Chapter 23:
World of Destruction:
Part 1
As Tai slowly opened his eyes, he rubbed the back of his head. He didn't know how, but he found that he had a large lump under his hair. He sat up and examined himself. He felt a strange feeling when he noticed that he was in the same body as the previous world. He wonder what would happen to that Tai, but remembered that Sara said that bodies would be created for them.
He suddenly remembered which world he was in, Sara and Sam's world! The world that Emperor Tai wanted to get into! He stood up and looked around at the world.
It was a scene from the end of the world. The sky was covered in a thick smog, and only a small ray from the sun came through. The pavement was covered with large potholes and buildings were falling apart around him. He heard a blasting siren behind him. He spun around and saw a massive building with two large towers on top.
"Tai!"
He turned around and saw Kari running towards him, still wearing the suit from the previous world. "Kari," he smiled, "I'm glad you here."
She nodded. "But where is here?"
"It looks like Hell," Tai said,"Where are the others?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. We must have been separated. What do we do now?"
"I guess we try to find them. Come on."
The two siblings walked down the destroyed streets until they reached a block of the city that had a group of buildings that were still standing. They found what appeared to be a bar.
Tai turned to Kari. "Should we try here?"
Kari shrugged. "All right. I'm just going to stay close to you, if that's okay."
Tai chuckled. "Sure."
They stepped through the salon doors and entered inside. It was a regular design, with a bar on the far wall and a group of tables in front. The patrons were loud and noisy and most of them looked like they had escaped from a prison. Tai took a deep breath and walked to the bar. The bartender looked like he had escaped from the ape pit at the zoo. He looked at the two with an odd glance. "What'll it be?"
Tai looked at the row of bottles on the wall. He couldn't find anything that he recognized, so he said, "Just give us something that won't make us drunk."
"Won't make you drunk?" he chuckled, "All right, sure."
As he started making their drinks, the two siblings glanced around at the people in the bar. Half of them looked like they were from the Dark Ages, with swords and shields. Many of them even looked like ogres and trolls. "This place is hell," Kari muttered.
"Here you go," the bartender said, placing two glasses on the bar.
"Thanks," Tai said. As he sipped the drink, he said, "Excuse me, I'm looking for someone. Maybe you can help."
"Yeah?"
"Two girls. One has blond hair and the other has brown."
"That really helps. How old?"
"Well, that's the thing, I don't really know."
"You don't?"
"Yeah, well, they don't always look the same, but I do know their hair color."
"Well, that helps a lot," the bartender sighed, "Do you at least know their names?"
"Uh, yeah. Sara and Sam."
"That narrows it down. Any family names?"
Tai was about to respond when a young woman walked over to them. She had long purple hair and was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a yellow jacket. "Excuse me," she smiled, "I couldn't help over hearing. You're looking for Sara and Sam?"
"Do you know them?" Kari asked.
She nodded. "Sure. You're Tai and Kari, right? Sara and Sam told me to keep an eye out for you. Well, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to them."
The two Kamiyas nodded and followed her out of the bar. They entered the street and started walking. "How do you know Sara and Sam?" Kari asked.
"I'm one of their partners," the woman answered, "There are a lot of us."
"Oh," Tai said, "So, you knew when the Emperor Tai took my Crest of Light powers, right?"
"Yup," she nodded, "We knew that he would succeed."
Tai and Kari both stopped, and the woman turned around. "I have the Crest of Light," Kari said.
"Who are you?" Tai asked.
The woman chuckled. "All right, so I didn't read the brief that Yamaki gave me. Stealth wasn't always my strong suit." She reached under her jacket and pulled out a rife shaped gun. "Freeze and I won't kill you."
Tai and Kari stood still for a second. Tai quickly kicked the gun out of the woman's hand, and the two of them ran away. By the time the woman had grabbed her gun, the siblings were gone.
"Darn it!" she shouted, "I'd better get backup."
