Chapter 14 – The Approaching Storm
*I found it.*
*Where?*
*It moves constantly, so it's hard to track, but it also moves in a definite pattern. Now that I know that pattern, I can find it again at any time.*
*Good. Tomorrow we go hunting.*
*How are you going to explain how you know where she is to the Digidestined?*
*I won't. I think it's time ChaosGallantmon stepped in again. Keep tabs on that flying fortress. Let me know if it does something out of its ordinary schedule.*
*Understood.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood in the airport again, trying to find Mimi's gate.
Well, that's not quite true…
I knew where the gate was, but I couldn't get to it. Something had stopped the internal tram that led to the concourse.
While I was on it.
I wish I could have brought Tentomon with me…
But that wasn't possible. Hiding a digimon on a plane was a bad idea. Even Palmon would be coming through the digital world a bit later, where she was keeping Biyomon company right now.
Then, the tram started again, and it lurched forward towards the international arrivals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Attention Passengers: Please make sure all seat backs and trays are in their upright and locked positions. Please put on your seat belts and prepare for landing.*
I looked out the window. I could see Odaiba International Airport from my window. I got excited. I could picture it. Izzy would be standing there with that small nervous smile of his, hands in pockets. Sora…
Sora won't be there.
I sighed. Nothing would be close to the same until we got Sora back.
Poor Sora…
I shook my head.
There's nothing I can do right now, so I might as well focus on something positive.
There was a considerable thump as the plane touched down, and I waited for the plane to be taxied to a stop.
I hope Izzy has some news for me…
But chances are he wouldn't, and we would still be at a stand off. Then, the seat belt sign was turned off, and I grabbing my carry on, rushed to the front of the plane.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Customs was… a pain. That's the word.
Who knows what would have happened happened if Palmon had been with me…
But at least that nightmare was over with. Now I could get out and talk with Izzy. I wandered out and looked around. No Izzy. No where.
Where is he?
Then, there was a sudden commotion on the escalator. I turned to see Izzy trying to run through several people to get up. I smiled. Izzy was always compulsively punctual, and panicked if he was late.
Izzy certainly is cute when he's panicked. Those wild eyes are adorable.
I grinned as Izzy skidded to a stop in front of me.
"Slow down, Izzy, you'll give yourself a heart attack."
He complied, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath before speaking again.
"Sorry Mimi, the tram kept stopping for some reason. I was on time originally."
I smiled and shook my head.
"Izzy, Izzy, Izzy. You can't be on time for everything you know. Sometimes you just have to deal with it."
He smiled back, a little sheepish.
"Sorry Mimi. It's just the way I am, but I'll work on it."
I laughed as we boarded the tram.
"You do that. I'll be testing you every now and then."
Then I frowned.
"But, seriously. What's happened out here since I checked last?"
He sighed.
"You mean since Monday? Nothing. Except Tai's taken over the flower shop in addition to everything else."
"That idiot! That's too much to handle. You can burn yourself out really fast if you take on too much at once. We'll have to talk him out of it."
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Are we talking about the same Tai? We'll never convince him to drop it. Matt even tried hitting him and it didn't do anything."
I frowned. As barbaric as it was, getting hit by Matt, or slapped by Sora, usually snapped Tai out of doing something stupid.
"Well we'd better find Sora soon then, before he blows up from the pressure."
Izzy ventured a friendly smile.
"Yeah. You sure sound like you know what you're talking about Mimi…"
"Why do you think I quit modeling?"
"Oh…"
There was an awkward silence then, which lasted about five seconds, before the lights cut off and the tram slammed to a halt, causing me to fall over on top of Izzy. I lay there blushing. I tried to get up, but someone else bumped into us in the dark and I fell back down again. Izzy's entire body might as well have been steel. He was too stiff and frightened to move. I sighed, and this time actually managed to make it to my feet…
…when the tram started again, knocking me back on to him. Izzy's face could have been mistaken for a tomato, he was so red. Our faces were inches apart, and Izzy's eyes were more than a little wide. I smiled in an effort to break the tension, and clambered to my feet, and held my hand out to Izzy. He took it and righted himself, but sat down on a bench to wait for his flaming face to cool off. I smiled at him. He smiled nervously back, and we began to make small talk all the way back to his place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is he?!"
