Chapter 23: The Enemy of My Enemy
"James." There was a weak pushing on my shoulder. "James, wake up, I'm scared." I groggily opened my eyes to find Joey standing beside the bed. The sun was barely over the horizon and glared into the room, the blinds of the windows left wide open from the night before. Everybody else was still sound asleep. Jennifer had rolled over in the night and her arm was lying across my chest—I couldn't help but blush a vibrant red. I moved her arm, pulled out my digivice and looked at the time: 7:00 AM.
"What's wrong?"
"Just… look." Joey walked over to the window and leaned against it slightly for a better view of what scared him. I followed and stood behind him. "It's the Devimon." In the distance we could see Japan. However, it wasn't like we had left it the night before.
It was pitch black, thick clouds hanging drearily over it, casting shadows over the landscape. There was no longer any color to the island; it looked like the moon. The barren rock jutted out from the ocean scarring the view of it, standing out in the beautiful blue waters of the Pacific. Most of all was the Devimon. They swarmed around the island in circles like buzzards zoning in on road-kill. Along with them were what looked like tornadoes, but I couldn't tell from so far. If they were, they were easily F5's, miles wide while sending dust and debris everywhere. However, for all we could tell, they were just columns of Devimon flying about pointlessly.
"Man Joey, you're right. That is scary." I continued staring until I felt something. I felt like I was looking somebody square in the eyes, and them back. I broke my gaze and backed from the window. "Don't worry about it but remember, that is why we're here. To make sure that doesn't happen everywhere."
"But… how are we supposed to stop them?" I had never seen Joey act like this before. He always acted like he was as old as we were. He could have fooled anybody into thinking he was just a really short teenager who for some reason, had yet to hit puberty.
"We'll find a way. We're digidestined, we always find a way." I thought to myself for a minute. "Remember when the first ones beat Venomyotismon? They didn't know what to do at first either." Joey stopped looking at the islands and stepped away from the windows. He looked at me for a moment with dread in his eyes, but quickly replaced it with a weak smile.
"I guess you're right."
"You know I'm right. Would I lie to you?" He shook his head and his fear fell away from him. "Now come on, let's go wake up Gennai." We walked into the den and I quickly got Gennai up. It was getting much easier with each time I did it.
"What is it now?" He yawned. "Even data needs rest."
"Yeah well we need a battle plan Gennai, what should we do? Where do we go next? We're five kids with amazing powers, but we're running short on miracles."
"Didn't that army stop Myotismon's force without you?"
"Yeah but what does that have to…"
"Well what do you think one could do WITH your help?" Gennai cut me off.
"Well Gennai what do you want me to do, walk up to the de-militarized zone and draft all the troops there?" I was trying to keep my voice down, but Gennai was getting on my nerves. I spoke in a stressed, sarcastic tone.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Joey and I stared at the screen.
"Please tell me you're kidding." I rested my face in my gloves. I hadn't gotten a full night's sleep because of my long chat with Gennai.
"Not at all. You can either get them to fight with you now or they'll fight for you when the fighting has begun."
"You know that the people along that line have…"
"… had missiles pointed at each other for fifty years? Yes, I know. I know my fair share of human history." Genai finished my sentence for me. "Just trust me." He got up from the computer and it clicked off. Joey looked at me.
"So what do we do?"
"Well Joey, we hope that Bush isn't hated as much as the news says he is."
"ARE YOU NUTS!?" Kristen screamed at me as we all hurriedly made sure we hadn't dropped or left anything behind. "That's twenty miles of No Man's Land! We'll be gunned down before we can get within shouting distance!"
"Calm down. Just because they are technically still at war doesn't mean they'll shoot us… right?" Jennifer walked between Kristen and me.
"Right. Besides, we're going to just contact the south side first. We get the help of the Americans and the South Koreans and get a meeting with whoever is on the north side. I'm sure they'll help us seeing what has happened to Japan." Kristen crossed her arms stubbornly.
"Well how do we get there, it's at least three, four hundred miles."
"We fly, just like we got here from Japan."
"What if we're shot down?"
"We fly low and under radar."
"What if somebody reports us?"
"Then we land and walk until the skies are clear."
"What if…"
"Oh just give it up already! We're going!" Chris finally lost his nerve and yelled at the two of us. "We need help and they don't want to die. Now I'm the leader and what I say goes!"