Tai and Kari ran until they were out of breath. They started panting as they fell against a collapsing building. "Who was that?" Kari asked.
Tai shook his head. "I have no idea, someone from Alice and Yamaki, probably."
"She did say she didn't read Yamaki's report. Perfect, if the bad guys are looking for us, how are we suppose to look for Sara and Sam?"
"I just had a really bad thought," Tai shivered, "What if Sara and Sam aren't even in this city? They could be on the other side of the planet."
Kari gasped. "I didn't even think of that. Oh, now I'm really worried."
"Oh, well, that's probably unlikely. I mean, we landed close together, so the others are probably around here somewhere."
They walked around the group of destroyed buildings. Kari pointed at one of the walls. "Look at this."
Tai looked to where his sister was pointing and saw a bunch of graffiti on one of the walls: FIGHT THE POWER, JOIN THE REVOLUTION, and LONG LIVE MATSUKI!
Tai looked around at the dark world. "A revolution? What is this place?"
Kari tugged on Tai's sleeve. "Look over there."
She was pointing to a town square, where a large group of people were standing. "Maybe one of them knows where Sara and Sam is?"
"But, how are we suppose to know who is an enemy?"
"I guess we don't. Should we go?"
Tai sighed. "I can't think of anything else."
The town square was filled with lots of people, but no one knew anything about Sara or Sam. They walked over to a rotting building. "Well, now what?" Tai asked.
"Don't give up," Kari said, "I'm sure that they're around here somewhere."
Tai leaned back against the building wall and sighed. "At this rate, we'll never find them. We could be lost here, forever."
Kari was about to answer, when the two siblings heard voices from inside of the alley. Tai put a hand over his sister's mouth and pulled her closer to him. There were two voices, a girl and a boy.
The girl spoke first. "Where have you been? We've been waiting forever for that."
"Sorry, it took longer then I thought to get the plans. Where's my payment?"
"Here. It's all there."
"Good. So, what does Matsuki need those plans for?"
"Sorry, I'm not at liberty to tell our secrets to anyone who's not part of the Revolution. I hope you understand."
He chuckled. "Yeah, sure, good luck."
Tai and Kari pressed their backs firmly against the wall as the boy walked out. A few seconds later, the girl came out. She was about ten or eleven with short brown hair. She was wearing pink Chinese clothing that looked odd in the dark atmosphere. She walked away, and Tai turned to Kari.
"You don't want to follow her, do you?" Kari asked.
"I think we should," he said, "Sara and Sam are enemies of whoever attacked their world, and I guess that those Revolutionists are fighting that 'whoever' too."
Kari sighed. "All right, you're the boss."
They followed closely behind the girl as she walked through the slums of the city. They passed by more then a dozen buildings that were falling apart, and hundreds of homeless people. They finally arrived at a construction site. The girl rounded the corner. When Kari and Tai entered, they saw that the girl was staring at them. "Who are you and why are you following me?"
"Wait," Tai said, "It's not what you think. We're looking for..."
A loud siren blasted from near by. Tai and Kari turned around, but when they looked back, the girl was gone."Where did she go?" Kari asked.
"Never mind," Tai said. He grabbed his sister and ran back into the street. They saw that they were blocked in by a large group of what looked like race cars. The purple haired woman was in one of the vechiles that was missing a roof.
"Tai Kamiya, Kari Kamiya, give up now," she said.
"Run!" Tai shouted. He and Kari spun around and ran back into the construction site "That girl had to leave through somewhere! There!" He pointed to a large drain that was leading through the ground. "Come on."
They ran inside. It was too large for the cars to jump through, and by the time the forces chasing them got out of the cars and ran inside, the two Kamiyas were too far ahead.
Tai and Kari finally emerged through a large drain in a lower section of the city. They ran onto the street and panted. "Did we loose them?" Kari asked.
The sirens started blasting again. "No," Tai sighed, "Come on, we've got to keep moving."