"I'm not sure Tai, the last time I saw him was last night. He said something about getting an early start today."
I sighed. Tai was getting very irritable. He also seemed to think Takato would be very good help for this search. Why, I wasn't sure.
"Okay, we'll look without him. I just hope he stays safe. All right, has anyone found anything about the whereabouts of that flying machine?"
"Floramon mentioned that she saw something big go over head once…"
I glanced at Veemon, who was holding his hat nervously in both hands.
I agree with him. Tai isn't exactly stable these days…
Wormmon looked up at me from my arms, a worried expression on his face as well. I grimaced. Tai glared at Veemon.
"Once! Who knows where it could be now!"
Tai paused and took a deep, calming breath, holding up a hand to stall Matt, who had raised a fist.
"No. Sorry. You didn't deserve that Veemon, I'm just worried is all."
He nodded.
"We know Tai. We're not taking it too seriously, just calm down…"
Tai nodded back.
"Thanks Veemon. All right, I guess we have to keep searching. We keep going, ask any Digimon we find, and most importantly, stick together. We don't need anyone else going missing right now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I blinked.
*Are you sure that this is the right one? I don't really see how it flies.*
*It's wings really work, but yes, I'm sure. This is the only thing that flies right now in the digital world with sufficient mass.*
*Great.*
"Takatomon, BlackGuilmon is hungry!"
I sighed and looked back.
"You can open the bag now boy. When you're finished, we're going in, so don't eat yourself sick."
"Right Takatomon!"
I looked out at the flying machine. It was big, it was stone, and it was a sphinx. It was landed right now; apparently it had to forage for supplies every so often. When it flew again, we would assault it in mid air. An attack would be expected on the ground, but the air was another story.
I'm betting they don't believe anyone will find them in the air…
BlackGuilmon tapped me on the shoulder. He was finished. I smiled and took the bag. I looked in. The bag still had a few pieces of bread in it. I looked at my digimon carefully.
"Something wrong boy?"
"Nope. You said BlackGuilmon shouldn't eat until he gets a tummy ache. So I didn't."
I grinned at him.
"That's great boy. You did a good job."
Feeling a little hungry myself, I grabbed one of the remaining pieces and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully. I swallowed the rest quickly, as the wings on the thing started to come to life, beating slowly to prepare for take off. I looked at BlackGuilmon. He nodded and growled lightly, readying himself for combat.
Biomerge
Digivolution_
BlackGuilmon Biomerge to… ChaosGallantmon!
I grunted as the form took affect. It had been awhile since we had become ChaosGallantmon. It felt good.
*Let's go Grani.*
*Right.*
We jetted off after the giant fortress, and circled it.
*You see any place to get in Grani?*
*Hmmm. We should try on top.*
*Why the top?*
*It's where the GrandKuwagamon just came out.*
I looked up, and sure enough, there was a GrandKuwagamon.
*It's probably best to eliminate him out here, the catch up to the fortress. One less mega inside that thing would do wonders to even the odds. Let's go Grani.*
*Right Takato.*
We rocketed off towards the GrandKuwagamon.
"DEMON'S DISASTER!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUGGGHH! Where can that stupid thing be?!
WarGreymon and I had been searching forever it seemed like. I glanced behind me. Every digimon who could fly was in the air behind us, the majority of the destined riding in Imperialdramon.
"DIMENSION SCISSORS!"
WarGreymon stopped and we looked to our left. There, in the distance, was a battle. A black and blue figure jumped and was caught by a blue and gold one, and they were fighting a GrandKuwagamon.
"JUDDECA PRISON!"
The GrandKuwagamon burst into data, and the two figures paused for a moment before turning and flying off. I waited a second, and then made a decision.
"WarGreymon, follow those digimon!"
"Right Tai!"
We flew swiftly behind the fleeing pair. The knight-like figure glanced back at us once, so I knew we weren't getting away with anything.