"Who made you the leader?" I yelled back. Chris fumbled about for some words before finally shouting back without thinking.
"I… I've got the goggles!" I rolled my eyes and made sure I had all my things: shades, wallet, and D-X. That was about it.
"Ready people?" Everybody nodded. "I hope you got a full night's sleep." I spoke to Tentomon as he hovered behind Kristen.
"Oh, can't we get some food first?" I hadn't thought of food. I thought for a moment before realizing I hadn't eaten anything for weeks. The data I had absorbed must have kept me running. That wasn't the case anymore and at first thought of food, my stomach nearly collapsed on itself. It growled loudly. I tried to keep talking and act cool, but everybody laughed anyways.
"Sure. I guess we can stay a few more minutes and call room service."
"This place is beautiful!" Kristen shouted over the winds blowing against Megakabuterimon. "Kind of hard to believe it was a war-zone once!" We had eaten breakfast at the hotel with some uneasiness. None of us knew what it was exactly that we ate, but we ate it none the less. It was good, but Korean food doesn't quite appeal to me like a nice Cheeseburger. We were cruising over the landscape of South Korea, looking down over the landscape. I had always imagined it looked like jungle, but in reality it didn't. Everybody except Jennifer was on the back of Megakabuterimon; she had digivolved to Kazemon and flew on her own.
"Yeah well get a nice good look, because I bet that in the next twenty-four hours it's going to be a war-zone again!" I shouted back over the wind. We had been flying for about two hours solid now, without any rest or hesitation. It never got boring flying on the back of a giant bug.
"What's that down there?" Chris pointed down to the ground, goggles over his eyes so that he could see through the wind. I had my shades on while Kristen and Joey sat just behind Megakabuterimon's head so that it would block the wind. I looked over the edge down at the ground and saw troops training on the ground below. They were all pointing up at us and shouting, running about.
"I told you we'd be spotted!" Kristen yelled at me with a smug look on her face.
"I think we're here guys. Let's land." Chris shouted orders and held on tightly. Megakabuterimon's back was not as nearly as smooth as I had imagined it would be when I was little. Megakabuterimon lowered down to a small clearing in the trees and dropped us off before devolving back to Tentomon. Kazemon landed and devolved too and we looked around.
"Where'd they go?" Joey looked around. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" Joey shouted into the woods. Suddenly there was volley of loud clicking; the guns being cocked and aimed.
"Get on the ground!" Soldiers aimed from around trees at us, yelling without breaking eye contact. Everybody dropped down, including Tentomon and Agumon, except me. I decided it was time to be stupid.
"Jeez man, calm down. We're on your side." The soldier wasn't swayed.
"Kid I'm telling you, get on the ground now or I'll shoot!" I could hear a flurry of movement behind me where the others were lying on the ground. I guessed that the other troops were apprehending them. I could hear muffled yells.
"Listen, we only want to… whoa!" I stopped talking and threw up my arm. My gloves glowed brightly and the bullet bounced off it. "Holy smack man!" The soldier looked at me with amazement. "Are you done?"
"Um… please… get on the… ground." The soldier was breathing a little faster. I would be too if I had just seen somebody knock a bullet away with their ski-gloves. His aim became a little unsteady. I could hear more movement behind me. I got ready to turn around and fight but there was a shout from further in the trees.
"Drop those weapons!" It was an officer of some rank, I could tell. "The last thing we need is a dead teenager being paraded across the news." The officer looked younger than the soldier who had been aiming at me.
"But sir, they're the ones who were with the monsters sighted."
"New rule! Don't shoot any Digimon unless I give specific orders to do so! We don't have enough information yet to rule out who is good and who is bad." I looked at the man.
"What did you just call them?" The officer looked at me like I was an old friend of his.
"You should know. You're wanted for questioning. It seems the UN as a few more questions for you. Not to mention the fact that you are registered as runaways back in the states."
"How do you know all this?" The soldiers behind the trees all eased up and began to come into the open.
"Well you and you're friends were paraded all over America's Most Wanted until Japan was attacked and you all were brought to the UN. Then you were made out to be inhuman, and you have yet to disprove that."
"It doesn't really matter but I'm all human." I whacked my chest a little harder than I meant to and let out a short gasp. "Anyways, my friends and I need to speak with the person in charge around here." The soldier looked at me, the smile gone from his face.
"Why?" I thought to myself for a minute and decided to be honest.
