Sidewalker
I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of Philadelphia
(Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Philadelphia)
The shadows of the night vanished quietly as he strapped his rucksack on and shut the overhead door of the rusty compact van. The brass rattled with a lod clanging and Yamato gave it an angry look. Suddenly the sirens started howled alarmingly over their heads as a painfilled moarn reached him. He rushed over to the driver's cab and fired a number of shots that all hit their target. The driver wasn't moving anymore.
The only noise left was the static from the radio and hew switched it off quickly, knowing that the distress signal had allready been sent. The troops were probably leaving their bases while he was listening to the sirenes.
The wind sweeped across the city, rainy clouds scrambled high in the sky and the morning light got lost in grey shades, unable to pass the massive cloud-wall. They followed their way through the alley past the ruins of Tokyo and left the smoking vehicle behind.
The peaceful and quiet impression of the city vanished as soon as the night removed its dark cloak from the ruins. The air was thick and opaque. And the clouds were waiting while wearing their mourning dresses – waiting for the end of this tragical performance.
They reached a crossroad. Car wrecks flanked the sideways and deep craters sprawled over the asphalt. Carefully he put one foot ront in front the other, checking if the street was safe to pass.
When the attacks had tormented the city, the streets reared up while the grand buildings of Minato, one of Tokyo's wards, had already given up their ground.
He could feel the sewerage bubbling under his feet while the pores of the street spat out smoke. The buckles of his rucksack cut in his skin, small stones vibrated as he reached the other side of the street where he jumped over a broken traffic light...
From a distance he could hear the helicopters grumbling. They belonged to the Kaiser's fleet and were quite experienced in looking for him.
Yamato stood still and ruffled his sandblond hair that had untied itself from his queue as they listened to the howling once more. It told him their little visit was not gone unnoticed and the driver was found, although he himself would not tell anyone about it, the bullet in his head was speaking for itself. Or the dozens of dead bodies...
But they could not have waited for another opportunity. Their water supplies were drying up. The Kaiser's transport that was keeping his army alive and healthy seemed quite determined to keep him and the others alive, too.
The red-eyed Galgomon were no obstacle at all. He knew how to fight the Digimon off that had been ordered to protect these transports after all the humans had failed. A few wisely placed grenades and the digital monsters would be history before they could have used their automatic-pistole-like pranks at him or his best friend.
They would die with the expression of astonishment still evident on their rabbit-like faces.
As for the men – well he knew exactly how to fight his own and to his satisfaction the Kaiser knew it very well, too.
Only the driver seemed to have slipped his mind and he was paying for this failure right now.
"Let's get the hell outta here" Yamato snarled and set himself up for a lifesaving sprint. He seized for his arm and held him back.
"Wait" he whispered insistently. "We need to be careful. I bet the Kaiser's already heard of our little encounter… And I don't think he is gonna to be too happy about it. So he's gonna make sure they find us – and most importantly our hideout. Well he probably wants to rip us apart, too…"
Yamato frowned. "Oh that's just great… I told you to take Agumon and Gabumon along. More power for us…"
"…and more attention." He shook his head impatiently. "Two humans with Digimon… You know perfectly well that there are only two kinds – Those on their side and us."
He pointed at the ruins. There were fires between the boulders and the rocks and he knew they were there. Survivers, free-willed humans taking no side but their own. In the end it was the easiest way the free-willed prefered for their own – and that way could lead to great loss on his law of supply and demand...
His fingers grabbed the paper of a flyer that was spread all over town.
"Dead or alive" was the title of the poster and a warm meal and immuity were promised for handing over the culprit.
The paper crackled and a pale familiar face was staring at him. It was the face of a boy with dark eyes and a brown flowing mane. It was his face.
The cans clattered as he checked his equipment. Yamato grinned knowingly.
"A diversion?"
"A diversion!" The grenade weighed heavily in his hands as his eyes wandered over the open field. The infantry was marching closer followed by big clouds of dust.
The Kaiser was angry, that much was clear...
It wasn't the first time they had entered one of his warehouses or attacked his transports. He needed to know that they were still alive and fighting even though he had defeated them.
The fields of the Kaiser, country regions behind Tokyo, contained many precious things like rice and vegetables that were planted to keep the slaves healthy and useful.
The fields were perfect to provide for a large group of twelve DigiDestined.
It was getting harder each time they stole from the Kaiser who wasn't relying on his human minions anymore. Fighting against Digimon was different from fighting against humans. But being able to defeat and destroy them with his hands – his human hands – seemed to scare the Kaiser. His fear satisfied him more then anything.
"We have this one chance…" he explained while his fingers clutched the grenade. "Over the Midtown-Complex, so if they follow us, we'll lead them to the opposite direction, before reaching the Roppongi-Street in the end." He did not need to say much more as Yamato understood him perfectly without so many words.
Even the free-willed knew something was wrong and their fires went out immediatly as they moved quickly. Some of them got lost between the craters.
Yamato started running as he threw the grenade. The free-willed raised their heads so he could see their pale, thin faces and the snarled hair as the storey exloded and tore the pavement apart. Shreds of asphalt swirled through the air and the helicopert's headlights turned towards the explosion.
He ran. His steps echoed on the ground as the screams died away. The concrete piers of the skyscrapers groaned and rubble fluttered on him like snowflakes. His lungs seemed to burn like they were about to be ripped apart. The sirenes jarred through the alleys not too far away. They had a few minutes, at most...
