Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. Please support the official release.
Elseworlds
The job had almost been quick and straightforward. A derelict ship, long thought lost decades after the war it had been commissioned to fight in. Luckily, these late 25th century destroyers had been built to last, with atmosphere still being recycled and artificial gravity functioning just well enough that they could navigate the vessel. Takato couldn't explain the science if his life depended on it, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate it in moments like this.
What he didn't appreciate were the guns currently aimed at his face. They had just finished clearing out the engineering deck, and had barely stepped through the bulkhead when they were ambushed by four armed individuals wearing masks and pressure suits with matching insignia and numbers on their shoulders.
To Takato's immediate right, Henry stood calmly and vigilantly, probably weighing their options and trying figure out a way out that involved no one getting shot. On Takato's left, Rika glared at their competition, though they probably weren't the sole focus of her anger. They had been under the impression that they were only ones with the destroyer's coordinates, and thus Rika had lost the argument about bringing any kind of weapon so they could defend themselves.
"You got any more crew on board?" one of the pirates asked as he stepped forward. He was the largest, and at least the de facto leader given the large "1" on his suit.
"Nope, just us," Takato answered, which wasn't a lie at this specific moment in time. He took a deep breath and continued delicately. "So here's a thought: Why don't we get out of your hair? Give you space to work?"
Number One focused on Takato and tilted his head. "And why would we let you do that?"
"Because this is unmarked salvage," Henry interjected. "Technically, none of us have done anything illegal yet."
"So why not keep it that way?" Takato added quickly.
The pirates went quiet, at the very least considering their offer. Then their eyes wandered to the bag slung over Henry's left shoulder.
"Hand it over," Number One demanded.
For a fraction of a second, Takato wondered if they could bluff their way out of this standoff. In reality, the contents of Henry's bag were the main reason they were collecting salvage from this vessel. The ship's energy cells were long lasting, powerful, and extremely valuable if one knew who to sell them to. Henry was currently carrying two of them, with about half a dozen more still sitting on the engineering deck, with the original plan having been the carry a couple at a time back to the airlock.
"As if!" Rika snapped before anyone else could respond, drawing all eyes to her.
"Rika..." Takato cautioned, empathizing with her but also more concerned with getting them all out alive.
"No, this is crap, Takato!" Rika turned her head to face him. "That's our salvage!"
"You let your crew talk to you like that?" Number One asked Takato.
"He's not the captain," Rika stated without skipping a beat.
"And what, you are?"
"It's more of a flat team structure," Takato explained with a friendly shrug.
The pirate snorted before lumbering over to Rika. Despite being hidden behind a mask, it was clear that his eyes were wandering all over her.
"If you're so attached to the bag, maybe I can take its worth out of you."
"I dare you to try," Rika growled, not so much as blinking to break eye contact.
"You have a chance to walk away from this," Takato warned, clenching his fists and trying to keep his own anger in check. He suddenly found himself significantly less compelled to negotiate with this particular group. "Don't make this more difficult than it has to be."
"Are you threatening me?" Number One barked, shifting his gun in Takato's direction.
"Here!" Henry called out suddenly. He held the bag with the energy cells in an outstretched arm. "Just take it and let us go."
Number One grunted, and seemed to relax as he turned his body to face Henry.
Takato risked a glance at Rika, expecting at least more frustration on her part. Instead, however, he found her eyes locked on Number One's sidearm, loosely holstered on his waste. Takato tried to follow her eyeline, finding the rest of the pirates currently focused on the exchange. By the time his eyes had already found their way back to Rika, she was already in motion.
Rika grabbed the gun, angling it downwards and pulling the trigger so that it fired into its owners foot. The other pirates turned around immediately, though Rika seemed ready for them. Leveraging Number One's new injury, she pulled hard just as bullets started flying in her direction. Number One barely had a chance to scream before he was perforated by his own crew.
One of the rounds had gotten past Rika's shield, however, and struck her in the abdomen. Luckily, killing one of their own had shocked the other pirates just enough that they momentarily stopped shooting, giving Rika just enough time to slink around the corner where Takato and Henry had taken cover.
"Rika!" Takato called out as he pulled her the last couple steps of the way.
"I'm okay..." She slid back against the wall, out of breath. "Just a bullet wound..."
Without any medical training to speak of, Takato couldn't be sure exactly how life-threatening Rika's wound was. All he could say was she was bleeding more than he was comfortable with at the moment.
Boots hitting metal caught all their attentions, a reminder they still had three pirates to deal with. Without looking out from cover, Rika aimed the gun she had stolen over her shoulder, firing a couple quick shots. The footfalls stopped and were instantly replace by more gunfire.
