-The final frontier-
The rest of the journey to Indramon's fort wasn't a very notable one. Harpymon teamed up with Kitty and together they slowly led us to the place. We fought more centaurumon and unimon on our way into his fortress, and when we eventually made it there, we found nothing but a large procession of centaurumon charging into an odd looking portal machine.
"Cj it's a portal machine, we can escape." Phoebe said.
"To where though?" I asked. " And no we can't, not when there's hundreds of centaurumon using it."
"Why are they even using a portal machine anyway?" I asked.
"It's a portal to the human world, they're attacking it." Saphira said.
"Well what are we going to do?" I asked. "We can't go in there until they're all gone."
" Destroy the machine, deny them a way back." Henry said. "The other world should probably be able to handle them on their own."
"And what if Indramon is in there?" Kitty asked.
"He'll be cut off from this world and basically removed from the game." I said. "I like it let's do it."
And then we made the absolute worst mistake ever.
Yes we destroyed the machine, we had no idea what happens when you destroy a machine that connects a digital world to its real world host, a machine that at this point was being powered by the data of hundreds of digimon. The answer is a massive explosion and a corruption in space itself. We all fell into this hole in space and I wouldn't see Phoebe or any of our group again for a very, very long time.
Worst still, Indramon hadn't even gone through the portal, he headed north, the invasion of the real world was just a diversion.
Volkheim and his cobbled together army of digimon were the only things standing between the remaining dark kings and deusmon's resurrection. Though through no fault of his own, Volkheim was unaware of their plot until deusmon was successfully resurrected and it was far too late. Though deusmon was weakened by the absence of the dark kings we had defeated, Volkheim was still no match for him, his entire army was wiped out and he very quickly met his end. The digital world as well as it's real world host were annihilated, and Deusmon escaped to the cosmos looking for more worlds to conquer.
However, at the moment, that was of little consequence to any of us, at the moment.
I woke up alone, on a planet populated by silver blue-skinned humanoids, with buildings that resembled ancient roman architecture. I didn't know where I was, where Phoebe was, and I certainly had no idea how long I would be separated from her. I spent the first few days hiding from the populace, knowing full well they would probably flag me as a witch or monster or something if they saw me. They spoke an entirely different language as well, which didn't help matters any. During this time, I found out that I could still get items out of the digivice, and somehow, despite more than likely not being in the digital world anymore, the weapons still worked.
I had my pokémon with me, but as before, most of them were still too hurt to fight, or play. I had no idea where Kitty went, or anybody else for that matter.
Unfortunately as I wasn't in the digital world anymore I eventually discovered I once again had to worry about getting something to eat. The cabbages I had lasted all of two weeks and then I had to find another source of food. With nowhere else to turn, I resorted to attempting to steal what looked like a really strange loaf of bread from a shop, seriously it had like a weird green tinge to it, it wasn't mold it was just green bread. The texture was about what could be expected for bread, but it had the slightest taste of wintergreen. I got caught in the act as I took off and ran down the street. A couple of guards gave chase. I didn't want to kill them, but I had to if I ever wanted to see Phoebe again, because they eventually made the mistake of cornering me, and, because I looked like some sort of freak to them, they weren't really interested in arresting me either. Killing them was easy, as my trusty sword, which I chose over the guns thinking it would be more relatable to them, far outclassed their own. I stole what armor they had that would fit me, which basically just amounted to a helmet and some gauntlets. A manhunt began, more guards began to patrol the city. A comically crude depiction of me showed up on a wanted poster I couldn't even read. I stole another loaf of green bread, more guards came after me, more guards died. The next time I was hungry I was just given a loaf of bread, the guards attempted to be smart and "ambushed" me by hiding in the alleyway, more guards died. I made it a point to never kill a civilian, just these guards that kept coming after me although occasionally the civilians would too. Meeso! They would shout as they gave chase, the first word of their language I learned, figuring it probably meant stop, or something along the lines of that.
One day this was happening again, and in the middle of combat the guards dropped their weapons and stopped fighting. I didn't drop mine because I had no idea what they were doing, but I stopped attacking them. One of them tried to speak to me, but it was no use as I couldn't understand them, and they couldn't understand me either. Then another group of guards showed up wearing fancier armor, and in the middle of them was a man with a crown who I could only assume to be the king of these people.