"We want to coordinate a joint defensive between American, South, and North Korean troops against the imminent invasion from Japan." Some troops laughed at me but the officer kept a straight face.
"Okay. Come with me." The soldiers stopped laughing and looked at their officer as if he had lost his mind. I followed the officer through some woods to a Hummer sitting on a dirt road. "Get in; your friends will be there when we get there."
"Where is there?"
"There is all you need to know." I began to wonder if this guy really was nuts.
"So let me get this straight. You expect me to send thousands of troops south to Pusan to defend against an invasion that only you seem to know about? Then you want me to get the North Koreans to do the same, all at the command of a bunch of kids!?" The general yelled at us, veins bulging on his head. He was your stereotypical commander: bald with a cigar in his mouth; small, beady eyes; and a perfectly ironed uniform that ran into his head because he had no neck. "Who do you think I am!?" We all sat in chairs in front of his desk.
"I knew they wouldn't listen." Kristen murmured under her breath
"We're not just kids, we're…"
"Don't give me that hero crap!" He jumped up from his desk. "Hell, that's all anybody talks about around here! Monsters and aliens in Japan; I haven't seen shit! For all I know this could just be people panicking over some new Godzilla movie or some damned thing like that!" I jumped up and leaned on the desk, face to face with the commander.
"You want proof!? I'll give you proof!" I jumped over the desk to a computer sitting on another desk against the back wall.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I quickly grabbed hold of the monitor of the computer, which was already turned on, and focused. A moment later Gennai was on the screen and the general was at my throat. "What the… who the hell is that?"
"Calm down commander. My name is Gennai and I'm here to explain a few things to you." The commander's grip loosened on my neck and I backed away from him.
"Get talking, fast." The commander sat down in his chair and I quickly made my way to the other side of the desk while Gennai spoke.
"Calm down Chris, I don't think ALL communists are evil. What was the name of that communist musician dude that wrote that really patriotic song? I can't remember his name or the song…" I tried to ease Chris' nerves as we rode along towards the border with the commander.
"Quit it kid." The commander scoffed at me. He had believed Gennai and prepared the South Korean and American troops accordingly, but he resented having to go to his enemy for help. It was about one in the afternoon and the sun beat down on the Hummer. It was just another regular military one without air conditioning or anything, so the five of us: the commander, Chris, Agumon, the driver, and myself, had to sweat it out. Everybody else had gone back to Pusan to help prepare the defense of the city. We were riding in the middle of a tropical forest; not thick enough to call Jungle but the trees reminded me of the palm trees at the beach back home. "There is no such thing as a 'good communist'. All that damn press has finally gotten to you." I felt the same way he did, but I was doing my best to convince Chris that he wasn't going to be shot. The vehicle hit a bump and Chris jumped.
"Ahhh! We're hit!"
"No where not! Calm down man. Where's that fiery, ignorant courage I'm used to seeing." If looks could kill the commander would have annihilated the both of us by now.
"Sir!" The soldier driving the vehicle shouted to the commander, sitting in the back with us. "We're here!" The vehicle crawled to a stop and I looked out of the front at the paradise like scenery—something that could have never been scarred by the sting of battle.
"Unless we fought the Korean War completely underground, I think you're a little off man." I spoke sarcastically to the soldier. He withheld a retort and pointed forward. In the distance there was a dust cloud being kicked up by an old jeep, speeding down the dirt road. It was the only other people we had seen since going into the De-Militarized Zone. It quickly reached us and came to a stop. The door opened and a tall, finely dressed officer stepped out. He was easily in his fifties or sixties; you could see the years of wear and tear in his eyes, as well as in the wrinkles on his face. He stood perfectly straight and nodded his head only ever so slightly as the commander stepped out of the Hummer, the rest of us in tow. When Agumon hopped out, his eyes widened a little and he stared.
"Is this what you have come for help with? A lizard and a pair of kids?" The North Korean mocked the commander.
"Is this what you have come for help with? A famine that could have easily been prevented except for your own insurmountable incompetence?" The two looked as if they were about to shoot each other.
"Calm down and back away." I stepped between the two, making sure I had a hand to contend with each man if things went down hill. "Sir, let me do the talking." The commander glared at me and took a few steps back.
"You believe that I have the time to talk of these matters with a child?!? This is an insult!" The North Korean looked about himself in frustration, yelling.
