Chapter 70: …Not Quite
Omicronmon and Omegamon had been locked in a stalemate for a long time, but Omegamon suddenly gained the upper hand: Omicronmon convulsed and let go of Omegamon, wildly thrashing about as if in pain. Omegamon deployed his cannon and backed away, knowing that Omicronmon might be using this as some sort of trick.
Suddenly, Omicronmon seemed to change: its dark purple armor began to change into gold, and the inside of its cape took on a gold color, too. It stood motionless for a moment, then opened its eyes. A look of bewilderment filled its expression as it looked itself over.
Omegamon didn't know what this could mean, but he kept his cannon aimed at Omicronmon to see what he'd do next. Omicronmon seemed to be speaking, but there was no sound in space: Omegamon couldn't hear him. Omicronmon was surprised that it couldn't hear itself.
There was no point in staying around the area, so Imperialdramon beamed the escape pod into his force field. But nobody knew what to do about Omicronmon.
WarMermon had an idea: she flew in close to Omicronmon with her axe ready to strike. Omicronmon looked at her like she was nuts, but didn't do anything to counterattack. It was as if it trusted her not to attack. She was satisfied that he wouldn't attack any time soon, so she motioned "all clear" to the other fighters and flew into Imperialdramon's force field and regressed back to Tibemon and Youngdramon.
The others reluctantly followed her lead, and Imperialdramon, Omicronmon, and Omegamon flew back towards Earth. The question of what was going on with Omicronmon and the question of what would happen now that the Linonians had the asteroids weighed heavily on their minds, and their attention was split between their guilt for not having been able to defeat the Linonians' plan and their worry that Omicronmon might attack.
Tina sniffed back a tear and pulled Joey out of her pocket. "It's okay…Joey tried."
"Joey tried and tried and tried…them agazriitato not know nothin'! They let me move 'em!"
"I know…the agazriitato have the kamnalatato, now---"
"Why Tina think agazriitato have kamnalatato, now?"
"They throw things and move kamnalatato, so they must have it!"
"Nope-nope!" Joey grinned.
"…Huh?"
"Joey didn't say he make throw move the kamnalatato to Joey's house?"
"…What?"
"Joey make throw things move the kamnalatato to Joey's house. No to agazriitato's house."
"…You mean that Joey has kamnalatato, now?"
"Joey's friends get it."
Tina let out a sigh of relief and laughed. "Guys, Joey hacked them!"
"What?" Ash asked.
"Joey found out that the shutdown sequence, the docking clamps for the launchers, and the self-destruct were all protected things on the computer: he couldn't access them. But they didn't bother to put security lockouts on the destination!"
"So…if we don't have the asteroids, and the Linonians don't, either, then who does?" Tai asked.
"Joey's friends…whoever they are. Maybe he means his race, or some allies of his race. He doesn't speak much English, so he can't tell us more."
"Well…that's a relief," Davis said, matter-of-factly.
"Yeah…"
******
"We have been awaiting the crown for half an hour!"
"The teleportation system deployed half an hour ago, Colonel. You should have them."
"I tire of this waiting. Security, eliminate the sub-major."
"Belay that, security," the sub-major insisted, trying desperately not to lose his cool.
"Don't belay it: immediately!" the colonel insisted. The sub-major was dead after a moment.
"Colonel…we are without a leader, as of now," the security chief said, shakily.
"You are promoted to leadership. Now, get everyone off that world. We are deploying another atrio-tor-ritap to destroy it: Protocol Omega must be carried out."
"…Understood, sir."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: These chapters are getting too short...I need longer ones.