More techno jargon – except it's actually the truth this time

We're one step closer to chapter 10!

Nearly there!

Chapter 9 – Fireside Revelations

"Cody?" Yolei stared at the man, who looked in his mid-twenties, "Is that you?"

Cody smiled, "Yep. And am I glad to see you lot!"

"Aren't you the least bit surprised to see us? We're from the past for God's sake!" Patrick said suspiciously

"Errrr…not really. This sort of thing happens all the time. The dark master has perfected time travel technology so…"

"Dark master?" Tai asked

"…yeah. He's the guy who took over the digital world. Really powerful guy. But he's not here at the moment. He left his right-hand man in charge while he went out on a mission of some sort…"

"How do you know all this?"

Yolei came up to Patrick, "Calm down, we can trust Cody"

"Thanks Yolei, I knew I could count on you to bail me out" He started to move towards the camp, but Patrick clicked the safety off his Deagle, to remind him it was still there, "I didn't say you could move. If this 'Dark Master' is as powerful as you say, you could be on his side for all we know"

"Patrick, stop it" Yolei grabbed his arm

"How do you know he even is Cody?"

"I just know, ok?" He looked at Patrick in the eyes pleadingly, "Please?"

Patrick growled, put the safety back on and placed it in his holster; "Fine, just don't come crying to me when he turns out to be a spy" He turned around and sat down beside the fire. It wasn't long before the marshmallows came back out.

"So your gonna attack his that base then" he nodded, "Hope your prepared. I'm part of a resistance group trying to break the Dark Master's rule"

"Who is this Dark Master anyway?" TK asked

"You know what, I think it would be better if I told you the whole story"

"We're listening" Patrick said with a mouthful of marshmallows

"Well, it all started five years after we defeated Malomyotismon, Izzy detected a strange reading in the Digital World. Joe, Matt and you, Sora, went to investigate. And what you three found changed the digital world forever"

"What was it?"

Cody looked up at the sky, "A two Megaton Thermonuclear bomb"

Patrick spat out a mouthful of marshmallow, "What!"

"We believe it…was on a proximity trigger. When you went to see what it was…it detonated"

"That's why this future digital world is just one large desert" Patrick said shocked, "A Nuclear explosion of that size would have catastrophic consequences in the digital world"

"I'd expect a lot of damage from an atomic bomb, but what's so bad about it in the digital world?" TK asked

"The EMP" Cody said simply

Yolei gasped, "You're right! An EMP in the digital world would practically destroy it!"

"Wait, you've gone into geek mode again. What are you talking about?" Tai said putting his hand up

"An EMP," Patrick explained, "Or an Electromagnetic Pulse is one of the many things generated from a nuclear explosion. In the real world, this EMP would short all electrical equipment. All radios, televisions, anything with circuitry. Computers are the worst hit. They are usually corrupt beyond repair. I can only begin to imagine what an EMP would do in a digital environment like the digiworld."

"In other words…"

"EMP is digital radiation. Bad for digiworld" Yolei translated

"And anything digital. Digimon are immediately deleted in the face of an EMP. That's why the Dark Master uses EM warheads." Cody finished

"Yeah. Wait, please tell me didn't say EM warheads"

"Ok, but that would be a lie"

Patrick fell backwards on the ground, "Shiiiit. That's half our plan ruined"

"Can't you people talk normally? Why? What's an EM warhead?" Sora asked clearly irritated

"Just a conventional High-Explosive warhead that has been modified to give off a small EMP" he started growling again, "Crap! If our digimon got a hit from one of those missiles, they'd be deleted"

"Well then, may I make a plan suggestion?" Cody asked politely, as always.

"Shoot"

"The only EM warheads on defence are the Patriot and Stinger sites up top. I recommend entering from the dock at the foot of the mountain. It's lightly defended"

"Yeah, then we go on with the original plan" Patrick said, "I like it. We'll do that then"

"Ok, well, I'd best be going. HQ is probably wondering where I got to. Good luck defeating the Dark Master…"

"Excuse me, but we have no business with the Dark Master. This is a simple save and extract mission. He's your problem"

"Oh, so your saving the prisoners and avoiding the Dark Master's next in command. Good luck with that"

"Wait, prisoners," Patrick asked

Cody looked confused, "Yeah, that fortress serves as the main prison complex for the Digital World. Didn't you know that?"

Tai shook his head, "No, we're just here to grab Kari and run. Fast."

"Kari? She was taken prisoner?" Cody looked slightly shocked, "Then you'd better get in there quick, I doubt Kari would last too long"

"Why?"

"You don't want to know. Just get Kari out quickly"

He stood up and lifted his MP5, "Well, see you all in the morning" He walked off into the bushes.

Patrick stood back up and stretched, "I don't know about youse, but I'm getting some sleep. I haaving slept in…one…two…" He starting counting off the days, "…yeah, five days. That's about 120 hours non-stop. Beat that!"

"Yeah, we'd better be getting to bed too. We'll need to be on top form for tomorrow." TK said to the others.

"How's the food supply going Sora?" Patrick asked

Sora looked into her rucksack and started rummaging, "Not too bad. Will eggs do for breakfast?"

"Yeah. Hold on, how did you get eggs here without breaking them?"

"I was careful. Very careful"

"Why don't we get our digimon to search for some food?" Tai asked

"If that Cody guy was telling the truth, and there was a nuclear blast in this world, then I be afraid of any fruits being contaminated. We stick with eggs"

"Right, I'm so looking forward to that" Yolei said sarcastically

Everyone went back to his or her separate tents to find that their digimon were already inside, fast asleep.

Patrick sat down on the sleeping bag. He reached into his rucksack and removed a G36K assault rifle. Making sure it was loaded and had the safety on, he set it beside his pillow.

He looked over at Blackagumon, who was asleep beside him.

"Goodnight" he whispered

Blackagumon opened an eye, "Goodnight"

Patrick jumped slightly, "Your still awake?"

The digimon closed his eye, "I'm a light sleeper, like you, remember?"

Patrick laughed quietly in the silence of the camp, "After all these years, you still surprise me Agu"

He smiled, "Always have – always will. Seeya tomorrow"

"See…YAWN...seeya"

Patrick was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Kari was woken by the immense noise of the cell door opening. Kari jumped up when she saw Declan thrown in. They locked the door behind him.

Declan collapsed on the floor, clutching his arm and gritting his teeth in pain.

Kari went over to him, "Are you Ok?"

"Those bastards… they broke...my arm!"

"How?"

"You really don't want to know"

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah…I'll make it"

Kari helped him too his feet, allowing her to get a look at the extent of the damage.

"Is your elbow…supposed to go back that far?"

"Not naturally, now please don't watch if you know what's good for you"

Kari got the idea and closed her eyes. There was a short 'crack' and then a scream of pain as Declan snapped his arm back into place.

She opened her eyes and looked at the Declan, "You're the bravest person I've ever met, you know that?"

"Thanks, but a load of morphine would be much appreciated right now"

Kari smiled as the boy sat on one of the beds, "You better get some sleep tonight, I think your next"

"Thanks, I can't wait"

The two silently went to bed and were asleep in no time.