Disclaimer: I make no claim to owning Digimon: Digital Monsters. This is a fan work for the enjoyment of the fans, from which I receive no monetary profit.
Episode XLVIII
Into the Valley of Death
"And there pass those who walk into darkness of their own free will. Remember their faces. You may never see their like again."
Gennai
In 1945 the USS Missouri, one of the powerful ships of the US Navy, had sat at anchor in Tokyo Bay, and on her deck the representatives of the people of Japan had signed a surrender agreement, ending both a decade of war for Japan and the largest, most destructive war in human history. On the plating of a ship built for war, peace had been forged, and the vengeful wrath of the big battleship had been forestalled, cheating it of the chance to go to the battle she had been built to fight. Instead she had been put into retirement, and if it had not been for the increase in global conflict, she might still be sitting in Pearl Harbor as a museum, waiting for her time.
But now, over fifty years late, the invasion that she had been constructed to assist was finally getting underway. Nine sixteen inch guns, the largest guns still afloat, swiveled sideways in their turrets, rose above the horizon and waited. Below the sixty-five foot long guns the gun crews, removed in time but not in duty from the Powder Monkeys and gunnery crews who served under Admiral Nelson, labored to put their heavy shells into the breech with the propellant and slam the hatch. There was a moment of silence as the firing setup was confirmed, and the critical time was reached, and then a monster of fire belched forth from the landward side of the huge battleship.
The sudden eruption of fire was clearly visible through the fog, through the dark and haze, lighting up the nearby ocean like day. Huge waves, created by the sudden explosion lashed outward.
But the squadron of sharp-eyed Nanimon and Mammothmon at the mouth of the harbor understood none of this. Their reliance on inner strength made digimon powerful fighters, but they had only a partial glimpse of the wonders of technology. They were also cold and miserable from standing guard out at the foot of the pier, with only the cold, blowing wind for company. They saw the flare of light on the horizon as a distraction, not something they were supposed to attack as it came into the harbor, and briefly wondered what caused it.
Then, nine 2,700 pound shells screamed in overhead and ended their worries forever.
Jesus Christ! Willis swore as the first salvo from the Missouri blew the harbor's first line of defense away with a fury that bordered on contempt. He clapped his hands uselessly to his ringing ears. That sucker's loud!
Someone tell the Missouri that they're right on target. And tell them to switch to target two. Kari's voice broke through the command channel.
This is Missouri, I'm passing it on. The voice on the other end was a little girl named Stacy who Tai had felt would be safer if she stayed behind, where she could be of use to them without exposing her youth and innocence to enemy fire.
Might as well open up with everything. TK advised. They sure as hell know that we're here now.
Willis turned to the rest of Team Eagle. Keep your heads down. It's about to get noisy out here.
Steve swore. If that was before it gets noisy, I'm not going to be able to hear anything by the time we get to shore.
Willis wanted to throw back some answering quip when there was another roar from behind, this one speaking with many voices. One of the barges carrying supporting artillery pieces had seemingly just fired its first barrage, and everyone shrunk down in the hull of the boat that was carrying them to make themselves into smaller targets.
On shore, over near the Tokyo Ferry Terminal on Odaiba itself, something that looked disturbingly like a group of digimon began to fire on something in the water. In return there was a series of thuds as one of the PLANs Luda class destroyers began to fire back. Moments later there was a cacophony as defenders belatedly opened fire, and the massive salvos of the fleet ships accompanying Operation Trafalger returned fire with a blistering array of weapons. Willis kept his finger jammed in his ears tightly and hoped against hope that the sheer overpowering noise would not render him deaf.
TK's voice echoing over the override channel was hardly necessary. Even before he said the word the first of the IDEF forces were already storming the beach.
Tai and Matt shot overhead, Megas in the lead, but not alone. Over a hundred other flying digimon came in their wake, dropping off bundles of equipment on the shore as the soared into battle. Those same bundles were quickly recovered by infantrymen swarming off the marine digimon and shallow bottomed boats in the first wave. The first defenders emerged to defend Odaiba, only as WarGreymon arrived. With a fury of metal claws a dozen Bakemon were ripped apart into shreds of falling cloth. Moments later the first serious opposition appeared, a pair of TITAN units lumbering down a narrow street in their direction.
Watch out Tai! WarGreymon's shield slid off his back and slammed down in front in time to catch a pair of missiles designed to penetrate the frontal armor of a heavy tank. He staggered backward, sliding along the ground, and came up swinging. But he barely had time to look at the two giant robots before they exploded into shards. A quick glance sidewise showed a dozen Americans discarding their first two anti-tank rocket casings, and flashing the Mega a thumbs-up.
Let's get going here. Tai hung on grimly as WarGreymon shot down the street, looking for the next opposition, another pair of TITAN units, and falling on them with claws unsheathed. As their metal guts came apart around them, Tai caught a brief glimpse of a pair of digimon, a Woodmon and a Meramon, locked in mortal combat, roaring by. Everywhere humans were firing, digimon were attacking, people were screaming, and fires were beginning. And this was still only the start.
Static Force! The wall surrounding the harbor area exploded inwards as Yolei and Silphymon blasted through. A moment later a whole crew of Russian troops moved through the hole, covering all approaches with the barrels of their assault rifles, blasting at a few flickers of movement, and covering the way for the dozen Champions that stormed through the gap.
How's it going? TK's voice crackled over the communication link.
Not bad. Yolei took another look around, but could not see anything out of place yet. We've almost secured the south-eastern section, and we'll be headed for Shiokaze Park as soon as we get enough troops into the dockyards. Even as she spoke she could watch another fifty soldiers and dozen digimon rush into the docks.
Take your time securing the area. We don't want to get hasty. TK warned.
I know. Yolei suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the air. Hold onI think I see something. Suddenly the shapes solidified into solid objects, huge gray insects flying towards them. Oh boy.
What is it? Silphymon asked gruffly.
It looks like we're in trouble. Yolei yelled and pointed. TK, they brought some Ookuwamon to the party!
I see them. Silphymon soared upwards.
Hold them off. TK snapped. Sora's on the way.
Astral Laser! Silphymon let fly with his first salvo, and a single Ookuwamon veered off course under the impact, but there were four more flying to the attack even as he spoke.
We'll do our best TK. Yolei promised But I don't know how long we can hold them.
Your best is all we'll need. TK replied. Let's get down to business.
ImperialDramon shrugged off his second load, and almost a hundred men, fully armed, tumbled onto the ground near the Tsukiji market, adjacent to central Tokyo. They quickly scrambled to their feet as the familiar glow of the cannon on ImperialDramon's back began again.
Positron Laser! A huge beam of energy cut a hole straight through a pair of hulking MetalTyrannomon that had emerged from behind a building to challenge the newly landed soldiers, and the two monstrous digimon collapsed into digital dust as the beam hit them. But more digimon were arriving every second, and the advance elements were ducking behind cars, storage tanks and buildings in an attempt to cover themselves.
It's a stalemate. Davis reported as Ken directed ImperialDramon's flight. Both sides are fightin' each other to a standstill. We need more people here and we need them here now!
I know. TK replied reasonably, with infuriating calm. But we need the big ships in there to support you, and we can't get the big ships up here until we neutralize the fortifications at Odaiba.
Well, you better tell the people on Odaiba to go fast, because our people are going to be cut to pieces up here without them. Davis knew he was being uncharitable, but the pressure of the moment was distracting him.
I'll keep it in mind. TK replied deadpan, and then he signed off as Davis dove behind the sheltering bulk of ImperialDramon's head as a lash of fire singed their shields.
Joe glanced sideways from his post on Zudomon's head as someone called out. Sure enough, there was a whole group of Gesomon, their white squid-heads protruding from the water, zooming straight for them. He was about to call Zudomon's attention to them, when the water began to fountain around them.
What's that? A young Korean girl shrieked and pointed at the sudden underwater detonations that surrounded them.
An old friend. Joe smiled.
There was a surge of water beside them, and then Submarimon emerged from the water, clear canopy peeling back to reveal Cody inside.
Was that the last of them? Joe asked.
The last in this area. Cody reported, checking his D-Terminal just to make sure. I just wanted to tell you that I cleared the outer patrols, so you should be safe as you head in, but that you should be careful as you get closer to Ginza. TK wants me to patrol the far side of Odaiba, so I'll be clearing off.
All right. Joe saluted Cody with one hand, and watched as the young boy slid beneath the waters, a deadly hunter once more.
What now? A tall digidestined boy asked.
We hit the beach as hard as we can. Zudomon! It should be clear sailing from here on out. Let's hit it!
Aye aye captain! The huge digimon, and the other marine digimon behind him, swarmed toward the beach.
Mimi watched Lilymon disappear upwards. The Ultimate could fight much better when she did not have a human on her back to take care of, and Lilymon would need every extra advantage she could squeeze out of her strength if things got as bad as it seemed that they would. TK had already been forced to commit his airborne reserves in order to support Yolei and the rest of that task force, currently clearing out the eastern side of Odaiba. Fortunately, it seemed that whatever ground forces were in the area were covering that side of the city.
There was a trampling of feet and then a panting girl that Mimi recognized as Rosa from Mexico stumbled up beside her.
There is nobody left here. All the fighting is on the other side of the island. Rosa explained breathlessly. We've got things covered.
Mimi breathed out a sigh of relief, and then got on her D3's communications channel. TK, it's Mimi. We've secured the Ariake area. It looks like we're cleared to move further.
TK sounded relieved, and Mimi wondered if he had any good news today. If any news in this mess could be considered good. Take half your team and barricade the western approaches. Send the other half to central Odaiba. The fighting is getting pretty fierce over here.
Kari peered out from behind the glass storefront for a moment, before jerking her head back in. She turned to the pair of digidestined standing right behind her.