The guards circled around us, He took up his own sword, a really fancy looking thing, and charged at me. Confused, and really not wanting to kill their king I did my best to just play defense, but he was pushing it to the limit, he really knew how to fight. This went on until we were both about to collapse from exhaustion. He smiled, said something incomprehensible to one of his own guards, and then the guards with fancier armor once again circled around him. The guard he spoke to beckoned me to follow him, one of the few times I actually understood them, and so I did. And by the end of the week I somehow ended up married to the princess of this place, at least from my understanding, There was a ceremony and everything, all in a language I couldn't understand. And she was a beautiful girl named Aranea, and that was literally all I knew about her. She really hated me at first. Which was fine, in my heart I was still married to Phoebe anyway, something I was completely unable to explain to her or anyone else at the moment. Her father pretty much forced her to marry me and I must have looked like some ugly freak to her. It was months before we even so much as held hands.
Her father pushed me into military service. They made custom armor, just for me, that honestly looked pretty badass. And it came to be that every day I was sent to train with the guards. They even went so far as to try to teach me there language, which by the end of the year, I was starting to understand. Things were going well until her parents started asking when we were going to have children and they started pushing it, a lot. I couldn't go a day without hearing a lecture about the importance of it from either the king himself or one of his inner circle.
So I told my new wife the truth, that I found her to be beautiful, but Phoebe was my one true love, and that I just, needed more time, she could still be out there after all. We had become pretty good friends at that point, though we still slept in separate beds, so together we convinced her parents that we just needed more time together before that, even though it was obvious we got along pretty well by then.
Then as if on cue the very next day war broke out with a neighboring country and guess who immediately got deployed to the front lines?
About 4 months I was out there, four months of pretty much nothing but fighting, the taste of blood, and sleeping on the cold hard ground. As expected, their enemies weren't much better armed than we were, and with the sword, I dominated, but it was still tiring as all hell. Eventually we surrounded the enemy kingdom, the king, queen, and prince were executed, while the very young princess was basically adopted, with the plan being, from my understanding for her to marry the prince, my new wife's younger brother, when they were the appropriate age, which was a bit weird, but at this point they were both children. So I stayed at my newly captured castle on my own, as some of the soldiers I had captured it with cleaned up all the blood and bodies. Even with the sword, I still needed their help to win this one. I lost a lot of new friends that day, people I had trained with and even helped to train My new wife came over that night, along with the families of many of the soldiers, a party started up in the castle before all the blood was even cleaned up, and, after all the fighting, all the bloodshed, the lack of technology on this world, the fact that I hadn't seen any of my original group for quite some time, the fanfare of the party. The sheer beauty of my new wife in her elegant green dress, she knew what she was doing. I led her away from the party, we found a bedroom, our clothes found the floor, my parts found hers and I taught her everything I ever knew about making sweet, sweet love. A few months later she was found to be pregnant, and at that point, I pretty much came to the full realization that it was very likely I was going to spend the rest of my life here, on this world that had been insanely kind to me, but fate had other ideas, because of course, we weren't alone in the universe. One night came where our bedroom was consumed in a bright white light, and we both found ourselves in a bright white, empty room, alongside Kitty, who at that point I hadn't seen for almost two years. Turns out she was on the same planet the whole time, in a dense, uninhabited jungle region, thousands of miles away from where I ended up. She relied on her instincts to survive for two years, but was extremely lonely.
"Holy crap Kitty where have you been?" I asked.
"You're still alive!" She cheered as we shared an embrace.
"Is there anyone else, is Phoebe with you?" I asked.
"I haven't seen anyone in about as long as I haven't seen you." She replied.
"Who is this? Is she your other wife you keep talking about?" Aranea asked in her native language, which is translated here for convenience.
"No, she has green hair remember, this is Kitty, she's more of, I guess concubine is a more appropriate term." I explained in her native language which I now knew pretty well.
"Who is this and where did you learn to speak like that?" Kitty asked.
"Kitty this is Aranea, she's my wife now." I explained.
"What about Phoebe?" Kitty asked.
"It's been two years, Kitty you have to understand I never thought I would be seeing her again." I explained.
"You gave up?" Kitty replied.
"I was alone! Her planet has no technology, there was zero ways I could've escaped, and then some stuff happened, and her father had us married, and well, I didn't know how to speak their language at that point so I couldn't even begin to talk them out of it. "
"Yeah well, she's fat." Kitty said with some obvious jealousy.
"She's pregnant." I explained. "You're lucky she can't understand you."
