Road Trip: The Final Frontier!
By ShinobiWolf
First of all, thank you to Zoleth, GemmaniGirl, Cave Cat, Wedge, and Sparklegirl Sassy for reviewing. I've never really gotten reviews in this fast before, so it really means a lot to me. And thank you to Wedge for the writing tips. I'm not the kind of person who comes up with stuff to write on a weekly basis, so my writing suffered for it. This time around there's more narrative paragraphs than dialogue, compared to the last two chapters. Not to mention that this chapter is twice as long. Every author has their own unique style of writing, but I'll welcome any tips for how to improve on it. Just no flaming. It doesn't make matters any better, and besides, it's just plain rude. And I did say in the summary that this is a sequel. If you don't understand who Yuki is, or what her accident was, I highly suggest that you read "Changing Fate" and "Long Hours" right now, in that respective order.
It was beginning to grow late. Tiredness plagued them all, but Takuya was hit the hardest. Hours of staring at gray road were starting to make his eyes bloodshot. Kouji sat in the passenger seat next to him.
"Maybe I should take over for the night."
"Nah, I'll be fine." Takuya suddenly found himself wide-awake. "On second thought…" He stepped on the brakes so hard that he sent Kouji to the windshield. "She's all yours!" He leaped over sleeping teenagers with amazing speed as he raced to… the bathroom. Kouji peeled himself from the floor, which is where he found himself after colliding with the windshield. He checked the rear-view mirror.
It was a good thing no one was behind us… And while he was at it, he straightened his newly cut bangs. He couldn't believe how light his head felt, especially after he had about half of his ponytail chopped off. He adjusted the seat shifted the RV into gear.
A few moments later, Takuya returned from the bathroom and slumped down in the passenger seat.
"Junpei told you you'd regret all that soda. I'd ask you why you do stupid things, but that would be pointless-"
Takuya was already fast asleep, a huge snot bubble coming from his nose. Kouji continued to drive throughout the night. And surprisingly enough, everyone else slept through it all.
xxxxx
And so it was decided that Takuya and Kouji would trade off driving duties. And being mid-day the next day (and after a full night of rejuvenating sleep), Takuya was at the wheel again. Not that he was enjoying it, of course. They had been in a constant downpour ever since he had awoken, and it showed no signs of letting up. And those dang windshield wipers were getting on his nerves… But contrary to the stormy surroundings, the inside of the RV was comfortable and dry. Not to mention the air held the scent of mouth-watering Italian pasta.
It was Izumi's turn to make lunch on the humble RV stove. She sighed, not able to wait until it was done. Not that she was that hungry… Kouji, Kouichi, and Yuki were waiting patiently, but Junpei and Tomoki were starting to drool… Izumi had the most relieved look on her face when the kitchen timer finally went off.
By the time everyone was done, there wasn't a single scrap left.
"Man, Izumi. Where'd you learn to cook like that?" Takuya patted his expansive belly.
"From my mother, not that I haven't already told you fifteen times…"
"Oh, right."
"Hey guys, I just thought… What if Bokomon and Neemon were on this trip with us? It'd be kind of like last time…" Tomoki pointed out as he handed Yuki his plate, which was licked clean.
"Yeah, except without the 'getting chased by evil Digimon' part. Too bad we can't just open up our own portal… It'd be pretty sweet to have those two around." Junpei held his D-Tector up in order to examine it. After their last foray into the Digital World four years ago, their D-Tectors failed to return to their original states.
Takuya rose from the couch to return to the driver's seat. (He did pull the RV over to the side of the road so that he could eat as well.) He stopped as he heard a knock at the door. Seeing as how they were parked to the side of a busy freeway, he was curious. Takuya had a brief conversation with someone before shutting the door. The others didn't like this at all. Needless to say, Takuya looked freaked.
"Well, who was it?" Kouichi asked.
"It was a cop…"
"He didn't give you a ticket or anything, did he?" Izumi gasped.
"No. I don't know how to tell you guys this, but…" Takuya earned some anxiously curious looks from the others. "A criminal just escaped from a prison in this area."
"Yer kidding, right?" Skeptical Junpei asked. A convict on the loose? I mean, come on! What are the chances of that?
"No, I'm not kidding…"
This news shocked them, but they knew that if they kept right on driving they would be all right. And they solemnly swore to not pick up any hitch hikers, especially if they were wearing prison garb. In no time at all they were on the road again with Takuya as their faithful leader. Izumi and Kouichi had to carry Junpei back to his seat, though, on account of the poor boy had fainted while standing up.
xxxxx
Not even twenty minutes later, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Rain fell in sheets so heavy that visibility out the side windows was pretty much nil. A deafening thunderclap knocked Kouji out of a peaceful nap in his place in the passenger seat. He growled at no one in particular before trying in vain to find another comfortable spot on the seat. Tomoki wouldn't peel his face from the window above the couch.
"You really can't see anything…"
"What are you looking for Kid?"
"You just need to relax." Izumi tried to sooth Tomoki's fears. "No silly criminal is going to get us. Not as long as we're in this sturdy, trusty RV." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than the RV lurched slightly, and a not very promising flapping sound came from the outside.
Tomoki gave Izumi a look. "You were saying?"
She instinctively started to chew on her thumbnail. Okay okay, breathe. You're trying to break that habit. Takuya pulled over and went for the door.
"Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Erm, fixing the problem?"
"Out in weather like this?! With an escaped convict waiting around the corner of the RV to murder you?!"
"Izumi! Chill! This isn't some teenage horror flick! Besides, you're choking Junpei…"
"Oh, sorry…" Izumi had to virtually peel her fingers from his throat. "Well, maybe you should just wait until the storm lets up."
"Maybe you're right." Takuya sat on what little couch space was left. They decided that since they weren't going anywhere for a while, they should pop in a movie. Tomoki decided on "Shrek". The others had never seen it before (Save for Junpei.) so they didn't have any objections.
xxxxx
A/N: Could you imagine Shrek dubbed into Japanese?
xxxxx
Takuya didn't have to look out the window to figure that the storm still hadn't let up yet. And they had already gone through half of the movie. Kouji gave up on his futile quest for sleep and joined Yuki on the floor to watch the movie. But at any given time when he would glance at her, she would either not be watching the movie or nervously chewing on a potato chip. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. (Not escaping the eyes of half the people behind them, mind you.)
There's something outside. I just know there is. It was at this precise time that Yuki wished NeoLucemon hadn't created her with such sensitive hearing. A lump rose in her throat as Takuya stood and reached for the door.
He silently cursed to himself. They just had to not bring jackets. He heard the door creak and turned to discover that Kouji had followed him out.
"What are you doing out here?"
"What does it look like? Helping. And bringing this." Kouji held up a big flashlight.
Lo and behold, one of the back tires was flat. Takuya grabbed the spare while Kouji went back to get a couple of tools. They met back at the flat tire, and suddenly realized. They hadn't the foggiest idea as to how to change the tire.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Eeeeeeeek! The convict is going to kill us!" The two frightened boys jumped into each other's arms.
"Actually, he was captured a couple of miles back…"
The boys slowly opened one eye at a time. It was the cop from before. Then they looked at each other. "Hey, get off…"
"You grabbed me first."
"You kids need some help?"
"Yeah, sure…"
xxxxx
The whole group was relieved to have sunshine the next day. Which was good, considering that their next stop was…