They ran down the street until they reached a stone building. There was a man riding a motorcycle who stopped right in front. He jumped off and walked inside. Tai grabbed Kari's hand and ran over to the machine. "Get on."
Kari climbed on and held onto Tai and he revved the engine. "I didn't know you knew how to ride a motorcycle."
"I don't."
The machine sped off down the street just as the race cars came driving after them. "Tai!" Kari shouted as he flew down the road,"Be careful!"
"I am!" he shouted back, "Where are we anyway?"
"I don't know, it looks like a highway."
Tai looked into the mirror. The blazing cars were starting to disappear over the horizon. "Cool, we're actually outrunning them!"
"Tai look out!"
He spun back around and saw that the highway ended over a large river. Tai tried to stop the motorcycle, but he couldn't. Tai and Kari flew over the edge and landed in the river. The force of the impact knocked them both out.
When they awoke, they found that they were in a prison cell. "Tai," Kari asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, what about you?"
"I'm fine, but were are we?"
"I think they got us," he replied, sarcastically.
"Ta-ai!" she whined, "Stop that!"
He smirked slightly. "It's still so easy to get you annoyed."
She was going to say something, when the cell door swung open. A group of people dressed in gray uniforms and carrying guns came inside. They pointed the weapons at the two Kamiyas. "Let's go," the leader said.
They lead them through a maze of hallways until they reached an office room. The group of guards kept their guns pointed at Tai and Kari's backs as another, but familiar, group of people walked in through a door on the other wall: Alice, Yamaki, and Emperor Tai.
The witch chuckled. "Nice to see that you made it. I was beginning to worry that you didn't jumped into this reality after all. Well, on behalf of everyone here, welcome to our reality."
Tai smirked. "The pleasure's all yours, I'm sure."
She laughed. "Being hospitable is quite easy for me."
Kari stared at her. "I bet that's not the only thing that comes easy to you."
The witch shouted at her. "You little brat!"
"She got you dead on!" Yamaki roared with laughed.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
Yamaki's laughter started to die down as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh man, I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Well, anyway, Tai and Kari, I think you remember my associate, Riley."
They looked behind him and saw the purple haired woman. "If it wasn't for her, you would have drowned in that river. "
They didn't say anything.
"Well," Alice said, "I'm sure you're eager to know why you're here, but, I think someone else would be better able to answer that." She stepped aside and mentioned to a teenage boy starting behind them. "Allow me to introduce you to our employer, Ryo Akiyama."
"Ryo?!" Tai gasped, "Ryo?"
"I see you remember me and yes, I am the same Ryo from your world," he grinned.
Tai was in shock. "But, how?"
"After you and I met, I traveled to this world, where I became trapped after that blasted seal was put into place!" He grinned, "But now I'm free once again! And the multiverse will tremble at my power!"
"Why?" Tai asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"My reasons are my own, but, what I need from you is the location of Sara and Sam. Where are they?"
"We don't know," Tai answered.
Ryo mentioned to the group of soldiers. "Take them back to their cells. When you want to answer, I'll know where you are. Take them away."
Back in their cells, Tai was pacing the floor. "Ryo is our enemy? I only met him once, but I didn't think that he was like that!"
"Who is he?" Kari asked.
"I remember meeting him after Agumon and I returned to Earth from the Digital World. I don't remember too much about that time, but I do remember him as a decent guy. I wonder what happened?"
Kari nodded. "So, is there anything else that you haven't told me yet?"
"What?" he asked.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Kari," he gasped, "I..I didn't think that you would.."
He was cut off as tremors started shooting through the building. "What's going on?" Kari asked.
The left wall of their cell blew apart and a teenage boy walked in. He looked at them. "Tai and Kari Kamiya, I presume?"
"Yeah?" Tai asked.
The boy nodded. "My name is Takato Matsuki, and I'm here to rescue you."
to be continued....