Yey! Thanks Haichi for finishing your set of reviews!

Elite Psychic Troops?

(Grabs Xbox and hides under bed) Scaryscaryscaryscary...

(Patrick runs to front door with USAS) Let me at 'em!

Chapter 14 – Rethink

Wargreymon charged down the corridor. A rifleman walked into the corridor, only to get steamrolled by the rampaging mega.

"Any idea where you're going?" Biyomon asked

"Not really…they were talking about a prison a lot, so that seems the best place to start"

"But where's that?"

"I've no clue…wait" He came to an abrupt stop.

"What's wrong?"

Wargreymon looked into a small side passage and saw blood.

There was a dead guard lying on the floor, a bullet wound in his head.

"Patrick's been here" Wargreymon said

"Yeah, that's sorta his way of saying 'I was here'"

"Then we go this way" he jumped over the body and set off down this new route.

Just as his footsteps disappeared, a set of voices could be heard. On the original corridor, Declan, TK and Patrick (still carrying Emma) came round the corner.

"Then what do I do?" Yolei's voice was heard over the radio

Patrick smiled, "Return to sender"

"What's th…oh, I get you! Hey Aquilamon…" Patrick clicked his radio off

"Do ya think she'll work it out?" Declan asked

"I sure hope so. It's a hard manoeuvre to pull off, even in a Harrier. We'll have to see if Aquilamon's got the guts"

"Ok, if we follow this path, we should end up in the courtyard" Declan said

The group ran down the corridor and disappeared around a corner, and just as they were out of earshot, Tai and Sora appeared in the small side-passage.

"Well, at least we know Patrick's been here" Tai said

"Wait, did you just hear something?" Sora asked, sticking her head around the corner

"Yeah, sounded like Patrick. I think he went this way…" Tai started down the corridor…in the opposite direction Patrick's group went.

"Ok then, here goes…" Aquilamon swung round and accelerated towards the front of the docked warship. The three trailing missiles also swung around in a huge arc, one narrowly missing the castle wall. However, this triggered its proximity trigger, causing it to explode in a large fireball, taking a large chunk out of the castle.

Unseen to them, a small wave of energy was also given off. The EMP shorted out all electronics on that side of the castle.

"Faster! They're gaining!" Yolei was holding on for her life.

"I'm trying! I've never had to outrun a missile before!" The bird growled.

The officer looked through the binoculars at the approaching target. In fact, he didn't need the scope anymore; the bird was getting closer with each passing second.

"What are they doing?" he asked nobody in particular

"No idea, but they seem to be accelerating!" the radar officer frantically pressed buttons on his console, trying to keep the short-range radar in focus.

"Two hundred metres and closing! ETI – 30 seconds"

"You ready?" Aquilamon asked

"As I'll ever be – do it" Yolei ducked her head down close the bird's feathered body and held on tight

"Twenty seconds!"

"Open up with the Phalanx!"

"Right away"

The Phalanx CIWS (Close In Weapons System) Airborne Threat Defence spun around on its axis. It aimed its 20mm Gatling gun at the incoming threat, and unleased a deadly 50 round burst.

Aquilamon was suddenly barraged with a hailstorm of bullets. He closed his eyes and just flew straight at the target, tring to dodge as many as possible, but failed.

The Phalanx is designed for taking out incoming missiles, making it an extremely accurate, efficient and quick-reacting machine. The bird digimon was huge target, so it didn't miss a round.

The giant bird screeched, but still headed for the Shiloh.

"Hold in there Aquilamon…" Yolei whispered

"The Phalanx had no effect!" the weapons officer shouted

The radar officer turned and yelled, "Ten seconds! Brace for impact!"

A crewmember grabbed the intercom handset, and yelled "BRACE!"

The crew of the Shiloh immediately stopped what they were doing and grabbed the nearest secure object, waiting for the worst.

'Here we go' Aquilamon thought, as he came within ten metres of the ship. The Phalanx stopped its futile assault and lay silent, simply following the target with its barrel.

The two remaining Sea Sparrow missiles shot towards Aquilamon at Mach 2, until the bird pulled off a cunning manoeuvre.

Aquilamon landed on the deck and simply jumped over the central control tower where the bridge was. Once he was over, he flew low against the water, hoping it would work.

The Sea Sparrows could still see their target, but they couldn't see what was between them.

The USS Shiloh.

Their proximity fuses detonated, ripping a hole in the mighty warship. There were no survivors.

The EMP created deleted the entire crew.

Aquilamon just flew as fast as he could, just outrunning the invisible EMP. The bird turned and Yolei sighed with relief.

"Thank God that's over. Now set down at the dock and we'll go find the others"

Once Yolei got off Aquilamon, she realised that her ankle was still to bad for her to walk. Her partner dedigivolved back to Hawkmon.

"How are you doing?" he asked

Yolei limped over to the corridor Patrick and TK had gone down about half an hour before.

"We can't go in like this, I'd be a target!"

"Then may I make a suggestion?" Hawkmon asked

Tai and Sora felt a rumble in the distance.

"What was that?" asked Sora

"No idea, but whatever it was isn't friendly," said Tai

"Hey, I bet Yolei has something to do with it"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Patrick was explaining a plan to her a few minutes ago. Something about leading some missiles back to that cruiser, but that explosion felt inside the castle" Sora looked out a nearby window. It was overlooking the lake, but the docks were at the other side of the building.

"I'll ask Patrick," Tai clicked on his radio, "Paddy, you there?"

