one side. "You'll have to type. I don't know what symbols are what number."
Doyle nodded and typed as Sora called out the numbers one at a time. He entered the last number and pulled the door open. "We're in."
Sora looked around the inside of the safe. "It's not in there."
"What?" asked Doyle.
"She said…" began Biyomon.
Doyle waved a silencing hand. "I know what she said." He sighed. "So what now?"
Sora thrust her arm all the way into the safe. "Its further behind…" She jerked back as red light spilled from the opening. "What's happening?"
Doyle snapped his fingers. "Joe's was behind some sort of seal that glowed when he touched it, remember?"
Sora nodded and reached back into the safe. She then smiled and drew her arm out, clutching the hilt of her lightsabre in her hand. "Found it. Let's get out of here before they realise that Feona is only faking an attack."
"Or worse," said Biyomon, "Before they blow her out of the sky."
Doyle shook his head. "Never happen. I mean, have you seen her fly?" He shut the safe, then left the room.
Sora and Biyomon followed, then Doyle removed the bypass from the door lock. "Lets get going." He led the way to one of the landing platforms. He reached into a pocket and withdrew his comlink. "Feona?"
"Busy. ETA two minutes, with some friends hot on my tail."
"Understood." Doyle thumbed the comlink off. "Time to go then."
Sora nodded. "Okay Biyomon, time to digivolve."
With a flash of light the small pink bird was replaced by a giant phoenix. "Get on you two." Sora sat on one giant clawed foot and motioned for Doyle to do the same on the other foot. "Hold on tight," she cautioned. "It's going to be a windy ride."
Birdramon flexed her wings and took to the sky, wheeling around, trying to spot the Blue Ray incoming. Finally she sighted it, however it seemed odd. "She's coming in upside-down!"
"Don't worry about it," yelled back Doyle. "Drop us on the belly!" He could see the entry ramp lowering, or rather from his perspective rising, to let them in. He felt Birdramon draw level. "Jump Sora!" He let go of Birdramon's claw and dropped to the underside of the ship. Over the screaming wind he heard a clank as Sora joined him. "Get in!" He pointed at the hatch.
Sora nodded and moved over the surface of the ship, keeping low to minimise her resistance to the wind howling past. Doyle saw her lunge into the gaping entryway, followed by a surprised shriek. He turned his attention back to the sky in time to see Birdramon's form glow and contract as she came hurtling towards the ship. He was rewarded a moment later by a solid thump as Biyomon connected with his chest, nearly sending him over the edge.
"Sora?" asked the digimon.
Doyle motion to the hatch. "Inside." Still gripping the bird he moved to the hatch, then threw her in. He heard a puzzled squawk, then followed. His stomach lurched unpleasantly as the world seemed to turn by a hundred and eighty degrees, causing him to crash to the deck, instead of the ceiling of the ship. "OW!" He sat up and rubbed his side. "Let's not do that again." By the hatch he saw Joe slap the fast seal on the entryway, causing the hatch to close up.
"Doyle, get up here!" Feona yelled down the corridor from the cockpit.
Doyle hauled himself to his feet and ran towards the cockpit. "Get strapped in kids, it's going to be rough." He entered the cockpit and nearly threw himself into his chair at the co-pilots station. "Rear deflector at twelve percent and falling," he called out, checking his monitors.
"Fore?" asked Feona.
"Ninety-three."
"Arm cannons. Going in on approach vector." Feona brought the ship about so it was flying towards the city patrol ships. "Warning shots only."
Doyle flicked on the belly cannons. "Playing chicken?"
Feona sent the ship diving into the midst of the smaller patrol ships, scattering them. She then pulled back hard, sending the ship into a vertical corkscrew to avoid the incoming laser fire. The ship broke through the cloud layer, laser dart following its course. "Set the navicomp going would you?" asked Feona, weaving the ship from side to side.
Doyle checked the coordinates, and got the green light. "Set."
Feona leaned forwards and threw the hyperspace levers. The stars outside the cockpit turned to streaks, then a glowing white tunnel.
"Course change in thirty seconds." Doyle watched the counters fall on the navicomp. On cue he brought the ship out of hyperspace. "New course two-thirty one mark sixteen."
Feona brought the ship about to the new heading, then sent in back into hyperspace. Finally she sighed and stretched in her chair, reaching her arms to the ceiling. "Thank the Force that's over with." She turned to Doyle. "Stick a note in the log would you? 'Don't go back to the Cloud City without changing the ship IFF transponder'."
"Right." Doyle likewise stretched, then spun in his chair to check the damage diagram on another panel. "Looks like we need to do some work on the aft shield generator." He held up a cred-coin. "Flip for it. Winner gets the kids, loser gets the repair work." He flipped the coin. "Heads or tails?"
"Heads."
Doyle revealed the coin. Tail side up. "I'll get you
the repair kit."
Gabumon watched Matt as he slept. This time the youth slept soundly, unplagued by nightmares. Gabumon was relieved. He was sure that Matt could not have survived much longer without some form of rest. At times the digimon was sure he could see a black shadow clinging to Matt as he slept. Whether that was caused by Matt or some outside force Gabumon was unsure, but he was beginning to suspect the latter.