Takato knew they needed to run, but doing so without a plan guaranteed they would be shot in the back. Looking for an escape route, his eyes fell on the bag Henry had managed to hold on to, and an idea began to form.
"Hey, Henry..." Takato began, already questioning his plan. "How long would it take for an unstable energy shell to explode?"
"A couple minutes, maybe," Henry answered, concern in his voice. "Depends on how damaged it is. Why?"
Takato's eyes drifted from the cells to the gun in Rika's hand, quickly followed by reluctant nods from all three of them.
"Can you walk?" Takato asked Rika.
She lifted herself to her feet. "Does my life depend on it?"
They waited a couple more seconds for the right opportunity. The gunfire paused again, which hopefully meant the pirates needed to reload. They were not going to get a another chance for their next play.
"Now!" Takato shouted, and the pieces fell into place.
Henry tossed his bag around the corner, as Rika leaned out of cover. She aimed and quickly fired off two rounds, both of which connected with their target.
Thankfully, the pirates instantly understood what was happening the second the bag started to spark. They turned and ran, giving the three of them the perfect opportunity to sprint in the opposite direction.
"How far do we have to get?" Takato asked as they made their way down the metal corridor.
"We just blew an energy cell right outside of engineering," Henry explained frantically. "How far do you think?"
"Right..." The chain reaction that was about to be set off sunk in for Takato. He quickly pulled his goggles over his eyes and clicked on their comms. "Jeri!"
"At your service!" a voice chirped back.
"We need extraction!"
"How quickly we talking?" Jeri asked hesitantly.
"Now!" Takato replied as explosions echoed in the corridor behind them.
"Right, hang tight."
The comm clicked off, and after what felt like an eternity later, they reached the airlock they had originally used to board. Peering outside the window, Takato finally felt some relief as a vessel emerged from the asteroid field that had kept the destroyer hidden all these years.
Grani.
Despite its once vibrant red and yellow color scheme now being rusted and faded, the Arc-class transport never looked so beautiful. Elegantly and precisely, it managed to dock itself to connect the two ships' airlocks. The door had barely begun opening before the three started squeezing their way through.
"Go!" Takato shouted into the intercom as soon as the airlock resealed itself.
As soon as they stepped into the ship proper, Rika dropped to the deck, adrenaline likely having finally worn off. Luckily, Takato wouldn't even get the chance to ask if she was okay. Suzie waited for them just a few feet from the airlock, medical kit in hand.
"Any other injuries?" Suzie asked as she knelt down next to Rika. From her bag she pulled out a handheld medical device and began to scan the bullet wound.
"Do our wallets count?" Rika commented, not looking at anyone in particular as she spoke.
Further responses were interrupted by Grani suddenly shuddering. The four of them all looked to each other, but they had no answers between them.
"That didn't feel good," Takato said to break the silence.
"Let's go see what's up," Rika responded as she started to stand up.
Suzie immediately grabbed her and pulled her back to the deck. "You need to stay put."
"Says who?"
"Says your doctor."
Rika snorted. "Except you're not a doctor."
Suzie's eye twitched. "I basically am."
"Based on what medical degree?"
Suzie went quiet, though this wasn't necessarily a surprise to anyone. It was common knowledge on the ship that Suzie's lack of formal medical training was a sore spot for her, and at least part of the reason she was on board in the first place. In her defense, the fact that she was as knowledgeable as she was in the field was a testament to her innate ability, and it wasn't as though there were that many official certifications between the rest of them.
Regardless, Rika seemed satisfied with her own assessment. "Yeah, that's what I thou-ow!"
"Oops!" An innocent smile came to Suzie's face as she pulled a needle away from Rika's injury. "Good thing I know where to put this thing or that could have ended really badly."
Rika glared at the ship's medic before looking downwards, her way of silently admitting defeat.
"Why don't the two of you finish this argument in the infirmary?" Henry suggested to his younger sister. "We'll check in with Jeri."
Quick acknowledgments were shared amongst them before Takato and Henry turned and made their way up to the bridge. Grani shook a couple more times on their way there, a reminder to Takato that nothing could ever be simple for them.
"How are things looking?" Takato asked as they finally reached their destination.
"We have a tagalong," Jeri answered in a cold monotone. This was what they had come to refer to as Jeri's "Pilot Mode", a calm and collected demeanor that she adopted when focusing on the task in front of her. While this was initially a bit off-putting when she first came on as Grani's pilot, this quickly became a way of reassuring Takato that she was going to get them out of whatever scrape the crew found themselves in.