It looks like they've taken up positions in the stairwell. I want to avoid them at all costs, so use the back exits, and see if you can get around them. Then you with the Rockmon, see if you can blast a way through these walls so we can outflank them. Kari shook her head at that last idea, but turned back toward watching the door. Here, inside the huge Odaiba shopping complexes, their maneuverability was constrained, but they still needed to move through as fast as possible. Every second wasted gave the defenders more time to bolster the defenses of Tokyo itself.
I don't see us advancing much faster. She admitted privately to TK. It's pretty much store to store fighting out there, and it looks real nasty.
Somehow I expected that. TK gave her a glance that caused her heart to flutter, and then went back to looking at maps as the sound of renewed fighting broke out in the main hallway. There were the harsh sounds of digimon growling out the names of their attacks, followed by a series of explosions. Then there was another sound, the sound of a grenade launcher coughing, and more explosions wracked the building.
A hissing sound drew Kari's attention closer to home, as a handful of cylindrical objects rolled past her observation point from somewhere behind them, and immediately began hissing, filling the hallway with a huge mass of smoke. Shapes moved in the smoke, shapes like men, amid confused shouts. Then there was the snarl of close-range gunfire, screams, more shouts, more gunfire, and then silence.
A man wearing corporal's rank insignia ran up to their impromptu command post. We've secured up to the last floor. He reported, but we're starting to run low on ammo. It's been pretty hefty fighting around here.
Try to secure the top floor anyway. Kari looked around, but there was nobody they could use to replace these worn-out soldiers. The rest of us better move onto Aqua City.
I agree. TK stood up. He looked at his watch and grinned wryly. It was 8:23.
That only took twenty-three minutes? Kari sounded aghast.
What a day this is going to be. TK sighed.
What the hell is going on? General Alexander snarled.
They've driven most of the opposition out of Odaiba proper, but there's still fighting in different areas all over the island. And there's a massive air battle occurring over the eastern part of the island. General Hayes reported, staring at the map. But we've got no choice. We've got to start pushing forward.
Are you kidding? Admiral Kelliam looked around at them. If they stop fighting in the air, they'll massacre half our ships.
We're out of time. General Alexander responded. I know we didn't want things to come to this, but we really don't have much of a choice left. Especially if we don't want to be massacred on the ground.
This is Takaishi. A voice broke over the command net. We're going to have to mark Operation Trafalgar as good. Operation Hastings is cleared to proceed.
Well, that tears it. General Hayes left the Combat Information Center to give the necessary orders to his troop commanders.
I hope you know what you're doing. Admiral Kelliam watched in helpless frustration as the first ships turned into contested waters. Or else this is going to be a very short battle.
Hastings is Go! Hastings is Go! The voice broke over the command net suddenly, and Willis felt his transport lurch under him. A cold sweat broke out all over his body as he realized, after that wait, that they were finally heading into real combat again. Another digidestined, a younger one that Willis did not know, appeared to be sweating and about ready to vomit, until Lou placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder.
We ready? Willis asked the others unnecessarily.
Do we have a choice? Phil grinned at him, and Willis rolled his eyes, even as the keel of the boat suddenly grounded against a shore that had been invisible only moments before.
He plunged off into the water and gasped in shock. The water was cold. When he had been told that they would be dropped off in shallow water, he had not pictured the gray wetness that now rose to his waste, but even through the shock he forced himself to move forward. The pain caused by the cold was nothing compared to the pain that would come if he was caught along here by the enemy. His head filled with thoughts of how freezing cold he would be in a matter of hours, and that his clothes would probably never dry out. Then the thought of being horribly wounded or dead in a few hours took that thought out of his mind.
As if to underscore the danger, a blast of energy soared over the beach, passing near enough to a young digidestined that she screamed, and immediately dove behind a washed-up sea buoy. More shots followed, and though none hit their targets, the advance stopped as digidestined threw themselves behind sand mounds and rocks and any other barriers that they could find.
Willis yelled as a few blasts of fire forced him to duck. Suppression fire!
Gatling Arm! Gargomon stood up and let a steady stream of fire hose back and forth over the opposition, and the volume of fire slackened off suddenly. Apparently the enemy also wanted to keep their heads down.
All right! Willis darted over the embankment he had ducked down behind. Up and at 'em!
For a moment the other digidestined, shocked and dismayed, did not move. They huddled in their seawater soaked clothes behind every barrier and every obstruction that they could find, staring up with fearful eyes. For a moment Willis despaired of them ever going anywhere. Then the members of Team Eagle, friendship overriding self-preservation, charged up behind him. Behind them more digidestined and their digimon followed, each unwilling to be left behind in the sudden shuffle that moved them forward. Willis let out an exuberant scream as he charged, and suddenly they were off the beach, and into the built up realm of Tokyo proper.
He vaulted a wall and found himself face to face with a Meramon who had been cowering behind the barrier. There was a moment while they stared at each other, and then the Meramon began to bring his arm up. Then a Monochromon slammed through the barrier and rammed into the Meramon, diverting the dark digimon's attention to a more dangerous foe. Endigomon stormed overhead as well, liberally salting the ground with fire from his chest-mounted cannons, even as Gargomon began to pick and choose his targets more carefully.
Strong Carapace! Lou and Tortomon blasted through a late arriving squadron of Bakemon, just as Centarumon, with Maria still clinging valiantly to his back, leapt over an entire beachfront building, hooves flailing with heavy, powerful blows at his enemies. Even the few Ultimate level digimon who had rushed to the beachfront fell back before those powerful blows, and by drawing back and bunching up, they changed themselves into ideal targets. Dozens of digimon partnered with digidestined concentrated their fire on their enemies, and behind them there was the hollow thump of grenade launchers. Dark digimon found themselves torn at with every type of weapon imaginable, fire and steel blasting through their ranks as easily as storm and sorcery. They screamed and blasted back, and their fire savaged the beachhead.
Fortunately, they were outmatched from the beginning. Even as they began to fight, to draw into open positions and to engage the IDEF from what strongholds they could still find, the tide had turned against them. Coupled with the surprise of the shock assault, the necessity of having to defend a huge patch of soil with inferior numbers of units took its toll before the fighting truly began. In the wake of the surprise came huge units of digidestined and their human allies, rushing isolated pockets of darkness before they could form, throwing themselves selflessly into the breach, sometimes armed with only sticks and stones, to tear apart the forces of evil. Even as they turned to flee they were cut apart by bolts of energy and lightning that rained down from all sides.
But they did not go down easy, and they did not go down alone.
Willis had only a moment to glimpse the prostrate human bodies lying all over the causeways near the beach before he was charging off, but the image was burned into his mind forever.
Sora ducked instinctively as Garudamon dodged a close shot, but managed to hang on to the flying Ultimate while the world bucked around her. For the past few minutes the world had been merely a blinding and bewildering collage of blurred colors and shining rays of light slashing by her. There had only been the sweat-soaked smell of Garudamon as Sora braced her face in the big Ultimate's feathers, only the sickening whirl as her stomach was ripped upside-down and inside-out and backwards to forwards.
Now she had a minute to think and regain her bearings. The first squadron had contained five Okuwamon only, and now they were all digital dust on the wind. The incoming fire was arising from a huge group of Flymon who had risen from the city itself, and now were in combat with everyone that TK had managed to throw into their path. Digimon twisted and turned, some hit by accident, some swatted out of the sky by collisions as opposed to enemy fire, but casualties were mounting on both sides, and Sora was not surprised to see that the ground below was covered with digidestined, clutching unconscious in-training digimon to them.
Garudamon reached out and effortlessly batted down one Flymon, but Sora could see the next attack, a dozen Roachmon rising in from the Imperial Gardens near the waterfront. Even from this distance she could see them bare their fangs and dive toward the battleground. Behind them more specks were appearing, drifting into view from all over the city, and behind her, Sora could see the digidestined from the other teams beginning to tire out.
TK, this is Sora. She spoke boldly into her D3.
This is TK. Go. TK responded calmly. There were some explosions in the background that Sora could hear, but nothing major. Still, she wondered how even he could remain so calm.
We're having problems here TK. She almost lost hold of her D3 as Garudamon lurched under her. They've managed to get a whole bunch of flying digimon into the area. We're seeing more of them all the time.
Wing Blade! Six Flymon who had been menacing a young boy on the back of a Unimon were blasted into so much dark dust, but more surged to take their place.
Message is understood. TK sounded calm, even as another digidestined and her digimon were hurled groundwards by another attack.
Don't you understand TK?! We're getting destroyed up here. Sora nearly screamed.
I know. But there's nothing else I can do. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. TK suddenly sounded lost, but his voice firmed up again. Stand your ground, help will be on its way shortly.
What's the plan? Yolei flew up behind Silphymon's shoulder as Sora heard TK shift his attention to other matters.
We hold here and hope our illustrious leader knows what he's doing. Sora looked around. Try to save as many as possible! We need more time!
I hate this. Yolei screamed as Silphymon peeled away to assist a group of digidestined.
I know. Sora whispered to the wind. I know.
Tai yelled, sticking his head around the corner. A blast of energy nearly took it off, and he ducked back with WarGreymon. We're out of luck on this side! He called. Across the street, covered with twisted debris, a man in a soiled green uniform stuck his assault rifle blindly around the corner and emptied the magazine in an attempt to suppress the fire headed back in his direction. Return fire blasted a pair of bricks above his head to sand, but he managed to duck back in time.
This isn't working! WarGreymon grumbled.
We'll have to use the other side. Tai looked back at the group of dirty young men and gave thanks that Izzy's translation program was still working. It looked like half of those depending on him were from different nations from any of the others. They were dirty, tired and almost all of them were bleeding from one part of their body or another.
Just like we did the last street. Tai told them, and they nodded, grouping up quickly and silently behind WarGreymon.
WarGreymon yelled and threw himself out of the shelter of the wall into the middle of an open street, shield closing around in front of him. A moment later there was the whistle of incoming fire, and then bullets and bolts of flame began to bounce off the shield. WarGreymon tightened with the effort of holding it up, tensing his muscles as more and more volume of fire began to pound at his flimsy defenses.