Matt groaned slightly, then rolled onto his back, his eyes fluttering open. He then turned his head towards Gabumon. "Hey."
"Hey Matt. Feeling better?"
"Much, thanks." Matt pulled himself up to a sitting position and tucked his knees to his chest. "You were right. I did need to sleep."
Gabumon rested a hand on Matt's knee. "And the nightmares stayed away?"
"Nightmares, yes." Matt reply was cagey, so Gabumon decided to press.
"What about normal dreams?" he asked.
Matt got up distractedly, like he'd forgotten how to move his body correctly. "It wasn't a dream, I'm sure of it." He started to pace. "Tai… I was fighting Tai…" Matt giggled slightly. "He looked so surprised when I ran him through…" He lunged forwards, an imaginary lightsabre in his hands. "And he crumpled, just like a puppet with all it's strings suddenly missing."
Gabumon backed away slightly. "You're scaring me Matt."
"But you know what the best bit was, huh?" asked Matt, not hearing Gabumon. "They lay Tai, blood everywhere, and T.K. comes to me and hugs me and he says…" Matt's eyes became shiny. "He says 'Thank you Matt, you were awesome!' And I said 'Why, T.K?' and he said 'Because you killed Tai and he wanted me to hate you and forget you, and because I never did he'd beat me, but it's all better now because I have you again.' And then I put my arms around him and I tell him 'Don't worry T.K. Tai can't hurt us any more.'" He smiled at Gabumon. "And you know what's really great? It's going to happen."
Gabumon shook his head. "Matt, you can't mean that! Tai was… is your friend! You can't kill him!"
"It was a prophecy," said Matt. "Kam said that Jedi see the future in their dreams." His voice hardened. "And I will kill Tai. It's destiny."
Authors Notes: - Sorry, sorry, sorry for taking so long! I blame too much chocolate at Easter and my home environment isn't exactly conductive to writing, unlike my room at Uni. I have now decided I really can't write Sora. Next up is Hoth. YAY! Matt vs. Tai round one. Who's going to win? LAST CHANCE with the prophecy. If you can't get most of it after the next chapter, well, I'd be very surprised. Lets hear those wild and wacky theories people!
Oh, and review PLEASE! I like people reviewing; I'll even take constructive criticism, like I'm doing miss-characterisation.
Two major things to add…
1.Anyone wanting not to miss anything, leave your email address and a request and I'll email anyone who wants to know when I put a new chapter up. I already do this for one person, its not hard for me to do it for a few more.
2.I'm going to start a new fic in a week or so, but I have two ideas. I'm taking it that you guys like how I write, as well as what I write so I'm asking for opinions. Stick 'em in a review or email 'em to me, I don't mind (fmb105@york.ac.uk). This doesn't mean I'll forget this fic, I'm just starting up another one as well.
Here are the ideas. 1.'Izzy Izumi and the Hall of Shadows' – A Digimon/ Harry Potter crossover with a difference. Although I will be using the HP universe, Harry, Ron and Hermione will not appear. Harry will be mentioned once or twice, but that's all. Izzy gets a letter inviting him to join the Kyoto Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He has to learn how to keep his lives separate, as the Japanese wizarding system is vastly different to that in Europe. There pupils attend muggle schools from Monday to Thursday and are at Kyoto Friday to Sunday. Izzy learns that his biological parents were leaders of the resistance against the evil Yasui, who was one of Voldemort's generals. It will be set just after the second movie on the Digimon timeline.
2.'Marks That Will Not Fade' – A Princess Mononoke/ Stargate-SG1 crossover. *Sees people looking at her funny* Seriously I'd think it would work. Other than fudging it so that the entire movie took place on another planet rather than 14th century (Or whenever) Japan it would work well. Ashitaka has to help Iron Town rebuild from its destruction before Lord Osanno (Was that his name?) attacks again. Eboshi has sworn to follow a new way, but what would happen if she came into contact with the semi-automatic weapons of twentieth century Earth? San hates humans with a passion, yet loves one with a passion equally bright. Will she accept the humans now they no longer destroy the forest, or will she maintain her vendetta? Is the Spirit of the Forest really gone, or is he merely sleeping and awaiting to be called forth again? Ashitaka still bears the mental and physical scars of his ordeal. What path will he lead Iron Town down?
As you can see, both of these stories have had the preliminary work done on them. I'm just after input as to which I start first. Both of them will need further research at some point (I haven't read the Goblet of Fire in a long time, and I know squat about 14th century Japan and the Emishi/Imishi/Amishi (Never see it spelt the same way twice on FFN)).
To finish, some comments on review I get…
Thank you who ever it was who offered me money to write. It's here so pay up ;-)
Who ever asked about chapter titles…. I hate to admit it, but I make them up as I upload usually. Generally they're sayings. For instance last chapter 'Eat, Drink and be Merry' is habitually concluded with the phrase 'for tomorrow we die.' It just seemed to fit well.
Thank you, goodnight, and REVIEW ^_^