Tai could only hear static.

"Mine must be broke. You try"

Sora tried, but also got static, "What's going on?"

"This isn't good. We better find them soon" They both set out down the corridor

"Tai? Sora? Yolei? Anybody?" TK clicked off his radio, "Nothing"

"Must be something the do with that explosion a wee while back," Patrick said, "How much further Decky?"

"Not far now. The courtyard is over there somewhere, but if we go down here…" The boy stopped when he saw a rifleman lying in the middle of the corridor. It looked like he had been walking out of a nearby room when he got trampled by someone...or something.

TK raised his rifle and slowly walked over to him. He kicked the body, hoping for a response.

"Is he dead?" TK asked.

Patrick took out his Deagle and fired a round into the rifleman's skull, "Now he is"

"Well…moving on then" Declan continued down the corridor towards their destination.

"Patrick, can you hear me?" Yolei spoke into her headset before switching it off, "No response"

Halsemon stopped at a junction, "Which way"

"Errr…no idea"

"Which way would Patrick go?"

"Ok…if I was a crazy trigger-happy Irishman, which way would I go…" Yolei listened for any clues, just as a bullet whizzed past her head.

She ducked as another barrage came. Yolei could make out two riflemen standing at the end of the right corridor, "…I'd go that way…but as my normal self I'd say left"

The digimon turned away from the reloading riflemen and ran down the left corridor.

Declan stopped at a double glazed door, and nodded in its direction, "In there"

Patrick peeped his head around the corner and into the room, "Five guys, probably guards"

"Open and clear?" TK asked

Patrick took out a spherical grenade, "No. Open, frag and clear"

"That would damage the portal," Declan said

"Portal? Wait, I thought we were looking for Kari!" TK asked frantically

"We're all too scattered. We'll need to regroup before we can look for your girl," He clipped the grenade back on his belt and removed a long, cylindrical one, "Fine then: Open, flash and clear. Happy?"

"Ok then" Declan stood watch while Patrick set Emma down. The two boys took up their positions.

The door was located at a T-junction (Think of it as a crossroads, except one of the ways was a door) with quite a large corridor leading forward from the doors.

Patrick jumped over to the other side and slung his G3A3 over his shoulder. Removing the cylindrical grenade once more, he nodded to TK, who was standing at the other side, also ready.

TK held up three fingers and counted down.

3

2

1

TK smashed one of the glass doors with the butt of his gun, milliseconds before Patrick pulled the pin and threw the object in.

"INTRUDE…" There was a blinding flash of light, followed nanoseconds later by a deafening 'bang' as the flash-bang grenade went off. The guards dropped their M4s and grabbed their eyes and ears in pain.

Patrick and TK didn't miss a beat as they swung around together and opened up with their rifles. Seconds later, the room was clear.

TK entered the room with his rifle raised, looking for survivors. Patrick went and brought Emma's body in.

"Horrah! That was some clean Rainbow Six action there!" Patrick cheered

"Nice work…but what now?" Declan asked

"Errrr…" Patrick struggled to think

"Patrick, how did you plan on regrouping exactly?"

"Well…look on the bright side..."

"He's right I'm afraid. We're all separated, we haven't a clue where Kari is, which by the way was our main objective, and this place is crawling with riflemen! TK shrugged, "I mean, where's the bright side?"

Patrick sat at a console and set his brain into overdrive mode, "Ok, gimme a sec on that one"

Sora peered down the huge hole in the floor, "Oh my God…I can see the water below"

Tai was holding onto Sora's Flak Jacket so she could safely get a look down the huge pit.

"Then this must have been where the rumble came from" Tai said as he pulled the girl back up.

"Really? I'd never have guessed!"

"Look, lets just find Patrick. I'm gonna try the radio again," He clicked his radio on, "Hey guys? Can you hear me?"

"Ok, I've got it…" Patrick stood up just as his radio headset burst to life, "…guys…hear me?"

Patrick clicked on his radio, "Tai is that you? I can barely make you out man!"

"…have…Kari?"

"No, we haven't. Where are you?" Patrick spoke slowly and clearly

"…not…corridor…their's…missing…building…" The signal was getting worse

"Look just get to the courtyard so we can find Kari and go home"

"…do…that…"

Patrick turned his radio off and turned to the others, "Now where was I…oh yeah!"

"…you…barely…out…" Tai listened to Patrick's voice. The interference was really bad.

"Look, have you found Kari yet?"

"…haven't…you…" Tai looked at Sora in confusion

"Of course not! Most of the corridor we're on is gone, their's a huge chunk missing from the building!"

"…get…courtyard…go home" The signal seemed to improve near the end

'Go home' thought Tai, "How do we do that? Patrick, you there?"

There was no reply.

"Dammit, the signal's dead again!" He switched the radio off, "Where's Izzy when you need him?"

"Lets double back to the courtyard" Sora turned around and headed back down the corridor, "He mentioned that didn't he?"

Tai shrugged, "Good enough for me"

Patrick took out his M249 SAW and set it down on its bipod. His plan was simple – defend this room until the others could find them. The portal room had only one entrance, so that's where their firepower was going to be concentrated.

Patrick and TK had placed crates from the vast portal room in the three corridors, mainly the front one since it was the largest. Patrick had set up his SAW in the main corridor (from now on to be called 'North'), whereas TK was holding the right ('East') and Declan would keep and eye out on the left ('West').

Now all they had to do was wait for the enemy to come to them.