The humans poured out behind him and began returning fire, bullets and grenades whizzing down the street. One man, who looked French to Tai, clutched his shoulder suddenly and went down screaming. Tai stared at the man a moment in dull incomprehension. The sound of the man's screaming was lost in the roar of gunfire, but his face was contorted in pain and his mouth was open. It was unnerving, everyone almost deaf, but not blind, and death lurked behind every wall, around every corner.
Gradually, the return fire from the other end of the street began to slacken, and WarGreymon began to relax, but he looked worn. His shield was battered, and he was drawing from his own strength to add to the protection he could offer. Still, there were limits, even on his strength, and slowly, he was exhausting.
With the street clear scattered soldiers and digidestined emerged from other hiding spots amid the ruin and moved forward, but there were much less of them than there should have been. Here and there the flash of cloth and blood showed what had happened to the rest of them.
Matt, we're getting wasted down here. How about you? Tai spoke tiredly into his D3.
Not much better. Matt agreed tiredly. They're simply swarming us under over here. Odaiba is secure, but the troops on the mainland aren't getting anywhere.
I know. Tai replied, wiping sweat off his brow. I jumped over once most of Odaiba was secure. But we're getting mauled over here! We can barely stand still, let alone move forward. We need support!
I know. TK interrupted both of their frequencies. But I don't know where to get it.
My God man! Admiral Kelliam waved a hand to the scene on the radar. Have you looked at that? It's a hornet's nest out there. The flare of digimon from both sides mixing it up in the waters over Tokyo Bay lit up the screen. There's only one channel into the harbor, the one that skirts Odaiba, and there's goddamned World War III going on over that! I can't send ships through there, they wouldn't last a minute.
We don't have a choice. General Alexander slammed his fist on the display, making the radar operator jump. Our troops are getting shot to pieces up there. They need our help!
We're not going to be of any help if we die in the middle of the straight. Kelliam pointed out savagely.
Why you General Hayes started.
Quiet Sam. Alexander turned back to Admiral Kelliam. Now listen Admiral. For kids, the world is simple. There are bad guys, and then there are good guys. Bad guys are the scary ones, and good guys are everyone else. Everything we've ever told ourselves leads to us protecting those children, because they can't protect themselves. But now hundreds of childrenhave just thrown their lives into the heat of battle because we promised that if they did, that they would beat the bad guys. We promised to save them, and they believed it. We can't betray their trust. We promised ourselves, when we took the oath and donned the uniform, to keep people like them out of harm's way. We can't sacrifice them because we fear the consequences.
Or because we have a distinct lack of balls. General Hayes spat in disgust. The room went quiet and Admiral Kelliam straightened up.
Get me Port Royal. He ordered the communications officer.
This is Port Royal. The head Ticonderoga-class cruiser reported a few seconds later.
Jim? Do you see the area over the straight ahead? Do you think we can navigate it? Admiral Kelliam asked quietly.
A bit messy, isn't it sir? The man called Jim sounded uneasy.
Jim. Let me explain it like this, we have several thousand men being slowly ground to hamburger on the shore. Half of them are children as young as yours. The only way to save them is for us to punch through and support them. And a senior officer of the US Army has just questioned whether or not we have any balls. So I ask you, can we do it?
There was a moment of silence, then a reply. Sir, this is the USS Port Royal. We will ram the fuckers if you want us to. Sir. The voice sounded formal, but with an air of excitement behind it.
Very well, Port Royal, lead out and take the rest of first squadron with you. Second squadron, third squadron, form on them. Admiral Kelliam stepped backwards until he was even with the digidestined assigned to him. Mr. Takaishi, 7th Fleet, USN, is now officially yours to command. If you have firing priorities, pass them off directly.
He stepped back, nothing more than a passenger for a moment, and then looked at his comm officer again. And tell the bridge to prepare to move us into a supporting position.
His chief of staff stood up suddenly, but it was his flag lieutenant who objected. I must remind you that Nimitz-class carriers do not carry armament meant for engaging other targets directly. We are not outfitted for combat.
Kelliam's gaze was hard.
Aye aye sir. His flag lieutenant grinned suddenly.
You can't seriously mean to take the Fleet and the support ships into a combat zone. His chief of staff objected. It could be disastrous.
I thought I gave an order. Kelliam sounded mild.
There is no reason to endanger this entire His chief began.
GODDAMN IT! Kelliam pointed. Thousands of people are being shot at out there. We have a job to do! I gave an order! I expect it to be obeyed! If I say 'Jump!', you better bash your fucking brains out on that roof, or I will pull off your balls and shoot them at the enemy! Do you fucking understand me?!?
To his surprise, everyone, including the chief of staff, was grinning at him. Clearly, they were all insane and enjoying every minute of it.
Orders to the Fleet sir? His communications officer saluted sharply.
Tell them that the Free World expects every man to do his duty. He exhaled, wondering how Nelson would have seen that quote, and then tried to think of something momentous to say. Then he shrugged and gave up. Onwards and upwards. All ships are to fire as they bear. He sat down and gave the order he never thought he would.
Come about and prepare to engage enemy forces.
Get out of there! TK yelled, emotion returning to his voice in a rush.
Sora yelled.
Pull back! He yelled again. Get away from their big Ultimates! Get clear!
Pulling back. Sora acknowledged, waving the small group of digidestined still around her backwards. It would be a waste to spend all this time fighting over something we weren't going to use though.
Pull back! TK yelled again.
We're back, we're back! Yolei responded, sounding angry and flustered. What else should we do?
Pray that Willis' IFF system works. TK murmured, before signing off.
Sora and Yolei exchanged quick glances. The Identify-Friend-or-Foe system was something that Willis and the IDEF computer programmers had sweated their butts off building, designing a system that could, based on the emissions of the their digivices, be able to tell the difference between digidestined digimon and evil ones. It had taken Michael threatening to institute daily whippings to get the system done and installed on time, but digimon did not need to use it, so why would it be used now unless
The USS Port Royal turned ten degrees to clear its forward decks for firing. A moment later there was a click as hatches opened mechanically, and the forward Mark 41 Vertical Launch System spat out the first forty-eight Standard SM-2(MR) missiles into the air. A burst of flame obscured the launch, and digimon everywhere turned to watch the fiery columns rise into the air.
Enemy digimon stood slackly, watching with curiosity things that they apparently did not understand. Then, comprehending that this might be a new threat, they began to move around, mixing like a cloud of hornets, as if they were trying to confuse this new threat, whatever this new threat was. The larger digimon ignored it, thinking it beneath them. The smaller digimon prepared to use their maneuverability to avoid whatever was coming in.
The Standard missiles had been designed to shoot down not only enemy aircraft, but incoming missiles. At this range, with this many clustered targets, missing was simply not an option. The missiles streaked in at speeds outstripping any of the movements of the hostile digimon, racing until their proximity alarms told them that they were close enough to their targets. Then they exploded in a cloud of lethal, razor-sharp shrapnel.
Two dozen of the larger digimon were blotted from the sky in a moment, becoming only memories as large explosions ripped through them. Dozens more of the smaller digimon perished in the same way, torn apart by the storm of steel. Still more suffered horrible injuries, some cut up, some burned as the fuel left in the missiles ignited into burning sulfurous clouds. Some injured digimon staggered off toward the ground, flying like butterflies with broken wrings, limping and slamming loosely into the dirt. Still others fluttered for a few seconds before de-digivolving, filling the air with falling bodies. Pain overtook others, maddening them into insanity until they attacked whatever was nearer, battles of near epic proportions breaking out in the middle of the crowd.
Do we charge? Sora asked breathlessly.
TK replied shortly.
The fog parted, and the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Decauter rounded the point, weapons out and pointing. She was coming in broadside, unmasking all her batteries, and with a roar that nearly defied description, seventy-two Standard missiles leapt out of her Vertical Launch batteries and slammed into her enemies, filling the air with blood, data and shards of metal.
Now you can charge. TK reported.
Thy will be done. Sora murmured, and behind her the first airborne contingent of the InterDimensional Expeditionary Force swept into battle.
Willis. The big guns are on their way. TK's voice crackled through.
Wonderful that. Joe murmured from Willis' left, just as Zudomon's hammer sent another Scorpiomon flying through the air to crash into an abandoned building. We're getting butchered in place. Even though he was speaking, he was busy trying to bind a soldier's wound, ignoring the man's grunts of pain.
Steve threw himself down to the ground in front of both of them as another salvo of artillery slammed home, blasting earth everywhere, and covering him neatly in a cover of soot. We need help here! He looked over at the other two digidestined, Joe, still winding a bandage, was unconcerned with such trivialities as falling artillery shells.
What's up? Willis asked, coughing out some dirt from his mouth.
We're pinned down. We made it about five streets in, and then they started bringing up the really heavy stuff. Now we know where most of their Ultimates were, but that's not a great deal of help right now. We've got TITANs and heavy digimon trying to swarm us back into the ocean. The troops managed to dig in before they really hit us, but we're stuck, and sooner or later they're going to get lucky. Where's our support?
Here it comes! Gargomon took a moment off from filling the skies with high-velocity machine gun fire to wave at the shore. Willis, Joe and Steve all turned to look just as the first crunch of metal on sand and gravel marked the arrival of the first ship.
There was a crunch as the boarding ramp of the first ship dropped with a clang, revealing nervous faces behind it. There was another crunch as a flat-bottomed barge grounded as close to the shore as it could, and the splash as people jumped off into waist deep water, splashing through to land. From afar their movements were almost comical, waving arms and flailing legs straining against the continual beat of the surf. Every once in a while a man had to take a huge breath before being submerged by a gigantic wave. Some were forced to hide behind barriers, obstructions, and even the bodies of fallen comrades in the first wave as fire swept the beach, but they came onwards, and more ships were arriving every minute.
Then, with a roar that echoed throughout the city, they reached land. Five hundred digidestined and ten thousand Chinese shock troops stormed out of the surf and rushed the beach like a tidal wave.