Glancing at the monitor for Grani's rear camera, they saw a small craft in hot pursuit. Almost certainly the pirates' ship, it was armed and shooting at them, a situation probably not made better by the fact that Grani didn't have any weapons of its own. Their only saving grace was that the pirates operating the ship were clearly not at Jeri's skill level.
"Don't these guys have anything better to do?" Takato muttered.
"Can we shake them?" Henry asked.
Almost on cue, the destroyer they had left in their wake finally lit up. The resulting explosion blew the ship apart, and managed to destabilize the surrounding asteroid field, creating yet another problem for them to deal with.
Jeri peeked at the monitor and turned her eyes forward again. "It's gonna be close."
"What do you need?" Takato asked. Despite his limited technical knowledge, he knew full well that Grani was a transport ship first and foremost, so there couldn't be any mistakes if they wanted to get through this.
Jeri hit a button and pulled up on the controls. "Henry in the copilot's seat."
"What's our play?" Henry asked as he sat down.
"How long would it take to cut and reignite engine two?" Jeri kept her eyes forward.
"About ten seconds."
"Could you please cut that in half?"
"Maybe..." Henry pulled up a couple new windows onto the display in front of him. "Just say the word."
A missile flew just past Grani's nose, directing Takato's eyeline forward and alerting him to a sizable asteroid that was about to intercept their flight path. With only vague theories as to what was about to happen, he braced himself against the hull and crossed his fingers.
"Now!" Jeri called out, and her maneuver went into motion.
With power cut to their second engine, the ship lurched, doing a barrel roll of sorts that Takato felt despite the artificial gravity doing its best to compensate. Within a few seconds, the asteroid was out of his line of sight.
Engine two hummed back to life, and Grani leveled itself out. They shot forward, though a scraping noise echoing from beneath them indicated they were not quite as clear of the asteroid as Jeri had estimated. That aside, their course out of the field looked clear, and taking one last look at the rearview, the pirate ship tumbled out of control in a different direction, likely not having been as lucky when it came to dodging the rocks and debris.
"So..." Jeri hit a few commands to engage the autopilot, then spun around with a warm but still nervous smile on her face. "I take it things didn't go as planned."
Takato shrugged. "When do they ever?"
"Is Rika okay?"
"Suzie didn't seem worried," Henry answered, his eyes still glued to the monitor in front of him.
Jeri stood up and stretched. "Well, in that case, we got a message from The Grey Sword while you were out. They might have a lead on a job."
"See?" Takato said as some enthusiasm found its way into him. "Everything'll work out."
"As long as they don't jump ship again," Henry added quickly.
"I'm sure that was a misunderstanding," Takato countered, as he tried not dwell too much on the last time the two crews worked together. "Did they send a rendezvous point?"
Jeri placed a gentle hand on her station. "Course is already set. ETA is about twelve hours."
"Awesome! Let's do a team meeting a couple hours before we arrive. That works, right?"
Jeri gave a thumbs up as she stepped off the bridge, and Takato took Henry not objecting as a sign to leave him to whatever he was currently occupying himself with. Less than a minute later, Takato was stepping into his cabin, though anything else was interrupted by someone slipping through the door just as it closed behind him.
"Did we get away okay?" Rika asked. She gave no indication that she had just been shot.
"We scraped by," Takato answered, still not able to hide his concern. "You?"
"Have a look." Rika pulled back her coat and lifted her shirt, revealing the clean bandage work that was Suzie's trademark.
Takato's eyes lingered on the wound, having to stop himself from reaching a hand out to it. The moment back on the destroyer played in his head again, causing his body to tense up. He acknowledged that things could have been a lot worse, but those thoughts weren't making him any more comfortable with what had happened.
"What were you thinking?" Takato asked when he finally looked back up at her.
Rika lowered her shirt and crossed her arms. "I was thinking that food and fuel cost money, and our supplies of both are very low right now. We have to take risks if we want to survive out here."
Takato sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I know."
There wasn't much of an argument to give on this point. They struggled to make ends meet a lot of days, so Rika's words rang true. Takato just wished that they didn't.
"Good news is we've got a lead on a new job," he said quickly to change the subject.
Rika raised an eyebrow. "From who?"
"The..." Takato hesitated, anticipating her response. "...Grey Sword."
Rika stayed straight-faced. "Just so we're clear, if Tai leaves us holding the bag again, I'm gonna be a little pissed."
"Got it," Takato confirmed, now stuck anticipating that response should the required conditions be met.
