Chapter 3: Sidewinder search
Snow planet, when most people hear these two words they immediately think of Hoth from Star Wars, this is not Hoth. This is Sidewinder, the planet where the Project Freelancer command ship, the Mother of Invention crash landed years ago. And, this is the next stop for Dylan, Jax, Gatomon, and Oculus on their adventure to find the Reds and Blues. Jax was with the digimon beginning to look around the Mother of Invention crash site while Dylan was having a 'conversation' with her boss, 'conversation being said loosely considering that Dylan and her boss argue all of the time.
"You've been out for much longer than a week Andrews, you're coming home." Carlos told Dylan over the radio
"I just need more time, I'm onto something." Dylan replied
"You're not onto something Andrews, you're ON something. Time travel, alien babies, digimon, a TALKING BOMB?!"
"I am making progress on this, I already have the names of former Freelancer agents."
"Well, have you interviewed any of them yet?"
"No, get this, they all went missing around the same time as the war on Chorus took place."
"That's not enough, it's actually not anything Andrews, either you get back here pronto or I'll recommend you for termination." Carlos said, ending the call.
(Japan 1999)
Gunfire could be heard in Odaiba as a group of rebels came under attack by Myotismon's army. After five minutes of fighting, the last remaining rebel surrendered. Unbeknownst to both him and Myotismon's enforcers, Myotismon's public enemy number 1 watched with concern. Locus had managed to set up a resistance force relatively easily, he had experience thanks to the war of chorus even if he was trying to harm rather than help, now, Myotismon was placing the resistance in an iron grip. Something needed to change or the resistance wouldn't last longer than a few weeks. Activating his active camouflage, Locus retreated back to the hideout he shared with the largest resistance cell in Japan as well as his fellow leaders of said cell. He wasn't surprised at the tension in the air when he arrived, these people had lost everything and were desperately fighting to get it back, and the constant raids launched against fellow rebel groups weren't helping their nerves. Locus and his group had taken residence in an old WW2 era bunker beneath the docks of Tokyo. As he passed by his platoon, his men saluted him.
"At ease" he said in his deep voice "Where are the other commanders?"
"They're waiting for you in the war room Locus" his lieutenant replied
"Very good" Locus replied "As you were" he said passing them by and moving towards the war room. Once he arrived he used the secret knock he and the others agreed on, after a moment they let him in. Locus' resistance group was made up of three platoons each led by a commander, Locus was one of these commanders along with his digimon partner Terriermon, the other commanders were a man named Mitsuo Yamaki, and a woman named Kallen Kouzuki. Yamaki was blond about 5'8" and was in his late twenties, while Kallen was eighteen, had red hair, and was incredibly intelligent being almost as smart as Locus.
"Kaname and his men were defeated no more than 20 minutes ago." Locus reported to his fellow leaders
"Tragic, but not unexpected" Yamaki began "ever since your raid on Myotismon's armory he's been on a rebel witch hunt."
"Rebel witch hunt" Kallen repeated "There's a thought"
"What we need is the other digidestined" Yamaki emphasized "You and Terriermon are amazing with what you do, but we need more digimon allies."
"Agreed" Locus began "Problem is, we have no idea where he's holding the digidestined and even if we did, their partners are still locked away."
"We'll either win or we'll fail, either way this will end and isn't that what we all want?" Terriermon remarked with a wink
"Terriermon" Locus hissed
"Momentai" Terriermon replied
"We don't have the resources to begin searching for the digidestined" Kallen said, pulling the pair out of their exchange "So, since we can't do that yet, we should focus on gathering the remaining rebel cells here in Japan and trying to form an alliance."
"Isn't that ripping off Star Wars?" Terriermon asked
"Rip-off or not, we need more people to make a move at the archive and an alliance is the best if not only way that will work."
"She's right" Yamaki said "Locus as Myotismon's most wanted enemy you've built up quite the reputation with the rebel community, could you go to the remaining hide-outs and negotiate?"
"Of course" Locus replied
"Excellent, take some time to rest and debrief your squad then take them with you when you begin negotiations." Yamaki said, concluding the meeting.
(Sidewinder, 2552)
Gatomon, Oculus, and Jax waited by a terminal at the Mother of Invention crash site as Dylan jogged over to them.
"So, how's Uncle Carlos?" Jax asked
"Uncle?" Gatomon asked only to receive a brief nod from Jax
"Fine, from now on if he calls you just let it go to voicemail." Dylan said
"Well, okay, I hate to kill my babies but it'll work." Jax replied
"What?" Dylan, Gatomon, and Oculus asked simultaneously sounding more than a little apprehensive.
"You know, they say that sometimes in showbiz you have to kill your babies, I have a lot of files in my logs I'll need to delete to make room for those messages." Jax replied
"It's kill your darlings, you have to kill your darlings" Dylan corrected him with a sigh
"Oh, I mean I'm going to have to get rid of all my ideas about babies like my horror 'Rabies Babies' my time travel comedy 'Three men and a baby Hitler', my look who's talking reboot about-"
"Enough!" Dylan snapped "How is it that your ideas just keep getting worse?"