So that's their game. Khartan mused quietly, ignoring Bane who was standing next to him. A full fledged frontal assault. I would not have thought them courageous enough to mount such an attack. I misjudged their unity.
Perhaps we underestimated them. Bane remarked quietly. The two were sitting in the observatory deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in West Shinjuku, staring out at the flashes of gunfire and explosives.
Indeed. Still, if this is all they plan, they have no hope. Khartan flicked a finger out almost insolently, dismissing the two Mega-level digimon guarding the doors.
They are landing units unopposed south of Yokohama. Bane reminded his ruler. And none of us have any idea what their human aerial units are doing.
Yes, although I do not know what they expect to accomplish. Khartan stared at the map. No matterit really isn't that important.
Then the lights went out.
What the hell? Tai looked around. Suddenly there was the disappearance of some of the crackling background noise, of the lights that had been flashing in the background. Ahead of him a malfunctioning traffic light had just stopped working entirely. It was a strange moment, and there was a lull in the noise of battle as soldiers on both sides noticed what had just happened.
This is TK. TK sounded over the communications net. It looks like that bet we hedged paid off.
Suddenly Tai grinned. I forgot about that. It paid off in spades. Izzy, are you ready?
Silly question. Izzy replied vocally. ImperialDramon and I have been waiting for nothing else for the past ten minutes or so. We're going in.
This is Raptor lead. That was Winters in the lead fighter. All assault squadrons, form on Mjolnir lead. Saber and Katana squadrons, we need you to run interference, make sure we have a hole in their lines. If they know we're coming, they're probably going to try and run some cover between us and their big guns, so mark your targets well, and ride your kills. I don't want anything coming back from the dead to haunt us.
This is air control. That was their supervisor, back on the Stennis. You are cleared to make your attack run.
Fire's pretty heavy over the fish market. Someone noted anonymously.
We'll swing around it. Izzy replied.
Copy that. Just be careful. That sounded a lot like Ken's voice.
Jesus. Will you look at that crossfire? Someone exclaimed.
Cut the chatter. That was Winters again. All units, break and attack.
We did it! Noriko yelled, dashing out the door.
All right, let's get the hell out of here. Hiroaki Ishida, carrying the weapon of a soldier he had hit over the head waved back toward the maintenance tunnel. They had come through a dozen such tunnels to hit the main power transfer relay, and were now fading out the same way. He had not believed how truly vulnerable Tokyo's power network had been, but their intelligence appeared to have been right. Just using the digimon of the few digidestined left in Tokyo had been enough to destroy the main power connections and send half the city into blackness. That and the help of Lieutenant Takaeda and his police allies who were attacking another power relay in another section of town. And the effort of a few graduate computer science students attached to the University, who were doing their best to gum up the works, and reroute power to the most useless locations.
Moving out. Jim reported, staring back down the direction he had come from. They'll know we're here soon, if they don't already.
Roger that. Hiroaki dashed out the door.
That sounded like Cody's grandfather. Something's coming! I can hear
The rest of his message dissolved into static as something exploded directly over Jim's head. The entire building shook, and huge chunks of concrete the size of small cars began to rain down around Jim's head. The youth ducked past them, and dove for the door when the door swung shut, rocked by the explosions overhead. For a moment Jim could not react as he watched the massive door slam shut. Then there was a hammering blow as his head struck, he had been unable to break his lunge in time.
His vision swam for a few moments as the world rotated around him. There was only a brief sound to alert him to his real danger, but his reflexes, impaired by his situation, were no longer up to the task. He tried to dive aside again, but he was barely able to move.
And then his world dissolved into piercing pain.
Let's do it people. Izzy called as the huge airborne formation broke up. Fighters went first, clearing the air with missile salvos that corkscrewed away from the big ships at speeds way above the speed of sound, seeking out their targets with devastating accuracy. Behind them came the rush of digimon held back for this moment, hundreds of them pouncing on any enemy survivors remaining in the vicinity, driving any raiders away from the huge fleet of helicopters and large, lumbering digimon in the second wave.
The first helicopters, skimming the ocean like skipping stones, arrived, small vehicles that could flit around like dragonflies. From them ropes were lowered and more troops, these from a multitude of nations too great to count, were dropped into the middle of the maelstrom the swirled beneath them, occupying key choke points in the streets near the waterfront. Behind them came the lumbering Champions, dropping more people from their backs as they coasted down onto the ground. They hit the ground with loud thuds, barely giving the people on their back a chance to unload their equipment, and then they were aloft again, speeding back to the huge freighters that carried even more people, waiting for a chance to attack.
These soldiers and their accompanying IDEF personnel hit the ground in sparse numbers, cutting off traffic in a number of districts, slowing down the massive horde of dark digimon that were trying to get to the front. Those digimon, hurrying along in their rush to join the fray, found themselves blasted at from all angles, stumbling and bleeding as fire hit them from buildings that had, moments ago, been unoccupied. Gunfire cracked over the whole city, and the occupiers suddenly found themselves under attack in a dozen different quarters of the urban environment, unable to move swiftly to beat back the attacks. Huge structures of steel and concrete became fortresses, they were hard to access if the elevators were off and the stairs blocked, and even the fast companies of dark digimon moving through the streets were hard pressed to attack those buildings.
Daniel scrambled off the back of a friendly Kabuterimon just as the rest of European Legion London, as well as almost a hundred Royal Marines in helicopters, dropped on the ground right next to Tokyo Station. A dozen Bakemon standing guard outside were toasted within moments as Deltamon opened up on them, and then the first teams of shock troops had broken down the doors, racing inside to secure critical shooting platforms. Even as the last of the friendly digimon raced inside to get out of the open, there was gunfire as snipers, managing to get to open windows, began to take potshots at passing digimon. Daniel, with Deltamon behind him, managed to squeeze through the front doors and braced themselves to hold the main entrance from further back in the lobby.
Outside there was another roar, and five more helicopters approached. Four lowered rope ladders, and a dozen men slid out of each helicopter, with five digimon leaping out of the last one as well, looking as if they were amused. The fifth helicopter had just begun lowering their ropes when a fireball arced through the air and caught it on one of its rotors, sending it spinning into the ground. Daniel watched in horror as the spinning body, lurching without the full use of its rotor, slammed into the ground, and immediately dissolved into a ball of burning fuel. Above him he could hear the characteristic sound of some of the digimon in his group opening up on whoever had fired on the first helicopter, and then he was too busy getting the people from the other helicopters inside and under cover.
An American trooper swore as he rushed inside, only to be cut off by the deafening sounds of aerial digimon and air-to-surface missiles blasting an enemy formation somewhere nearby in the city. Daniel glanced up in time to see a huge blur as ImperialDramon soared overhead, and then gunfire in the city itself warned him that the combat was upon them. And then he was too busy to think.
All right kids, here's where we are. General Sergev pointed to a location on his map. The location of the 21st Airborne Guards was sketched out, along with the positions of other units dropped close to nearly undefended Yokohama. Here's where we need to be. His finger lazily traced a winding path through the red marks of known enemy units until it reached the center of Tokyo. So the question is, how long will it take to get there?
It will be difficult General. One of his colonels stared at the map for a long moment. It will look like Stalingrad again, fighting through an occupied city against heavy odds. I do not know if we can do it.
I did not ask if we can do itI asked how long it would take. We have most of the heavy combat power in the invasion force. If Operation Normandy is to succeed we must break through enemy lines and unite with friendly forces near the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo. So, how long will it take to get there?
Fifteen kilometers, not that long, but long enough with a fight at the end of it. Another colonel mused. Tell them five hours.
Let's try to shave time off of that. Sergev growled. He turned to the blond haired girl next to him. Sonja, tell your people to be ready to move out.
They're already good to go. The girl reported, nodding at the rearing and prancing digimon nearby.
Let's move it out. Sergev waved forward, and Task Force Lionheart, InterDimensional Expeditionary Force, moved into battle.
Mimi ducked behind some crates and waited for the inevitable explosions to die down. Rosa was visible a few meters away, hiding behind what had once been a vehicle designed to move baggage, and now was little more than a burnt-out wreck. The girl's eyes were still bright, and that did not fail to impress the older girl. Somewhere in the distance there was the sound of continuing blasts of fire as digimon battled it out, nearer there was the roar of gunfire as troops from the IDEF's allies secured the last of the buildings, and blasts of rose-colored light as Lilymon reduced the last airborne enemies into dust.
What do we do now? Rosa mouthed, her voice indistinguishable above the scream of tortured metal and wounded people on the battlefield.
Then Lilymon was back, her wings folding up behind her as she hovered. I think we have the last of them. They weren't really expecting us to his way over here.
Mimi looked around nervously. They were a long way from any of their friends, but when TK had shown them the plan on paper it made a lot of sense, and she was still determined to carry it out. She took a moment to reflect on how far she had come from the little girl she had been and then steeled her resolve.
All right, tell control that we've cleared Narita International Airport for now. Tell them to get the air crews in here fast. Mimi looked around. The airport was far enough away from Tokyo that it apparently had not been seen as a priority target in this invasion, but its staging facilities would be invaluable for their airborne fighter aircraft. And control of it would be necessary for half of TK's plan to work.
So what do we do? Lilymon asked as the noise began to fade in the background.
We make sure it stays secure. Mimi replied grimly.
Matt and MetalGarurumon soared overhead the battle. A hundred missiles a second were reaching out from the lanky Mega, slamming into target after target with deafening force, freezing them over into immobility, and letting the supporting units finish them off quickly. It was getting crowded above the city, but they were still doing their job, and doing it well. Discarded data from hundreds of Champion level digimon was floating around them, and they kept firing. Any digimon that appeared a threat was a target, and MetalGarurumon was certainly not lacking targets.
Matt caught a glimpse of strange movement and spent a moment devoutly hoping that he had not seen what he thought he had. Then he took another look, and felt his heart sink down in his stomach as the most frightening prospect of the mission turned his guts to ice. Still, he reached down for his D3 to report.