"You mean?" Kitty asked.
"Yes, we're going to have a child, maybe, I don't know what the heck is going on here." I said as I looked around the room.
"What are you talking to her about?" Aranea asked.
"She's just giving me grief over Phoebe and just basically wanted to know who you were." I explained.
Just then a door opened with a loud wooshing noise and a huge 8ft tall man in a white lab coat entered the room.
"I apologize for the delay, but welcome to the U.S.C Apocalla, we were passing by your planet and couldn't help but notice that you two, in particular, didn't belong there, as well as these devices.
"What about her?" I asked about Aranea.
"She is pregnant with your child, we assumed you would want her to accompany you." The man explained. "We also can't leave her there either, as your child would go on to screw up the gene pool."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" I asked.
"Not really, but you could corrupt the entire evolutionary line of the species." The man replied.
"Ok fair enough, so we're on some kind of space ship?" I asked.
"That is correct." The man replied. "A liberty steelworks type 6 interplanetary supply vessel."
"A cargo spaceship?" I replied, wondering how I was going to explain this to my wife, who didn't even understand the concept of an airplane. Not that she was an idiot, she was just never exposed to that level of technology.
"Yes." The man replied. "It is part of U.S.C policy to not interfere with the development of non-space faring cultures. I'd have to say, if you were part of us, you'd be in prison for a very long time."
"For what?" I asked. "Getting her pregnant?"
"No, for exposing her people to technology they shouldn't be able to develop for another 3 centuries."
He said as another absurdly tall man wheeled in a cart with my poke balls and digivice on them, as well as my cellphone, which had been dead for a long time.
"These items in particular." The man said.
"Um can I have those back they're kind of important to me?" I asked, not wanting to lose my pokémon.
"In time." The man replied, if you would follow me we have to take you to sickbay to run some tests. "And if you could explain that to your wife we would be greatful for your cooperation."
"You realize she doesn't even understand the concept of an airplane?" I asked. "I mean a spaceship, like this even for me it's something I've only ever seen in science fiction movies."
"So you're originally from a non-space faring civilization?" The man asked.
"Well don't kick us off yet." I said.
"Don't worry, you're still terribly misplaced." The man said. "Now if you'll follow me."
"Right." I said. "Come on Kitty let's go."
"I thought I would never hear that again." Kitty said.
"What is going on?" Aranea cried as we followed the absurdly tall man down a brightly lit corridor. Aranea was starting to suffer from future shock. We all were, but her in particular.
"Hey just calm down sweetie, I got this under control, everything is going to be ok, just trust me. Think about the baby. If you're stressed the baby is stressed, so just relax, I promise nothing bad will happen." I said as I took her hands and attempted to comfort her.
They tested her last, primarily because they were much more interested in Kitty and I, and secondly so I could comfort her when they started scanning her with strange devices even I couldn't recognize.
"Your child is a girl and seems to be healthy." The doctor said.
"Ok you're supposed to ask before you reveal the gender like that, but whatever." I replied before I proceeded to relay that information to my wife, which oddly calmed her down quite a bit.
"It looks to be a fairly normal pregnancy, but we honestly don't know much about her race, so we can't be sure." The doctor continued.
"You know about mine?" I asked.
"Of course, you're a human, one of the most common races in the universe. Or at least you were at one point." The doctor explained.
"At one point?" I asked.
"It's, it's difficult to explain. " The doctor said.
"So have the past few years." I replied.
"Your blood is infused with both organic and digistructed cells." The doctor explained.
"Digistructed?" I asked.
"It means technology, organisms, or devices that were originally created from computer code. Such as your friend over there." He said as he pointed to Kitty. "She's 100% digistructed."
"So you're saying I'm part digimon now?" I asked. "What does that even mean?"
"I can't be 100% sure of all the complications, but you won't age." The doctor explained.
"So I'm immortal now?" I asked.
"Sort of." The doctor replied. "As you age your non-digital cells will die, and once your body ages to the point that the production of new cells starts to slow down, your organic cells will progressively be replaced by digital ones."
"So I'm going to age to like 30 ish, and then remain 30 forever?" I asked.
"Well it depends on your genetic make-up, but give or take a few years, yes, congratulations." The doctor replied.
"And my wife?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, no, neither your wife nor your child will have extended lifespans." The doctor replied.
"Hmm." I solemnly replied.
"And there's no way we can replicate the procedure without understanding how it happened in the first place."