It's either a trap or it's not. Either way, I bet he knows something.
And know something he did. The clouds parted to reveal a giant sphinx coursing trough the air. I smiled grimly.
"That must be the place."
WarGreymon nodded.
"Yeah. But whose side is he on?"
"We'll find out when we get there."
The knight opened what appeared to be a hatch on the top of the thing and jumped inside.
"We won't fit through that Tai."
I smirked.
"Then we'll have to make our own door won't we?"
WarGreymon grinned back. We flew through the air to the front of the thing.
"Now WarGreymon!"
"Right. TERRA FORCE!"
The neon green ball of light sped towards the giant sphinx, and took out one of the crystalline eyes situated in its face. We zoomed in, and the other digidestined followed, disembarking from Imperialdramon.
Imperialdramon Mode Change to… Imperialdramon: Fighter Mode!
The other digimon ascended to their highest levels, and we ran forward, taking down the door to the next room. Which turned out to be a mistake.
In the room were dozens of Digimon. All the ones we had seen exiting the tomb earlier that week, plus many others of their kind. The Mekanorimon and Golemon were up front, and the Bulbmon and Megadramon were in back. But that wasn't the really bad thing. The really bad thing was that behind the ultimate leveled digimon, there were dozens of Soras, digivices raised.
Oh crap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrived at my apartment pretty tired. I unlocked the door and showed Mimi to the room that Takato and I had cleaned out earlier, and we then went over to my computer.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Of course I am Izzy! Sora's in trouble, and I'm not letting a plane ride stop me from trying to help her! We're going, and that's final!"
"Yes Mimi."
She smiled at me.
"That's the spirit. Let's go!"
We entered the Digital world, and Tentomon and Palmon were there to greet us.
"What's going on Tentomon? Any news?"
"Yes. Azulongmon reports that Tai and the others found the flying fortress by following that knight we saw last time. Azulongmon says that he can direct us to it now that he's found it."
Mimi smiled next to me.
"Great! With us on the way those idiots won't stand a chance! Let's go!"
*I found it.*
*Where?*
*It moves constantly, so it's hard to track, but it also moves in a definite pattern. Now that I know that pattern, I can find it again at any time.*
*Good. Tomorrow we go hunting.*
*How are you going to explain how you know where she is to the Digidestined?*
*I won't. I think it's time ChaosGallantmon stepped in again. Keep tabs on that flying fortress. Let me know if it does something out of its ordinary schedule.*
*Understood.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood in the airport again, trying to find Mimi's gate.
Well, that's not quite true…
I knew where the gate was, but I couldn't get to it. Something had stopped the internal tram that led to the concourse.
While I was on it.
I wish I could have brought Tentomon with me…
But that wasn't possible. Hiding a digimon on a plane was a bad idea. Even Palmon would be coming through the digital world a bit later, where she was keeping Biyomon company right now.
Then, the tram started again, and it lurched forward towards the international arrivals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Attention Passengers: Please make sure all seat backs and trays are in their upright and locked positions. Please put on your seat belts and prepare for landing.*
I looked out the window. I could see Odaiba International Airport from my window. I got excited. I could picture it. Izzy would be standing there with that small nervous smile of his, hands in pockets. Sora…
Sora won't be there.
I sighed. Nothing would be close to the same until we got Sora back.
Poor Sora…
I shook my head.
There's nothing I can do right now, so I might as well focus on something positive.
There was a considerable thump as the plane touched down, and I waited for the plane to be taxied to a stop.
I hope Izzy has some news for me…
But chances are he wouldn't, and we would still be at a stand off. Then, the seat belt sign was turned off, and I grabbing my carry on, rushed to the front of the plane.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Customs was… a pain. That's the word.
Who knows what would have happened happened if Palmon had been with me…
But at least that nightmare was over with. Now I could get out and talk with Izzy. I wandered out and looked around. No Izzy. No where.
Where is he?
Then, there was a sudden commotion on the escalator. I turned to see Izzy trying to run through several people to get up. I smiled. Izzy was always compulsively punctual, and panicked if he was late.