Hey bro. Matt took a moment to watch more of the battle on the ground, his unease growing with every second.
Yeah Matt? That was TK all right, completely unruffled.
They've gone to plan B. Matt reported.
Some part of Matt was glad that his brother could still sound disconcerted. Does that mean
Matt confirmed, ducking down as MetalGarurumon started firing again. We've started fighting against humans over here.
Into the Valley of Death
"And there pass those who walk into darkness of their own free will. Remember their faces. You may never see their like again."
Gennai
But now, over fifty years late, the invasion that she had been constructed to assist was finally getting underway. Nine sixteen inch guns, the largest guns still afloat, swiveled sideways in their turrets, rose above the horizon and waited. Below the sixty-five foot long guns the gun crews, removed in time but not in duty from the Powder Monkeys and gunnery crews who served under Admiral Nelson, labored to put their heavy shells into the breech with the propellant and slam the hatch. There was a moment of silence as the firing setup was confirmed, and the critical time was reached, and then a monster of fire belched forth from the landward side of the huge battleship.
The sudden eruption of fire was clearly visible through the fog, through the dark and haze, lighting up the nearby ocean like day. Huge waves, created by the sudden explosion lashed outward.
But the squadron of sharp-eyed Nanimon and Mammothmon at the mouth of the harbor understood none of this. Their reliance on inner strength made digimon powerful fighters, but they had only a partial glimpse of the wonders of technology. They were also cold and miserable from standing guard out at the foot of the pier, with only the cold, blowing wind for company. They saw the flare of light on the horizon as a distraction, not something they were supposed to attack as it came into the harbor, and briefly wondered what caused it.
Then, nine 2,700 pound shells screamed in overhead and ended their worries forever.
Jesus Christ! Willis swore as the first salvo from the Missouri blew the harbor's first line of defense away with a fury that bordered on contempt. He clapped his hands uselessly to his ringing ears. That sucker's loud!
Someone tell the Missouri that they're right on target. And tell them to switch to target two. Kari's voice broke through the command channel.
This is Missouri, I'm passing it on. The voice on the other end was a little girl named Stacy who Tai had felt would be safer if she stayed behind, where she could be of use to them without exposing her youth and innocence to enemy fire.
Might as well open up with everything. TK advised. They sure as hell know that we're here now.
Willis turned to the rest of Team Eagle. Keep your heads down. It's about to get noisy out here.
Steve swore. If that was before it gets noisy, I'm not going to be able to hear anything by the time we get to shore.
Willis wanted to throw back some answering quip when there was another roar from behind, this one speaking with many voices. One of the barges carrying supporting artillery pieces had seemingly just fired its first barrage, and everyone shrunk down in the hull of the boat that was carrying them to make themselves into smaller targets.
On shore, over near the Tokyo Ferry Terminal on Odaiba itself, something that looked disturbingly like a group of digimon began to fire on something in the water. In return there was a series of thuds as one of the PLANs Luda class destroyers began to fire back. Moments later there was a cacophony as defenders belatedly opened fire, and the massive salvos of the fleet ships accompanying Operation Trafalger returned fire with a blistering array of weapons. Willis kept his finger jammed in his ears tightly and hoped against hope that the sheer overpowering noise would not render him deaf.
TK's voice echoing over the override channel was hardly necessary. Even before he said the word the first of the IDEF forces were already storming the beach.
Tai and Matt shot overhead, Megas in the lead, but not alone. Over a hundred other flying digimon came in their wake, dropping off bundles of equipment on the shore as the soared into battle. Those same bundles were quickly recovered by infantrymen swarming off the marine digimon and shallow bottomed boats in the first wave. The first defenders emerged to defend Odaiba, only as WarGreymon arrived. With a fury of metal claws a dozen Bakemon were ripped apart into shreds of falling cloth. Moments later the first serious opposition appeared, a pair of TITAN units lumbering down a narrow street in their direction.
Watch out Tai! WarGreymon's shield slid off his back and slammed down in front in time to catch a pair of missiles designed to penetrate the frontal armor of a heavy tank. He staggered backward, sliding along the ground, and came up swinging. But he barely had time to look at the two giant robots before they exploded into shards. A quick glance sidewise showed a dozen Americans discarding their first two anti-tank rocket casings, and flashing the Mega a thumbs-up.
Let's get going here. Tai hung on grimly as WarGreymon shot down the street, looking for the next opposition, another pair of TITAN units, and falling on them with claws unsheathed. As their metal guts came apart around them, Tai caught a brief glimpse of a pair of digimon, a Woodmon and a Meramon, locked in mortal combat, roaring by. Everywhere humans were firing, digimon were attacking, people were screaming, and fires were beginning. And this was still only the start.
Static Force! The wall surrounding the harbor area exploded inwards as Yolei and Silphymon blasted through. A moment later a whole crew of Russian troops moved through the hole, covering all approaches with the barrels of their assault rifles, blasting at a few flickers of movement, and covering the way for the dozen Champions that stormed through the gap.
How's it going? TK's voice crackled over the communication link.
Not bad. Yolei took another look around, but could not see anything out of place yet. We've almost secured the south-eastern section, and we'll be headed for Shiokaze Park as soon as we get enough troops into the dockyards. Even as she spoke she could watch another fifty soldiers and dozen digimon rush into the docks.
Take your time securing the area. We don't want to get hasty. TK warned.
I know. Yolei suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the air. Hold onI think I see something. Suddenly the shapes solidified into solid objects, huge gray insects flying towards them. Oh boy.
What is it? Silphymon asked gruffly.
It looks like we're in trouble. Yolei yelled and pointed. TK, they brought some Ookuwamon to the party!
I see them. Silphymon soared upwards.
Hold them off. TK snapped. Sora's on the way.
Astral Laser! Silphymon let fly with his first salvo, and a single Ookuwamon veered off course under the impact, but there were four more flying to the attack even as he spoke.
We'll do our best TK. Yolei promised But I don't know how long we can hold them.
Your best is all we'll need. TK replied. Let's get down to business.
ImperialDramon shrugged off his second load, and almost a hundred men, fully armed, tumbled onto the ground near the Tsukiji market, adjacent to central Tokyo. They quickly scrambled to their feet as the familiar glow of the cannon on ImperialDramon's back began again.
Positron Laser! A huge beam of energy cut a hole straight through a pair of hulking MetalTyrannomon that had emerged from behind a building to challenge the newly landed soldiers, and the two monstrous digimon collapsed into digital dust as the beam hit them. But more digimon were arriving every second, and the advance elements were ducking behind cars, storage tanks and buildings in an attempt to cover themselves.
It's a stalemate. Davis reported as Ken directed ImperialDramon's flight. Both sides are fightin' each other to a standstill. We need more people here and we need them here now!
I know. TK replied reasonably, with infuriating calm. But we need the big ships in there to support you, and we can't get the big ships up here until we neutralize the fortifications at Odaiba.
Well, you better tell the people on Odaiba to go fast, because our people are going to be cut to pieces up here without them. Davis knew he was being uncharitable, but the pressure of the moment was distracting him.
I'll keep it in mind. TK replied deadpan, and then he signed off as Davis dove behind the sheltering bulk of ImperialDramon's head as a lash of fire singed their shields.
Joe glanced sideways from his post on Zudomon's head as someone called out. Sure enough, there was a whole group of Gesomon, their white squid-heads protruding from the water, zooming straight for them. He was about to call Zudomon's attention to them, when the water began to fountain around them.
What's that? A young Korean girl shrieked and pointed at the sudden underwater detonations that surrounded them.
An old friend. Joe smiled.
There was a surge of water beside them, and then Submarimon emerged from the water, clear canopy peeling back to reveal Cody inside.
Was that the last of them? Joe asked.
The last in this area. Cody reported, checking his D-Terminal just to make sure. I just wanted to tell you that I cleared the outer patrols, so you should be safe as you head in, but that you should be careful as you get closer to Ginza. TK wants me to patrol the far side of Odaiba, so I'll be clearing off.
All right. Joe saluted Cody with one hand, and watched as the young boy slid beneath the waters, a deadly hunter once more.
What now? A tall digidestined boy asked.
We hit the beach as hard as we can. Zudomon! It should be clear sailing from here on out. Let's hit it!
Aye aye captain! The huge digimon, and the other marine digimon behind him, swarmed toward the beach.
Mimi watched Lilymon disappear upwards. The Ultimate could fight much better when she did not have a human on her back to take care of, and Lilymon would need every extra advantage she could squeeze out of her strength if things got as bad as it seemed that they would. TK had already been forced to commit his airborne reserves in order to support Yolei and the rest of that task force, currently clearing out the eastern side of Odaiba. Fortunately, it seemed that whatever ground forces were in the area were covering that side of the city.
There was a trampling of feet and then a panting girl that Mimi recognized as Rosa from Mexico stumbled up beside her.
There is nobody left here. All the fighting is on the other side of the island. Rosa explained breathlessly. We've got things covered.
Mimi breathed out a sigh of relief, and then got on her D3's communications channel. TK, it's Mimi. We've secured the Ariake area. It looks like we're cleared to move further.
TK sounded relieved, and Mimi wondered if he had any good news today. If any news in this mess could be considered good. Take half your team and barricade the western approaches. Send the other half to central Odaiba. The fighting is getting pretty fierce over here.
Kari peered out from behind the glass storefront for a moment, before jerking her head back in. She turned to the pair of digidestined standing right behind her.
It looks like they've taken up positions in the stairwell. I want to avoid them at all costs, so use the back exits, and see if you can get around them. Then you with the Rockmon, see if you can blast a way through these walls so we can outflank them. Kari shook her head at that last idea, but turned back toward watching the door. Here, inside the huge Odaiba shopping complexes, their maneuverability was constrained, but they still needed to move through as fast as possible. Every second wasted gave the defenders more time to bolster the defenses of Tokyo itself.
I don't see us advancing much faster. She admitted privately to TK. It's pretty much store to store fighting out there, and it looks real nasty.
