2

Matt and Sora made the cab ride to the hotel in comfortable silence.  The plush new Marriott, located right downtown - or as downtown as you could reasonably get and still be in Utah – was a hotel that had been specifically built for the Olympics.  In Matt's room, he made some of the atrocious complimentary coffee, and she stretched out the sofa, flipping through channels.  There was nothing but news reports on, and she flipped it off.

"Don't," Matt said, simply.

"What?" she turned to look at him.

"Didn't that say Okuchi?  Where Tai moved?  What channel was that on?"

"Pick one, it's on every channel."

"All the news channels?"

"No, all the channels.  Period."  Sora reached for the remote, realizing the implications.  She turned it on, leaning forward, but there was now a graphic of the Yellow Sea on the screen.

"…Chinese claim the satellite hit somewhere in the Yellow Sea, shown here.  The Japanese and American government have denied that any satellites have entered the atmosphere.  The European Space Agency, however, has released a series of orbital photographs said to show something crashing into the Yellow Sea, perhaps a meteor."

"Thank you, John.  We will soon have a live report from our correspondent in Okuchi, Japan, where, earlier today, a Chinese missile struck a high school, killing dozens.  The Japanese government has not formally responded yet, but the lack of retaliation so far…"


"Hikari!" shouted Tai, opening the door to their apartment, "Are you here?"

"Tai!" Kari's eyes were wide with relief, "You're okay! I saw the news report about the school! They said someone had been killed, and two people were in the hospital, and—"

"Shhh!" Tai quieted his little sister, "It's going to be okay, you understand, everything's going to be okay."

"Tai?" Kari asked, quietly, gently, "What's wrong?"

Tai took a deep breath, "Reidou. She's in the hospital."

"Oh, god," Kari breathed softly.

"She was hurt pretty bad," Tai pulled Kari close to him, "Dad's with her now, and said we should get a cab out to the hospital. The doctors said she'll probably make it."

"The news," Kari stammered, "Said...they said it was a rocket that got off-course...They said..."

"No," Tai answered, "It was a Metal Greymon."

"Here?" asked Kari, "In our world? But how?"

Tai sighed, and released Kari from his grip, "I don't know."  Before he could explain what he'd seen, the phone rang.

"Moshimoshi?" Tai asked, managing to keep all the tension out of his voice. But if this was some telemarketer, he was going to tear into him like--

"Taichi-chan?"

"Yamato-kun!  Oh, Matt, if you're calling about Utah, this isn't a good time…"

"Tai, what's wrong?"

"My mothers in the hospital."

"No." Sora whispered.  She looked across the hotel room at Matt, and the distance between the two phones loomed large and intimidating.

"Hai," Tai replied, "She was in my school when it was attacked by a Metal Greymon."

"A what?!" Matt and Sora, simultaneously and incredulously replied.

"It came out of no where, and attacked my school. The principal was killed, and my mother and one of the teachers were both sent to the hospital."

"The news said it was a Chinese missile.  Didn't they see it?"

"I don't know.  It was like it just vanished."

"Could there be another gate to the digiworld somewhere?" asked Sora.

"Can you think of anything else?" Tai replied.

"Not really," Sora admitted, "But wouldn't there have been more problems than just one attack on one school if there were a big rift somewhere?"

"Maybe it's just starting – we need to know more about what's happening.  Can we call Izzy?"

"He's in Tokyo.  With Mimi and Joe."  Sora began rifling through her purse, looking for the number.

 "The satellite!" Matt stood up.

After a brief pause, Sora asked, "What satellite? What are you talking about?"

"Think about it – weren't you guys listening to the news? This whole thing started when the Chineese thought they saw some sort of satellite crash in the Yellow Sea. It sunk a Korean ship. They said it was deliberate, a satellite launched by Japan or the US or one of their allies. Everything started because of that."

"So?"

"So maybe it wasn't a satellite after all," Matt started.

"But a gate opening to the digiworld!" Tai finished.

"I see." Sora slowly whispered, "What do we do now?"

"Go to the Yellow Sea," Tai said decisively, "Find that rift, and stop whatever's happening before it can kill anyone else."