Yamato swung his body over a barrier while his hair was dancing with the wind and he vanished into a backstreet.
They knew the city like the back of their hands. They had searched every corner, tried every bolthole and determined safe ways for their expedition tours. He knew their escape routes inside out, knew how to overcome every obstacle and which path to use to evade the eyes of the Kaiser.
He followed his best friend as a tile fell from a roof and bursted into thousands of pieces. His hand surrounded the trigger of his weapon but as his eyes moved to the roof he could see a tiny black cat that did not dare to budge. It mewed angrily, its bilious green eyes watched him intently as his fingers touched the bristly fur, covered in dirt. He could feel the bones and a flesh wound that ran over its belly. He wondered how it had survived all this time.
"Taichi!" Yamata squinnied his eyes impatiently, "For God's sake, what are you doing. The infantery is on the move and back-up is on the way to support them... what's with the cat?" The young man stared confused at the mewing cat that tried to free itself from his hands.
He didn't know what to answer as he put the animal inside his jacket and zipped it up.
Maybe it was because he was impressed by its persistence or because it seemed to be a miracle itself in this chaos.
He just could not leave it as he moved on, following Yamato to the next alley.
Quickly he hid from the light cones as the cat fidgeted under his jacket.
His legs moved automatically as though they had always been on the run.
The concrete mass of buildings blurred to streches of grey. He was so fast that is feet hardly touched the ground.
They had been playing this game for so long...
They reached their hide out at last. The howling faded as the formely crystalline façade of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo Hotel got within sight. The complex of buildings looked pretty dreadful. The ramshackled masonry and the former splendid glasfront of the noble hotel was nothing more than splinters of glass that seemed tired of holding onto the frames. The lobby had collapsed completly and the cracked marble floor was dusty.
The perfect reason for making this shaky, shabby hotel into a home, because what mattered was the inside...
The ruins of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo were their diversion, so nobody whould think of trying to enter the runious building and find out that there was a lifesaving cellarsystem under the ground.
Yamato arrived at the former servants' entrance which layed inconspicuously at the bottom of the stairs, hidden behind a huge refuse skip.
He reached for the key in his pocket while Yamato thrust the refuse skip and revealed a heavy iron door.
It was pure luck that they had found such a secure hide out. They had never told the others how they had managed it or under which circumstances.
After the Kaiser's takeover they had tried to reside at their old elementary school in Odaiba. But the supplies were rare and their lives threatend. The Kaiser knew to much about them...
Yamato guided them with his torch through the dark corridors. They passed by the door to the hotel's kitchen that had been taken off its hingers and the chromed kitchen ware reflectet the torchlight
They followed their way through the flour past the lift shafts. The stairs that would guide them to the car park, where their sleeping chambers were located, got into their sight. But they pushed forward and the common room appeared in front of him.
"This is not gonna end well, man." Yamato's heavy breath echoed through the corridor. For now they were safe but it was only a matter of time until the next catastrophe would approach. He did not answer as they entered the common room. It was not the right time and the others did not have to know about it...
Yamato accepted his decision and kept quiet.
The cat had fought its way through his jacket and landed on the ground where it trippled nervously back and forth. Its eyes scanned the surroundings as the clatter of dishes got its attention.
"The critter will be a problem. Unnecessary work. I garantee you!" Yamato roared befor he left his rucksack on the table and put his arms around the waist of a readheaded girl that was handling a bunch of knives. He kissed her on the forhead und she smiled tiredly at him.
"How did it go?"she asked worried and her fingers wandered over his face.
He stared at the teacups before of him while the two seemed to have forgotten all about him.
"Oh, how cute!" Sora kneed infront of the cat and patted the black fur.
"Found it – her, I guess – in the ruins", he answered her wordless question and Yamato grumbled about the possible risks of keeping the cat.
"We have to give her a name, Taichi", said Sora ignoring her boyfriend's pessimism. "What about Lucky – it fits she got very lucky to survive like that..."
"Well, I would not necessary call it luck". He cocked his eyebrow.
"Jinx" He turned to leave for his bedroom. "Jinx is better."
Just if you don't see a future
And your dreams are falling down
(Ephemere – Hopelessly)
A/N:
I am awefully sorry for the delay – so much happend in the last few weeks – not to mention Harry Potter or Pottermore...
Anyway here is the new chapter in which we follow Taichi.
We are in the middle of Tokyo – well what's left of the city – more precisely Roppongi, Minato – one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. Yamato and Taichi are doing everything to get supplies for the group – not afraid of smirching their hands...
I think it is more realistic if the DigiDestined acquired some fighting skills – how else would they have been able to survive? It seems like the Digimon are not with them all the time, so they have to use whats left – like weapons and stuff...
The Grand Hyuatt does actually exist – I don't know if it has a car park but yeah this Hotel is taken from real life :D
Taichi is warrior, a sidewalker and a leader. The kind of leader even his greatest enemy is afraid of.
Why did he get the prominent role of the big leader, you might ask? Well he is quite a frightening Badass I guess...
I like Yamato and Taichi – as friends, their dynamic is just super interesting to write about – especially when it comes to a certain readheaded girl...
But that is another story...
Thanks for reading, best regards
PenAmour