"Ok, now that we're all here," Flame began, gesturing around the table. The table was made of a very expensive-looking type of wood, and situated in the Chelone briefing room. Everyone was seated around the table, including Edan, who was still recovering from his ordeal.

"Let's bring eachother up to speed, before we go any further. Jorcy - what did you find?"

Jorcy looked up. "A new taste in music..." he began, then saw the look on Flame's face.

"Jorcy." Flame said, and Jorcy raised his claws in surrender.

"Okay, okay," he said, getting up and moving to the massive operational map on the wall.

"The Northern Army is pushing this front," he said, drawing an invisible line with one of his talons. "One of the mon I spoke to thought that their attack pattern looked like a search. They're looking for something, and my best estimation, is that it's somewhere here," Jorcy concluded, pointing at the capital of the Southern Kingdom.

"Thank you, Jorcy," Flame said, and Jorcy went back to his seat.

"Kaida?"

She remained seated as she talked. "The runes on the cliff face belong to an ancient Digimon race, and they formed a portal to a volcano well within the Southern Kingdom. Edan..." she said, then caught herself and kept going. "...ventured through the gate, and uncovered what appears to be an enemy outpost."

"Edan?" Flame asked, moving right along.

"The technology definitely belonged to the Northern Army. They somehow managed to set up a listening post and command station in that volcano."

"In the middle of friendly territory," Flame said. Kaida nodded.

"It's possible that they used a rune gate similar to Edan's to get there."

Flame fell silent, as he considered the implications. If the Northern Army had uncovered more of those gates, there was no telling what the extent of their influence would be - they might even infiltrate the Chelone plane.

"I need to notify Gennai," Flame said, looking at the rest of the group. They looked startled at the statement, but each of them knew it was necessary.

"Jorcy, I want you and Kaida to go back to that volcano and scour every last inch. I don't want to have missed anything - clear?"

They both nodded.

"Jet, you will be on plane defense while I'm gone."

Jet shrugged. "Babysitting, eh?"

"Edan," Flame continued, feigning ignorance. "I want you to remain here and fully recover."

"But..." Edan began.

Flame shook his head. "You've been through a lot. Rest for at least the next eight hours. I will probably only be back by then, and we can move forward."

Edan nodded, and Flame returned his gaze to the rest of the table in general.

"I don't need to tell you the implications of this," he said, waving his claw in the direction of the map behind him. "I realise full well that we are an isolated plane that doesn't meddle in the affairs of others, but these rune gates change everything. No more slacking off. This is a war, and it's a war that may reach even us - as Edan testified to. Are we clear on this?"

The stony faces was all Flame needed to see, before he nodded.

"Excellent. Well then, let's get going. Meeting dismissed."

"Edan," Kaida called. Edan had left the boardroom, and was heading straight for his quarters. Flame and Jet were talking about something in private - as usual - and Jorcy had left for the prep bay. They were the only two in the hall. Edan let Kaida catch up.

"What's up?" he asked.

She looked confused for a second, then recovered. "How's the shoulder?" she asked, gesturing at Edan's left shoulder.

Edan looked at it - partly to play along, and partly to mask his face. It had taken a minor sprain in the volcano, and the medical Digimon had put a slightly-flexible cast on it. It wasn't a serious injury, and Kaida's hurried question made it evident that she wasn't really interested in it either.

"It's fine," Edan said, looking back at her. She was looking at the ground, and Edan could tell she was trying to compose her next sentence.

"Kaida," he said, and she looked up. He looked her straight in the eyes. "It's okay."

She shook her head. "I overreacted, when I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Hey," he said, grinning. "I think both of us were overreacting at that point."

She smiled slighly too, but as her memories traced themselves out, her frown returned, and she shook her head again.

"I shouldn't have retaliated like that. There's no telling what could have happened..."

"Kaida," he said, placing a claw on her arm. "Neither of us knew,"

She looked down at his claw, then looked away at some indeterminate point on the 'floor.

She tried to say something, but Edan cut her off with an unexpected hug.

"I'm still here," he whispered. "I'm still alive."

She said nothing until he pulled away a few moments later. She looked up at him, and Edan could see that she was really serious about her apology. They held eachother's gaze for a few moments - neither really knowing what to say to the other - before Kaida suddenly looked to her left, where the prep bays were.

Something heavy had dropped, and she could hear Jorcy cursing at whatever it was. She chuckled.

"I guess the fun around here never stops," she said, looking back at Edan, who was also smiling.

"I suppose you'll have to see to that," he said, and she nodded. They gave eachother one last look, before Edan patted her on the shoulder, and sent her towards the prep bays with a gentle push.

He watched her go a few feet, then turned and continued heading for his quarters. With a much lighter step.

Jorcy was hopping around like a maniac, clutching his foot in pain. A massive, black, cylindrical thing lay in the floor. In, Kaida noted - it's fall had dented the floor quite a bit.

She looked back up at Jorcy, who had stopped, and was still holding on to his foot.

"What, exactly, is this thing?" she asked, pointing at the black object embedded in the floor.

"Gun," he said through clenched teeth.

"Gun." she said, looking at it. "You call that a gun? It's more like a damned cannon, Jorcy. What the hell is it doing here?"

"GAU ... 8. Army ... surplus," he managed to say. "Jet's."

"Ah, Jet." Kaida said, looking back at it. "Well, we can get Jet to get rid of this thing later. As soon as you calm down, could we kindly get ready to leave?"

Jorcy glared at her, then looked back at his foot which, Kaida noted, was a lovely shade of violet. She sighed.

"I'll call medical."

A/N: I make several references to a "Medical" section in Chelone. There is actually one, manned (as such) by reprogrammed Digimon. It functions as one of Chelone's support structues. There's also a mechanical team, and a few others. They're mostly invisible during the course of the story, though.