Somehow I expected that. TK gave her a glance that caused her heart to flutter, and then went back to looking at maps as the sound of renewed fighting broke out in the main hallway. There were the harsh sounds of digimon growling out the names of their attacks, followed by a series of explosions. Then there was another sound, the sound of a grenade launcher coughing, and more explosions wracked the building.
A hissing sound drew Kari's attention closer to home, as a handful of cylindrical objects rolled past her observation point from somewhere behind them, and immediately began hissing, filling the hallway with a huge mass of smoke. Shapes moved in the smoke, shapes like men, amid confused shouts. Then there was the snarl of close-range gunfire, screams, more shouts, more gunfire, and then silence.
A man wearing corporal's rank insignia ran up to their impromptu command post. We've secured up to the last floor. He reported, but we're starting to run low on ammo. It's been pretty hefty fighting around here.
Try to secure the top floor anyway. Kari looked around, but there was nobody they could use to replace these worn-out soldiers. The rest of us better move onto Aqua City.
I agree. TK stood up. He looked at his watch and grinned wryly. It was 8:23.
That only took twenty-three minutes? Kari sounded aghast.
What a day this is going to be. TK sighed.
What the hell is going on? General Alexander snarled.
They've driven most of the opposition out of Odaiba proper, but there's still fighting in different areas all over the island. And there's a massive air battle occurring over the eastern part of the island. General Hayes reported, staring at the map. But we've got no choice. We've got to start pushing forward.
Are you kidding? Admiral Kelliam looked around at them. If they stop fighting in the air, they'll massacre half our ships.
We're out of time. General Alexander responded. I know we didn't want things to come to this, but we really don't have much of a choice left. Especially if we don't want to be massacred on the ground.
This is Takaishi. A voice broke over the command net. We're going to have to mark Operation Trafalgar as good. Operation Hastings is cleared to proceed.
Well, that tears it. General Hayes left the Combat Information Center to give the necessary orders to his troop commanders.
I hope you know what you're doing. Admiral Kelliam watched in helpless frustration as the first ships turned into contested waters. Or else this is going to be a very short battle.
Hastings is Go! Hastings is Go! The voice broke over the command net suddenly, and Willis felt his transport lurch under him. A cold sweat broke out all over his body as he realized, after that wait, that they were finally heading into real combat again. Another digidestined, a younger one that Willis did not know, appeared to be sweating and about ready to vomit, until Lou placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder.
We ready? Willis asked the others unnecessarily.
Do we have a choice? Phil grinned at him, and Willis rolled his eyes, even as the keel of the boat suddenly grounded against a shore that had been invisible only moments before.
He plunged off into the water and gasped in shock. The water was cold. When he had been told that they would be dropped off in shallow water, he had not pictured the gray wetness that now rose to his waste, but even through the shock he forced himself to move forward. The pain caused by the cold was nothing compared to the pain that would come if he was caught along here by the enemy. His head filled with thoughts of how freezing cold he would be in a matter of hours, and that his clothes would probably never dry out. Then the thought of being horribly wounded or dead in a few hours took that thought out of his mind.
As if to underscore the danger, a blast of energy soared over the beach, passing near enough to a young digidestined that she screamed, and immediately dove behind a washed-up sea buoy. More shots followed, and though none hit their targets, the advance stopped as digidestined threw themselves behind sand mounds and rocks and any other barriers that they could find.
Willis yelled as a few blasts of fire forced him to duck. Suppression fire!
Gatling Arm! Gargomon stood up and let a steady stream of fire hose back and forth over the opposition, and the volume of fire slackened off suddenly. Apparently the enemy also wanted to keep their heads down.
All right! Willis darted over the embankment he had ducked down behind. Up and at 'em!
For a moment the other digidestined, shocked and dismayed, did not move. They huddled in their seawater soaked clothes behind every barrier and every obstruction that they could find, staring up with fearful eyes. For a moment Willis despaired of them ever going anywhere. Then the members of Team Eagle, friendship overriding self-preservation, charged up behind him. Behind them more digidestined and their digimon followed, each unwilling to be left behind in the sudden shuffle that moved them forward. Willis let out an exuberant scream as he charged, and suddenly they were off the beach, and into the built up realm of Tokyo proper.
He vaulted a wall and found himself face to face with a Meramon who had been cowering behind the barrier. There was a moment while they stared at each other, and then the Meramon began to bring his arm up. Then a Monochromon slammed through the barrier and rammed into the Meramon, diverting the dark digimon's attention to a more dangerous foe. Endigomon stormed overhead as well, liberally salting the ground with fire from his chest-mounted cannons, even as Gargomon began to pick and choose his targets more carefully.
Strong Carapace! Lou and Tortomon blasted through a late arriving squadron of Bakemon, just as Centarumon, with Maria still clinging valiantly to his back, leapt over an entire beachfront building, hooves flailing with heavy, powerful blows at his enemies. Even the few Ultimate level digimon who had rushed to the beachfront fell back before those powerful blows, and by drawing back and bunching up, they changed themselves into ideal targets. Dozens of digimon partnered with digidestined concentrated their fire on their enemies, and behind them there was the hollow thump of grenade launchers. Dark digimon found themselves torn at with every type of weapon imaginable, fire and steel blasting through their ranks as easily as storm and sorcery. They screamed and blasted back, and their fire savaged the beachhead.
Fortunately, they were outmatched from the beginning. Even as they began to fight, to draw into open positions and to engage the IDEF from what strongholds they could still find, the tide had turned against them. Coupled with the surprise of the shock assault, the necessity of having to defend a huge patch of soil with inferior numbers of units took its toll before the fighting truly began. In the wake of the surprise came huge units of digidestined and their human allies, rushing isolated pockets of darkness before they could form, throwing themselves selflessly into the breach, sometimes armed with only sticks and stones, to tear apart the forces of evil. Even as they turned to flee they were cut apart by bolts of energy and lightning that rained down from all sides.
But they did not go down easy, and they did not go down alone.
Willis had only a moment to glimpse the prostrate human bodies lying all over the causeways near the beach before he was charging off, but the image was burned into his mind forever.
Sora ducked instinctively as Garudamon dodged a close shot, but managed to hang on to the flying Ultimate while the world bucked around her. For the past few minutes the world had been merely a blinding and bewildering collage of blurred colors and shining rays of light slashing by her. There had only been the sweat-soaked smell of Garudamon as Sora braced her face in the big Ultimate's feathers, only the sickening whirl as her stomach was ripped upside-down and inside-out and backwards to forwards.
Now she had a minute to think and regain her bearings. The first squadron had contained five Okuwamon only, and now they were all digital dust on the wind. The incoming fire was arising from a huge group of Flymon who had risen from the city itself, and now were in combat with everyone that TK had managed to throw into their path. Digimon twisted and turned, some hit by accident, some swatted out of the sky by collisions as opposed to enemy fire, but casualties were mounting on both sides, and Sora was not surprised to see that the ground below was covered with digidestined, clutching unconscious in-training digimon to them.
Garudamon reached out and effortlessly batted down one Flymon, but Sora could see the next attack, a dozen Roachmon rising in from the Imperial Gardens near the waterfront. Even from this distance she could see them bare their fangs and dive toward the battleground. Behind them more specks were appearing, drifting into view from all over the city, and behind her, Sora could see the digidestined from the other teams beginning to tire out.
TK, this is Sora. She spoke boldly into her D3.
This is TK. Go. TK responded calmly. There were some explosions in the background that Sora could hear, but nothing major. Still, she wondered how even he could remain so calm.
We're having problems here TK. She almost lost hold of her D3 as Garudamon lurched under her. They've managed to get a whole bunch of flying digimon into the area. We're seeing more of them all the time.
Wing Blade! Six Flymon who had been menacing a young boy on the back of a Unimon were blasted into so much dark dust, but more surged to take their place.
Message is understood. TK sounded calm, even as another digidestined and her digimon were hurled groundwards by another attack.
Don't you understand TK?! We're getting destroyed up here. Sora nearly screamed.
I know. But there's nothing else I can do. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. TK suddenly sounded lost, but his voice firmed up again. Stand your ground, help will be on its way shortly.
What's the plan? Yolei flew up behind Silphymon's shoulder as Sora heard TK shift his attention to other matters.
We hold here and hope our illustrious leader knows what he's doing. Sora looked around. Try to save as many as possible! We need more time!
I hate this. Yolei screamed as Silphymon peeled away to assist a group of digidestined.
I know. Sora whispered to the wind. I know.
Tai yelled, sticking his head around the corner. A blast of energy nearly took it off, and he ducked back with WarGreymon. We're out of luck on this side! He called. Across the street, covered with twisted debris, a man in a soiled green uniform stuck his assault rifle blindly around the corner and emptied the magazine in an attempt to suppress the fire headed back in his direction. Return fire blasted a pair of bricks above his head to sand, but he managed to duck back in time.
This isn't working! WarGreymon grumbled.
We'll have to use the other side. Tai looked back at the group of dirty young men and gave thanks that Izzy's translation program was still working. It looked like half of those depending on him were from different nations from any of the others. They were dirty, tired and almost all of them were bleeding from one part of their body or another.
Just like we did the last street. Tai told them, and they nodded, grouping up quickly and silently behind WarGreymon.
WarGreymon yelled and threw himself out of the shelter of the wall into the middle of an open street, shield closing around in front of him. A moment later there was the whistle of incoming fire, and then bullets and bolts of flame began to bounce off the shield. WarGreymon tightened with the effort of holding it up, tensing his muscles as more and more volume of fire began to pound at his flimsy defenses.
The humans poured out behind him and began returning fire, bullets and grenades whizzing down the street. One man, who looked French to Tai, clutched his shoulder suddenly and went down screaming. Tai stared at the man a moment in dull incomprehension. The sound of the man's screaming was lost in the roar of gunfire, but his face was contorted in pain and his mouth was open. It was unnerving, everyone almost deaf, but not blind, and death lurked behind every wall, around every corner.