Izzy certainly is cute when he's panicked. Those wild eyes are adorable.
I grinned as Izzy skidded to a stop in front of me.
"Slow down, Izzy, you'll give yourself a heart attack."
He complied, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath before speaking again.
"Sorry Mimi, the tram kept stopping for some reason. I was on time originally."
I smiled and shook my head.
"Izzy, Izzy, Izzy. You can't be on time for everything you know. Sometimes you just have to deal with it."
He smiled back, a little sheepish.
"Sorry Mimi. It's just the way I am, but I'll work on it."
I laughed as we boarded the tram.
"You do that. I'll be testing you every now and then."
Then I frowned.
"But, seriously. What's happened out here since I checked last?"
He sighed.
"You mean since Monday? Nothing. Except Tai's taken over the flower shop in addition to everything else."
"That idiot! That's too much to handle. You can burn yourself out really fast if you take on too much at once. We'll have to talk him out of it."
He looked at me like I was crazy.
"Are we talking about the same Tai? We'll never convince him to drop it. Matt even tried hitting him and it didn't do anything."
I frowned. As barbaric as it was, getting hit by Matt, or slapped by Sora, usually snapped Tai out of doing something stupid.
"Well we'd better find Sora soon then, before he blows up from the pressure."
Izzy ventured a friendly smile.
"Yeah. You sure sound like you know what you're talking about Mimi…"
"Why do you think I quit modeling?"
"Oh…"
There was an awkward silence then, which lasted about five seconds, before the lights cut off and the tram slammed to a halt, causing me to fall over on top of Izzy. I lay there blushing. I tried to get up, but someone else bumped into us in the dark and I fell back down again. Izzy's entire body might as well have been steel. He was too stiff and frightened to move. I sighed, and this time actually managed to make it to my feet…
…when the tram started again, knocking me back on to him. Izzy's face could have been mistaken for a tomato, he was so red. Our faces were inches apart, and Izzy's eyes were more than a little wide. I smiled in an effort to break the tension, and clambered to my feet, and held my hand out to Izzy. He took it and righted himself, but sat down on a bench to wait for his flaming face to cool off. I smiled at him. He smiled nervously back, and we began to make small talk all the way back to his place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is he?!"
"I'm not sure Tai, the last time I saw him was last night. He said something about getting an early start today."
I sighed. Tai was getting very irritable. He also seemed to think Takato would be very good help for this search. Why, I wasn't sure.
"Okay, we'll look without him. I just hope he stays safe. All right, has anyone found anything about the whereabouts of that flying machine?"
"Floramon mentioned that she saw something big go over head once…"
I glanced at Veemon, who was holding his hat nervously in both hands.
I agree with him. Tai isn't exactly stable these days…
Wormmon looked up at me from my arms, a worried expression on his face as well. I grimaced. Tai glared at Veemon.
"Once! Who knows where it could be now!"
Tai paused and took a deep, calming breath, holding up a hand to stall Matt, who had raised a fist.
"No. Sorry. You didn't deserve that Veemon, I'm just worried is all."
He nodded.
"We know Tai. We're not taking it too seriously, just calm down…"
Tai nodded back.
"Thanks Veemon. All right, I guess we have to keep searching. We keep going, ask any Digimon we find, and most importantly, stick together. We don't need anyone else going missing right now."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I blinked.
*Are you sure that this is the right one? I don't really see how it flies.*
*It's wings really work, but yes, I'm sure. This is the only thing that flies right now in the digital world with sufficient mass.*
*Great.*
"Takatomon, BlackGuilmon is hungry!"
I sighed and looked back.
"You can open the bag now boy. When you're finished, we're going in, so don't eat yourself sick."
"Right Takatomon!"
I looked out at the flying machine. It was big, it was stone, and it was a sphinx. It was landed right now; apparently it had to forage for supplies every so often. When it flew again, we would assault it in mid air. An attack would be expected on the ground, but the air was another story.
I'm betting they don't believe anyone will find them in the air…
BlackGuilmon tapped me on the shoulder. He was finished. I smiled and took the bag. I looked in. The bag still had a few pieces of bread in it. I looked at my digimon carefully.