The pair of them went silent again, which wouldn't have inherently been an issue had Takato stopped staring at his crew mate. Again, a lingering side effect of all the thoughts brewing in his head at the moment.
"Stop that," Rika requested, likely having deduced where his thoughts currently were.
"S-Stop what?" Takato replied, though he knew that playing dumb probably wouldn't work here.
"Worrying. Look..." Rika closed the distance between them, taking his hand and placing it gently on her bandaged wound. "I'm right here. It'll take more than a bullet to get rid of me."
There was no melodrama or even sarcasm in her words. Just a simple promise from her to him. Looking into her eyes, it was clear that she intended to keep it.
Following that, it wasn't entirely clear who kissed who. The only certainty was neither of them resisted after the fact. The kiss deepened, with Takato holding Rika tighter against him, refusing to let her go-
"What did you say this girl's name was again?"
Rika's question snapped Takato back to the present, back to the Nonaka's household where the lot of them had chosen to gather. He looked to Rika, whose face was a slightly redder than normal and voice wasn't hiding her irritation, and then to the other four sets of eyes and ears he had been relaying his "story idea" to.
"I..." Takato's mind went blank as he tried to remember what details he had and hadn't shared since he started talking. "...didn't?"
"Oh, we know who she is," Terriermon commented, though his voice lacked his usual light and teasing tone. If anything, he seemed a little upset.
"Everything okay, Terriermon," Henry asked, apparently just as confused as the rest of them.
Terriermon crossed his arms and averted his gaze from all of them. "You mean other than the fact that Takato didn't think I was cool enough to be included in his story?"
"I think you're missing the point."
"I wasn't in it either," Guilmon added, though briefly paused to place a thoughtful claw on his chin. "At least I don't think I was..."
Takato's brain hit a speed bump before he could respond. Given the source of his idea, the Digimons' absence didn't sit right with him. He made a mental note to think on this later.
"Perhaps we're getting off topic," Renamon suggested. "If I recall, Takato was asking for our opinions."
"R-Right, yeah," Takato replied, some of his thoughts coming back to him. "I was wondering if you guys would read this as a manga." He noted a subtle glare from Rika. "Or something similar to it! You know, some details can change."
A brief but notable pause fell over the group, with sideways glances being exchanged between them. They were all clearly waiting for someone else to speak first.
"Well, clearly I don't matter here," Terriermon said, still refusing to look at any of them.
"I would read it," Guilmon declared confidently.
"I mean..." Rika gave a slight shrug. "I would buy it."
"How do you mean?" Takato asked, genuinely curious what the distinction was.
"I think what Rika means is that we're your friends," Henry explained. "We'd buy it regardless to support you. As far as whether we'd read it if your name wasn't on it..." He paused briefly to consider. "The idea sounds interesting."
"Kinda reminds me of that one anime you asked me to watch with you," Rika said, trying to sound aloof.
Takato squinted at her. "You mean the one you made us watch every episode of over a single weekend?"
Rika shrunk a bit. "I liked the music..."
"Where did this idea come from?" Renamon asked, her attention and focus not wavering.
"Last night," Takato answered nervously. "Honestly, it's stitched together from bits of a dream I had."
Rika hid her face behind one of her hands. "You and your dreams..."
"So this is a new idea?" Renamon followed up.
Takato nodded. "Brand new."
Terriermon enthusiastically jumped forward. "Well, then we have to workshop this idea!"
"Terriermon..." Henry sighed.
"Moumantai, Henry." Terriermon clasped his hands together and put on an innocent face. "We want this manga to be the best it can be, right?"
"Which I'm sure involves the inclusion of a certain white and green Digimon."
"See, now you're getting it!"
Rika rolled her eyes. "Well, I just thought of something that would keep me from buying a copy."
After a couple seconds of deliberation, Takato pulled out a notepad and pencil. Even Terriermon sometimes said the right thing by accident, so there was no harm in at least hearing him out. At the end of the day, feedback was feedback.
Author's Note:
Have had this one in my head for a while. Seeing as how fan fiction sites love their "[insert specific subgenre] AU's", I thought I'd try fitting the characters into Space/Scifi archetypes. Definitely a work in progress. Jeri being the pilot, for example, may seem a bit weird, though I wouldn't say it feels wrong, per se.
Of course, doing this with the 01 cast takes about ten seconds: Tai's the captain, Matt's the first mate, Sora's the pilot, Izzy's the ship mechanic/engineer, Mimi's the chef (at least as a placeholder), and Joe's [what else but] the ship's doctor.