Gradually, the return fire from the other end of the street began to slacken, and WarGreymon began to relax, but he looked worn. His shield was battered, and he was drawing from his own strength to add to the protection he could offer. Still, there were limits, even on his strength, and slowly, he was exhausting.
With the street clear scattered soldiers and digidestined emerged from other hiding spots amid the ruin and moved forward, but there were much less of them than there should have been. Here and there the flash of cloth and blood showed what had happened to the rest of them.
Matt, we're getting wasted down here. How about you? Tai spoke tiredly into his D3.
Not much better. Matt agreed tiredly. They're simply swarming us under over here. Odaiba is secure, but the troops on the mainland aren't getting anywhere.
I know. Tai replied, wiping sweat off his brow. I jumped over once most of Odaiba was secure. But we're getting mauled over here! We can barely stand still, let alone move forward. We need support!
I know. TK interrupted both of their frequencies. But I don't know where to get it.
My God man! Admiral Kelliam waved a hand to the scene on the radar. Have you looked at that? It's a hornet's nest out there. The flare of digimon from both sides mixing it up in the waters over Tokyo Bay lit up the screen. There's only one channel into the harbor, the one that skirts Odaiba, and there's goddamned World War III going on over that! I can't send ships through there, they wouldn't last a minute.
We don't have a choice. General Alexander slammed his fist on the display, making the radar operator jump. Our troops are getting shot to pieces up there. They need our help!
We're not going to be of any help if we die in the middle of the straight. Kelliam pointed out savagely.
Why you General Hayes started.
Quiet Sam. Alexander turned back to Admiral Kelliam. Now listen Admiral. For kids, the world is simple. There are bad guys, and then there are good guys. Bad guys are the scary ones, and good guys are everyone else. Everything we've ever told ourselves leads to us protecting those children, because they can't protect themselves. But now hundreds of childrenhave just thrown their lives into the heat of battle because we promised that if they did, that they would beat the bad guys. We promised to save them, and they believed it. We can't betray their trust. We promised ourselves, when we took the oath and donned the uniform, to keep people like them out of harm's way. We can't sacrifice them because we fear the consequences.
Or because we have a distinct lack of balls. General Hayes spat in disgust. The room went quiet and Admiral Kelliam straightened up.
Get me Port Royal. He ordered the communications officer.
This is Port Royal. The head Ticonderoga-class cruiser reported a few seconds later.
Jim? Do you see the area over the straight ahead? Do you think we can navigate it? Admiral Kelliam asked quietly.
A bit messy, isn't it sir? The man called Jim sounded uneasy.
Jim. Let me explain it like this, we have several thousand men being slowly ground to hamburger on the shore. Half of them are children as young as yours. The only way to save them is for us to punch through and support them. And a senior officer of the US Army has just questioned whether or not we have any balls. So I ask you, can we do it?
There was a moment of silence, then a reply. Sir, this is the USS Port Royal. We will ram the fuckers if you want us to. Sir. The voice sounded formal, but with an air of excitement behind it.
Very well, Port Royal, lead out and take the rest of first squadron with you. Second squadron, third squadron, form on them. Admiral Kelliam stepped backwards until he was even with the digidestined assigned to him. Mr. Takaishi, 7th Fleet, USN, is now officially yours to command. If you have firing priorities, pass them off directly.
He stepped back, nothing more than a passenger for a moment, and then looked at his comm officer again. And tell the bridge to prepare to move us into a supporting position.
His chief of staff stood up suddenly, but it was his flag lieutenant who objected. I must remind you that Nimitz-class carriers do not carry armament meant for engaging other targets directly. We are not outfitted for combat.
Kelliam's gaze was hard.
Aye aye sir. His flag lieutenant grinned suddenly.
You can't seriously mean to take the Fleet and the support ships into a combat zone. His chief of staff objected. It could be disastrous.
I thought I gave an order. Kelliam sounded mild.
There is no reason to endanger this entire His chief began.
GODDAMN IT! Kelliam pointed. Thousands of people are being shot at out there. We have a job to do! I gave an order! I expect it to be obeyed! If I say 'Jump!', you better bash your fucking brains out on that roof, or I will pull off your balls and shoot them at the enemy! Do you fucking understand me?!?
To his surprise, everyone, including the chief of staff, was grinning at him. Clearly, they were all insane and enjoying every minute of it.
Orders to the Fleet sir? His communications officer saluted sharply.
Tell them that the Free World expects every man to do his duty. He exhaled, wondering how Nelson would have seen that quote, and then tried to think of something momentous to say. Then he shrugged and gave up. Onwards and upwards. All ships are to fire as they bear. He sat down and gave the order he never thought he would.
Come about and prepare to engage enemy forces.
Get out of there! TK yelled, emotion returning to his voice in a rush.
Sora yelled.
Pull back! He yelled again. Get away from their big Ultimates! Get clear!
Pulling back. Sora acknowledged, waving the small group of digidestined still around her backwards. It would be a waste to spend all this time fighting over something we weren't going to use though.
Pull back! TK yelled again.
We're back, we're back! Yolei responded, sounding angry and flustered. What else should we do?
Pray that Willis' IFF system works. TK murmured, before signing off.
Sora and Yolei exchanged quick glances. The Identify-Friend-or-Foe system was something that Willis and the IDEF computer programmers had sweated their butts off building, designing a system that could, based on the emissions of the their digivices, be able to tell the difference between digidestined digimon and evil ones. It had taken Michael threatening to institute daily whippings to get the system done and installed on time, but digimon did not need to use it, so why would it be used now unless
The USS Port Royal turned ten degrees to clear its forward decks for firing. A moment later there was a click as hatches opened mechanically, and the forward Mark 41 Vertical Launch System spat out the first forty-eight Standard SM-2(MR) missiles into the air. A burst of flame obscured the launch, and digimon everywhere turned to watch the fiery columns rise into the air.
Enemy digimon stood slackly, watching with curiosity things that they apparently did not understand. Then, comprehending that this might be a new threat, they began to move around, mixing like a cloud of hornets, as if they were trying to confuse this new threat, whatever this new threat was. The larger digimon ignored it, thinking it beneath them. The smaller digimon prepared to use their maneuverability to avoid whatever was coming in.
The Standard missiles had been designed to shoot down not only enemy aircraft, but incoming missiles. At this range, with this many clustered targets, missing was simply not an option. The missiles streaked in at speeds outstripping any of the movements of the hostile digimon, racing until their proximity alarms told them that they were close enough to their targets. Then they exploded in a cloud of lethal, razor-sharp shrapnel.
Two dozen of the larger digimon were blotted from the sky in a moment, becoming only memories as large explosions ripped through them. Dozens more of the smaller digimon perished in the same way, torn apart by the storm of steel. Still more suffered horrible injuries, some cut up, some burned as the fuel left in the missiles ignited into burning sulfurous clouds. Some injured digimon staggered off toward the ground, flying like butterflies with broken wrings, limping and slamming loosely into the dirt. Still others fluttered for a few seconds before de-digivolving, filling the air with falling bodies. Pain overtook others, maddening them into insanity until they attacked whatever was nearer, battles of near epic proportions breaking out in the middle of the crowd.
Do we charge? Sora asked breathlessly.
TK replied shortly.
The fog parted, and the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Decauter rounded the point, weapons out and pointing. She was coming in broadside, unmasking all her batteries, and with a roar that nearly defied description, seventy-two Standard missiles leapt out of her Vertical Launch batteries and slammed into her enemies, filling the air with blood, data and shards of metal.
Now you can charge. TK reported.
Thy will be done. Sora murmured, and behind her the first airborne contingent of the InterDimensional Expeditionary Force swept into battle.
Willis. The big guns are on their way. TK's voice crackled through.
Wonderful that. Joe murmured from Willis' left, just as Zudomon's hammer sent another Scorpiomon flying through the air to crash into an abandoned building. We're getting butchered in place. Even though he was speaking, he was busy trying to bind a soldier's wound, ignoring the man's grunts of pain.
Steve threw himself down to the ground in front of both of them as another salvo of artillery slammed home, blasting earth everywhere, and covering him neatly in a cover of soot. We need help here! He looked over at the other two digidestined, Joe, still winding a bandage, was unconcerned with such trivialities as falling artillery shells.
What's up? Willis asked, coughing out some dirt from his mouth.
We're pinned down. We made it about five streets in, and then they started bringing up the really heavy stuff. Now we know where most of their Ultimates were, but that's not a great deal of help right now. We've got TITANs and heavy digimon trying to swarm us back into the ocean. The troops managed to dig in before they really hit us, but we're stuck, and sooner or later they're going to get lucky. Where's our support?
Here it comes! Gargomon took a moment off from filling the skies with high-velocity machine gun fire to wave at the shore. Willis, Joe and Steve all turned to look just as the first crunch of metal on sand and gravel marked the arrival of the first ship.
There was a crunch as the boarding ramp of the first ship dropped with a clang, revealing nervous faces behind it. There was another crunch as a flat-bottomed barge grounded as close to the shore as it could, and the splash as people jumped off into waist deep water, splashing through to land. From afar their movements were almost comical, waving arms and flailing legs straining against the continual beat of the surf. Every once in a while a man had to take a huge breath before being submerged by a gigantic wave. Some were forced to hide behind barriers, obstructions, and even the bodies of fallen comrades in the first wave as fire swept the beach, but they came onwards, and more ships were arriving every minute.
Then, with a roar that echoed throughout the city, they reached land. Five hundred digidestined and ten thousand Chinese shock troops stormed out of the surf and rushed the beach like a tidal wave.
So that's their game. Khartan mused quietly, ignoring Bane who was standing next to him. A full fledged frontal assault. I would not have thought them courageous enough to mount such an attack. I misjudged their unity.
Perhaps we underestimated them. Bane remarked quietly. The two were sitting in the observatory deck in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in West Shinjuku, staring out at the flashes of gunfire and explosives.