"Something wrong boy?"
"Nope. You said BlackGuilmon shouldn't eat until he gets a tummy ache. So I didn't."
I grinned at him.
"That's great boy. You did a good job."
Feeling a little hungry myself, I grabbed one of the remaining pieces and bit into it, chewing thoughtfully. I swallowed the rest quickly, as the wings on the thing started to come to life, beating slowly to prepare for take off. I looked at BlackGuilmon. He nodded and growled lightly, readying himself for combat.
Biomerge
Digivolution_
BlackGuilmon Biomerge to… ChaosGallantmon!
I grunted as the form took affect. It had been awhile since we had become ChaosGallantmon. It felt good.
*Let's go Grani.*
*Right.*
We jetted off after the giant fortress, and circled it.
*You see any place to get in Grani?*
*Hmmm. We should try on top.*
*Why the top?*
*It's where the GrandKuwagamon just came out.*
I looked up, and sure enough, there was a GrandKuwagamon.
*It's probably best to eliminate him out here, the catch up to the fortress. One less mega inside that thing would do wonders to even the odds. Let's go Grani.*
*Right Takato.*
We rocketed off towards the GrandKuwagamon.
"DEMON'S DISASTER!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUGGGHH! Where can that stupid thing be?!
WarGreymon and I had been searching forever it seemed like. I glanced behind me. Every digimon who could fly was in the air behind us, the majority of the destined riding in Imperialdramon.
"DIMENSION SCISSORS!"
WarGreymon stopped and we looked to our left. There, in the distance, was a battle. A black and blue figure jumped and was caught by a blue and gold one, and they were fighting a GrandKuwagamon.
"JUDDECA PRISON!"
The GrandKuwagamon burst into data, and the two figures paused for a moment before turning and flying off. I waited a second, and then made a decision.
"WarGreymon, follow those digimon!"
"Right Tai!"
We flew swiftly behind the fleeing pair. The knight-like figure glanced back at us once, so I knew we weren't getting away with anything.
It's either a trap or it's not. Either way, I bet he knows something.
And know something he did. The clouds parted to reveal a giant sphinx coursing trough the air. I smiled grimly.
"That must be the place."
WarGreymon nodded.
"Yeah. But whose side is he on?"
"We'll find out when we get there."
The knight opened what appeared to be a hatch on the top of the thing and jumped inside.
"We won't fit through that Tai."
I smirked.
"Then we'll have to make our own door won't we?"
WarGreymon grinned back. We flew through the air to the front of the thing.
"Now WarGreymon!"
"Right. TERRA FORCE!"
The neon green ball of light sped towards the giant sphinx, and took out one of the crystalline eyes situated in its face. We zoomed in, and the other digidestined followed, disembarking from Imperialdramon.
Imperialdramon Mode Change to… Imperialdramon: Fighter Mode!
The other digimon ascended to their highest levels, and we ran forward, taking down the door to the next room. Which turned out to be a mistake.
In the room were dozens of Digimon. All the ones we had seen exiting the tomb earlier that week, plus many others of their kind. The Mekanorimon and Golemon were up front, and the Bulbmon and Megadramon were in back. But that wasn't the really bad thing. The really bad thing was that behind the ultimate leveled digimon, there were dozens of Soras, digivices raised.
Oh crap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrived at my apartment pretty tired. I unlocked the door and showed Mimi to the room that Takato and I had cleaned out earlier, and we then went over to my computer.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Of course I am Izzy! Sora's in trouble, and I'm not letting a plane ride stop me from trying to help her! We're going, and that's final!"
"Yes Mimi."
She smiled at me.
"That's the spirit. Let's go!"
We entered the Digital world, and Tentomon and Palmon were there to greet us.
"What's going on Tentomon? Any news?"
"Yes. Azulongmon reports that Tai and the others found the flying fortress by following that knight we saw last time. Azulongmon says that he can direct us to it now that he's found it."
Mimi smiled next to me.
"Great! With us on the way those idiots won't stand a chance! Let's go!"