"Sir, with all due respect, I'm the one that organized this meeting and would prefer it if you didn't refer to me as a child. If I were in your country I think you would quickly slap a gun in my hands if worse came to worst." This made the Korean officer shut up quickly. "Have you seen or heard of the devastation of Japan?"
"No. I have received no news of anything happening in Japan except for that it has been destroyed by monsters."
"Okay then, quick review of the situation." I took a deep breath and began talking quickly. "There is a world other than our own Earth called the Digital World. It is made up of the physical forms of the data generated by the computers and digital devices in our own world. Creatures in this world are wide and various and some are evil. The most evil of these beasts has found a way into our world and laid waste to the Japanese islands. Current information has convinced us that his next target is Pusan, South Korea. If he breaks through, then I expect that all of Korea, and possibly Manchuria will be smoke and ash by the end of tomorrow. These creatures harness incredible powers, such as the one with us today. Agumon, please step forward." I sounded like an auctioneer. "Chris, could you help him digivolve?" The Korean looked at me as if I was insane.
"Excuse me, but… digivolve?"
"The Digital World equivalent of evolution, only sped up to occur in an instant." I nodded to Chris and his digivice glowed. Agumon shouted.
"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!" The red light cleared and the now much larger Greymon towered over us. The Korean tried to say something, but stumbled for words.
"As you can see this is one incredible creature." I nodded to Chris and he nodded to Greymon. Greymon aimed to our left at a clump of trees.
"Nova Blast!" A blast of flame shot out and incinerated the trees. The Korean took a few steps back.
"And this is not even close to what we're up against. However, we have found out that conventional weapons and explosives are effective against the Digimon we must fight. This is why we're here. We need to organize as many troops to hold Pusan and the Korean peninsula. If we can turn the tide here, we can beat the evil digimon back into the Digital World. So what do you say, will you help us?" The Korean broke out of his fearful glare and calmed down, realizing what I had just said. It was a lot to take in.
"What is in it for us?"
"You mean other than getting to go on living? Ask him, I have nothing more to offer." I pointed at the commander.
"I have attained permission from Washington to offer a full aid-package to North Korea in exchange for their services in this endeavor." The commander had calmed down while I had talked. "Food, funds, assistance on public works projects, as well as a lift of trade embargos on North Korea." The Korean looked down for a moment in thought.
"I must attain permission from…"
"Don't. You know he won't let you." I cut him off. "Leaders of nations tend to be dense and therefore are being left out of this matter as much as possible." He looked at me as if I was aiming a gun at him.
"You don't understand. If I fight alongside and enemy, I will be killed for treason!"
"No you won't, you have my word." He hesitated before finally agreeing.
"What forces should I bring?" The commander finally took my place in negotiations. I walked back and hi-fived Chris.
"All of them. Bring everything you have. We are already organizing our own troops along the beaches and the outskirts of Pusan. Any missiles or heavy weapons are most important. The bigger the gun, the better." Chris, Agumon, and I walked around back behind the Hummer.
"Dude, that was smooth." Chris rocked his head a bit as if he were listening to a CD. "Very smooth."
"Quit trying to act cool. You aren't good at it." Agumon and I laughed and Chris looked crushed.
"Hey, I thought you were my partner!" Chris yelled at Agumon.
"Ease up Chris. We're just kidding." Agumon waited a moment. "Right?" He looked at me and I stopped laughing.
"Right." The commander jogged back to us and we could hear both vehicles cranking up.
"Everybody in, we're going."
"So what about the North Koreans? They're going to help?" Chris tried to catch the commander's attention as he flung the trunk-like door to the Hummer open.
"Yes. They're sending everything they have from along the DMZ line to Pusan."
"And how many thousands of troops would that be?" I asked as I piled in after Chris and Agumon.
"More than you need to know. Now let's go. They'll get headed to Pusan immediately. I expect they'll get there in about two days."
"Two days!?" I yelled in shock. "We don't have two days! We're going to be attacked tonight!"
"It's a lot of troops to move young man and… how do you know when they're going to attack?" The commander eyed me suspiciously.
"You're asking me this after I hacked a connection into the Digital World, organized a combined force of three nations that all hate each other, and knocked away a bullet?" The commander's gaze was unwavering. "I know for reasons that you could never understand." My voice lowered a little and it was enough for the commander to back off. The Hummer sped along twice as fast as it had the way here, trying to get to Pusan before nightfall. I guessed we had around ten hours to get there.