Indeed. Still, if this is all they plan, they have no hope. Khartan flicked a finger out almost insolently, dismissing the two Mega-level digimon guarding the doors.
They are landing units unopposed south of Yokohama. Bane reminded his ruler. And none of us have any idea what their human aerial units are doing.
Yes, although I do not know what they expect to accomplish. Khartan stared at the map. No matterit really isn't that important.
Then the lights went out.
What the hell? Tai looked around. Suddenly there was the disappearance of some of the crackling background noise, of the lights that had been flashing in the background. Ahead of him a malfunctioning traffic light had just stopped working entirely. It was a strange moment, and there was a lull in the noise of battle as soldiers on both sides noticed what had just happened.
This is TK. TK sounded over the communications net. It looks like that bet we hedged paid off.
Suddenly Tai grinned. I forgot about that. It paid off in spades. Izzy, are you ready?
Silly question. Izzy replied vocally. ImperialDramon and I have been waiting for nothing else for the past ten minutes or so. We're going in.
This is Raptor lead. That was Winters in the lead fighter. All assault squadrons, form on Mjolnir lead. Saber and Katana squadrons, we need you to run interference, make sure we have a hole in their lines. If they know we're coming, they're probably going to try and run some cover between us and their big guns, so mark your targets well, and ride your kills. I don't want anything coming back from the dead to haunt us.
This is air control. That was their supervisor, back on the Stennis. You are cleared to make your attack run.
Fire's pretty heavy over the fish market. Someone noted anonymously.
We'll swing around it. Izzy replied.
Copy that. Just be careful. That sounded a lot like Ken's voice.
Jesus. Will you look at that crossfire? Someone exclaimed.
Cut the chatter. That was Winters again. All units, break and attack.
We did it! Noriko yelled, dashing out the door.
All right, let's get the hell out of here. Hiroaki Ishida, carrying the weapon of a soldier he had hit over the head waved back toward the maintenance tunnel. They had come through a dozen such tunnels to hit the main power transfer relay, and were now fading out the same way. He had not believed how truly vulnerable Tokyo's power network had been, but their intelligence appeared to have been right. Just using the digimon of the few digidestined left in Tokyo had been enough to destroy the main power connections and send half the city into blackness. That and the help of Lieutenant Takaeda and his police allies who were attacking another power relay in another section of town. And the effort of a few graduate computer science students attached to the University, who were doing their best to gum up the works, and reroute power to the most useless locations.
Moving out. Jim reported, staring back down the direction he had come from. They'll know we're here soon, if they don't already.
Roger that. Hiroaki dashed out the door.
That sounded like Cody's grandfather. Something's coming! I can hear
The rest of his message dissolved into static as something exploded directly over Jim's head. The entire building shook, and huge chunks of concrete the size of small cars began to rain down around Jim's head. The youth ducked past them, and dove for the door when the door swung shut, rocked by the explosions overhead. For a moment Jim could not react as he watched the massive door slam shut. Then there was a hammering blow as his head struck, he had been unable to break his lunge in time.
His vision swam for a few moments as the world rotated around him. There was only a brief sound to alert him to his real danger, but his reflexes, impaired by his situation, were no longer up to the task. He tried to dive aside again, but he was barely able to move.
And then his world dissolved into piercing pain.
Let's do it people. Izzy called as the huge airborne formation broke up. Fighters went first, clearing the air with missile salvos that corkscrewed away from the big ships at speeds way above the speed of sound, seeking out their targets with devastating accuracy. Behind them came the rush of digimon held back for this moment, hundreds of them pouncing on any enemy survivors remaining in the vicinity, driving any raiders away from the huge fleet of helicopters and large, lumbering digimon in the second wave.
The first helicopters, skimming the ocean like skipping stones, arrived, small vehicles that could flit around like dragonflies. From them ropes were lowered and more troops, these from a multitude of nations too great to count, were dropped into the middle of the maelstrom the swirled beneath them, occupying key choke points in the streets near the waterfront. Behind them came the lumbering Champions, dropping more people from their backs as they coasted down onto the ground. They hit the ground with loud thuds, barely giving the people on their back a chance to unload their equipment, and then they were aloft again, speeding back to the huge freighters that carried even more people, waiting for a chance to attack.
These soldiers and their accompanying IDEF personnel hit the ground in sparse numbers, cutting off traffic in a number of districts, slowing down the massive horde of dark digimon that were trying to get to the front. Those digimon, hurrying along in their rush to join the fray, found themselves blasted at from all angles, stumbling and bleeding as fire hit them from buildings that had, moments ago, been unoccupied. Gunfire cracked over the whole city, and the occupiers suddenly found themselves under attack in a dozen different quarters of the urban environment, unable to move swiftly to beat back the attacks. Huge structures of steel and concrete became fortresses, they were hard to access if the elevators were off and the stairs blocked, and even the fast companies of dark digimon moving through the streets were hard pressed to attack those buildings.
Daniel scrambled off the back of a friendly Kabuterimon just as the rest of European Legion London, as well as almost a hundred Royal Marines in helicopters, dropped on the ground right next to Tokyo Station. A dozen Bakemon standing guard outside were toasted within moments as Deltamon opened up on them, and then the first teams of shock troops had broken down the doors, racing inside to secure critical shooting platforms. Even as the last of the friendly digimon raced inside to get out of the open, there was gunfire as snipers, managing to get to open windows, began to take potshots at passing digimon. Daniel, with Deltamon behind him, managed to squeeze through the front doors and braced themselves to hold the main entrance from further back in the lobby.
Outside there was another roar, and five more helicopters approached. Four lowered rope ladders, and a dozen men slid out of each helicopter, with five digimon leaping out of the last one as well, looking as if they were amused. The fifth helicopter had just begun lowering their ropes when a fireball arced through the air and caught it on one of its rotors, sending it spinning into the ground. Daniel watched in horror as the spinning body, lurching without the full use of its rotor, slammed into the ground, and immediately dissolved into a ball of burning fuel. Above him he could hear the characteristic sound of some of the digimon in his group opening up on whoever had fired on the first helicopter, and then he was too busy getting the people from the other helicopters inside and under cover.
An American trooper swore as he rushed inside, only to be cut off by the deafening sounds of aerial digimon and air-to-surface missiles blasting an enemy formation somewhere nearby in the city. Daniel glanced up in time to see a huge blur as ImperialDramon soared overhead, and then gunfire in the city itself warned him that the combat was upon them. And then he was too busy to think.
All right kids, here's where we are. General Sergev pointed to a location on his map. The location of the 21st Airborne Guards was sketched out, along with the positions of other units dropped close to nearly undefended Yokohama. Here's where we need to be. His finger lazily traced a winding path through the red marks of known enemy units until it reached the center of Tokyo. So the question is, how long will it take to get there?
It will be difficult General. One of his colonels stared at the map for a long moment. It will look like Stalingrad again, fighting through an occupied city against heavy odds. I do not know if we can do it.
I did not ask if we can do itI asked how long it would take. We have most of the heavy combat power in the invasion force. If Operation Normandy is to succeed we must break through enemy lines and unite with friendly forces near the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo. So, how long will it take to get there?
Fifteen kilometers, not that long, but long enough with a fight at the end of it. Another colonel mused. Tell them five hours.
Let's try to shave time off of that. Sergev growled. He turned to the blond haired girl next to him. Sonja, tell your people to be ready to move out.
They're already good to go. The girl reported, nodding at the rearing and prancing digimon nearby.
Let's move it out. Sergev waved forward, and Task Force Lionheart, InterDimensional Expeditionary Force, moved into battle.
Mimi ducked behind some crates and waited for the inevitable explosions to die down. Rosa was visible a few meters away, hiding behind what had once been a vehicle designed to move baggage, and now was little more than a burnt-out wreck. The girl's eyes were still bright, and that did not fail to impress the older girl. Somewhere in the distance there was the sound of continuing blasts of fire as digimon battled it out, nearer there was the roar of gunfire as troops from the IDEF's allies secured the last of the buildings, and blasts of rose-colored light as Lilymon reduced the last airborne enemies into dust.
What do we do now? Rosa mouthed, her voice indistinguishable above the scream of tortured metal and wounded people on the battlefield.
Then Lilymon was back, her wings folding up behind her as she hovered. I think we have the last of them. They weren't really expecting us to his way over here.
Mimi looked around nervously. They were a long way from any of their friends, but when TK had shown them the plan on paper it made a lot of sense, and she was still determined to carry it out. She took a moment to reflect on how far she had come from the little girl she had been and then steeled her resolve.
All right, tell control that we've cleared Narita International Airport for now. Tell them to get the air crews in here fast. Mimi looked around. The airport was far enough away from Tokyo that it apparently had not been seen as a priority target in this invasion, but its staging facilities would be invaluable for their airborne fighter aircraft. And control of it would be necessary for half of TK's plan to work.
So what do we do? Lilymon asked as the noise began to fade in the background.
We make sure it stays secure. Mimi replied grimly.
Matt and MetalGarurumon soared overhead the battle. A hundred missiles a second were reaching out from the lanky Mega, slamming into target after target with deafening force, freezing them over into immobility, and letting the supporting units finish them off quickly. It was getting crowded above the city, but they were still doing their job, and doing it well. Discarded data from hundreds of Champion level digimon was floating around them, and they kept firing. Any digimon that appeared a threat was a target, and MetalGarurumon was certainly not lacking targets.
Matt caught a glimpse of strange movement and spent a moment devoutly hoping that he had not seen what he thought he had. Then he took another look, and felt his heart sink down in his stomach as the most frightening prospect of the mission turned his guts to ice. Still, he reached down for his D3 to report.
Hey bro. Matt took a moment to watch more of the battle on the ground, his unease growing with every second.
Yeah Matt? That was TK all right, completely unruffled.
They've gone to plan B. Matt reported.
Some part of Matt was glad that his brother could still sound disconcerted. Does that mean
Matt confirmed, ducking down as MetalGarurumon started firing again. We've started fighting against humans over here.