"Well, as you'll remember, I haven't actually finished my education yet, so-"
"Right" Dylan understood
"What are we looking for?" Gatomon asked
"You and Oculus will stay with me while we sort through this data, Jax, walk along the ridge up there and get some shots of the surrounding area." Dylan said
"You got it" Jax said going up the ridge
"You just wanted a break from him" Oculus accused
"You said it not me" Dylan replied with a shrug. Jax began taking shots and was going to go higher to capture the entire crash site when he heard the sound of an engine nearby. Investigating the sound, he found a Pelican dropship and out came-.
"Is that really them?" Jax asked in shock "It has to be, no one else would have a robot that speaks a foreign language." He decided after hearing the brown armored one speak. "I better call Dylan." He said to himself, he couldn't reach her on the radio and cursed a little too loudly.
"Who's there?" One of the soldiers called out
"Uh oh" Jax said running back to where Dylan and the others were. He arrived just a couple of minutes after starting. "Hey guys-" he began
"Not now" Dylan scolded "I'm just about done with this decryption" She replied as much to the digimon as to Jax, the three blissfully unaware that the soldiers were currently surrounding them. "This could be about the Reds and Blues"
"Mine is to"
"Not now" the three scolded him
"I would just like to point out that this is very cliche, I try to tell you guys something, you don't listen, next thing you know were surrounded." He said as the soldiers drew up their weapons.
"Well ****" Dylan exclaimed "All this file was is a request for toilet paper from one of the Blood Gulch prototypes."
"A dead end?" Gatomon asked with a sigh
"It appears so"
"Guys" Jax said
"What?" Oculus asked
"Say, we have company"
"Why?" Dylan asked
"Because that's how action scenes start" Jax replied as the soldiers began to shoot at the group. The reporters and digimon hid behind cover as quick as they could.
"It's them" Dylan gasped in amazement
"I know" Jax replied
"Why didn't you tell us?" Gatomon asked
"You cannot be serious" Jax said shaking around the camera on his helmet.
"What are you doing?" Oculus asked
"Shaking the camera for dramatic effect" Jax said matter of factly
"You do know we are actually being shot at?" Dylan asked in annoyance
"You're right, I'll just add it in post." Jax replied as the gunfire stopped
"They're gone" Dylan said "Quick, we need to go after them"
"That's a bad idea" Jax said running after Dylan and the digimon. After running for a minute, they made it back to the Pelican as the soldiers began to board it.
"Wait" she called out "Dylan Andrews, Interstellar Daily what comment do you have in regards to your attacks on the UNSC?"
"Get lost" the one in Red shouted pointing a railgun at them
"This isn't right" Dylan said as she realized something, before the red one could attack, a figure in black and red armor came up (the same one from Blood Gulch) he looked over and found a soldier in Aqua armor.
"Are you Lavernius Tucker?" he asked in his raspy voice
"Leave me the **** alone" the aqua one yelled firing a sniper rifle at him before he and the others boarded their ship and left. The reportes and digimon retreated into a cave once the man in black and red arrived so they didn't see the soldiers leave.
"You're attackers have fled" he said "I need to find the Reds and Blues again"
"Those weren't the Reds and Blues." Dylan said "They've been framed, how could I have not seen it before?"
"What do you mean?" the man asked
"Yeah, I'm with tall, dark, and mysterious on this one" Jax said
"Sarge only uses a shotgun not a railgun, and I couldn't find any record of Tucker using a sniper rifle. Not to mention they seemed real eager to shoot us while the Reds and Blues would've been much more mellow unless we provoked them." Dylan explained
"So, I must continue searching for Lavernius Tucker" the man said
"What do you want him for?" Gatomon asked
"That knowledge is only for him and those I serve" he said before leaving
"Well, that was ominous" Oculus said
"Where to now?" Jax asked noticing the gears in Dylan's head turning
"We need to rethink everything. Let's go to Chorus, it was the last known place where the Reds and Blues were seen, maybe we'll find something there."
(Chorus 2552)
Dylan's ship exited hyperspace signaling their arrival at Chorus to a sight that shocked them.
"Whoa" Jax said "I knew that relations were tense, but I didn't think things were this bad"
"It had to happen sooner or later with those imposters running around" Dylan replied looking at the massive fleet of ships
"What are they?" Oculus asked
"UNSC ships, they've formed a blockade around the planet."
"This isn't good" Gatomon said
"No, it's not" Dylan agreed
Another chapter has been finished, next time Locus and co. begin negotiations with a rebel group in Kyoto. Meanwhile Dylan, Gatomon, and the others need information from Chorus. Dylan has a plan, but its gonna be a pain in the rear to pull off. Will the rebels in Tokyo gain new allies? Will Dylan, Gatomon, Oculus, and Jax finally find the Reds and Blues? Find out in Chapter 4: Bargain on Chorus