"I can tell you how it probably happened but it's a really long story. " I said. "That's an awfully long time for her to sit in this room not knowing what either of us are saying."
"Well, we can escort her to a simulator room where she will be more comfortable." The doctor said.
"Right let's do that." I replied.
And so Aranea was taken to a simulator room which simulated the castle we had been living in for the last four months. I helped escort her there, and made sure she was comfortable before being led back to the sic bay. Then I basically told them a heavily abridged version of this entire series, about Phoebe, about Charley, about how I wished to get back to them if at all possible. They didn't believe me when I got to the part about the space police. They couldn't see how such a thing could exist.
They said that, wherever my friends were, if they survived they likely had the same immortality that I had, that it likely originated from passing through that rift. Unfortunately, despite their technology they couldn't help me much with my quest. They could heal my pokémon though, interestingly enough. Anyway, Kitty and I served on that ship right up until it was decommissioned. We both started out as trainees. Which fucking sucked because because Aranea couldn't come with me, until I was promoted to lieutenant, until then she had to stay in an apartment at one of the U.S.C's main operation stations, with the rest of the trainee's families. I had to teach her the basics of modern technology before leaving, and to this day I'm still amazed that she pulled through. Thankfully prior experience led to me getting promoted in just a few months, so I wasn't away from her for very long. You'd think it'd be silly to bring your family into battle with you, but the truth is on ships this large it's really not that dangerous and is usually common practice because it's good for morale. At least in the U.S.C.
We got involved in countless battles with countless alien races, we got to know this section of the universe like the back of our hands, and all this time I was 100% faithful to Aranea, who admittedly had it pretty rough these first few years. Kitty had a long series of boyfriends, some just couldn't put up with her, others couldn't deal with the fact that she couldn't get pregnant, some were just terrible people, either way she had her heart broken, a lot, but we remained friends through it all. Our daughter was born on the ship and she was practically raised by the crew until she was 18, then as per U.S.C policy she had to either enlist in the trainee program or she could move out on her own and basically take classes in whatever she wanted with the U.S.C covering 50%. Unsurprisingly she took the first option, even though that meant she could stay onboard for a while longer, eventually she was assigned to another ship. It wasn't an easy day for either of us. A couple years passed she made lieutenant, then the day came when she became a captain of another ship in her own right, I couldn't be less surprised but also couldn't be more proud. Eventually she met somebody and had children of her own, it was weird, being a grandfather for the first time.
Kitty digivolved into lilithmon once, some crew couldn't keep their mouths shut, USC scientist found out about it and started studying her, and through some intense examination involving guns being pointed at me, and also at her soon to be former boyfriend of the time, they were somehow able to find a specific sequence of code that triggered her digivolution, which along with injecting a metric ton of data into her, eventually enabled her to digivolve at will. Aranea was getting older, literally none of the crew members we started out with were still working onboard. I didn't have to retire, but I started thinking about it for her sake.
The ship itself was wearing out, it's weapons and control systems were obsolete, it was taking a lot more fuel to jump than it used to, and generally a lot of stuff just wasn't working very well, sometimes doors would refuse to open, entire control systems would just not turn on, a lot of interior lights burned out, and it was hard to get money allocated to repair any of this stuff, especially since the U.S.C in general felt that the ship was on its way out anyway.
Sadly, they were right, the final nail in the coffin came in the form of a slip of paper from the refuel technician, which stated that the reactor core was worn to the point that it was about to start releasing what was deemed as "unsafe levels of radiation which with continued use could eventually lead to core failure, leakage of fissile material, and subsequent meltdown.". And at that point the tech addicts at the U.S.C could not condemn it faster if they had nuclear-powered stamps. To be fair, a core failure would pretty much be the death of everyone on board, if not from the radiation, if not from it possibly melting the ship in half, then from the freezing cold of being trapped in a powerless metal box in space.
At that point the ship was stripped of fuel, the whole crew was given a hotel to stay at, and it was kind of chaotic for a few days. Some desk jockeys came in, started reassigning people to different ships while the Apocalla was towed away. Unlike the rest of the crew, Kitty and I specifically were given a choice to either move on to what at that point was pretty much a brand new ship, keeping our positions, or retire. There was nothing we could do to save the Apocalla at that point, though to be fair, with the core wearing out, that wasn't really a good idea, as sad as it was the once proud ship was now a deathtrap waiting to be sprung. I missed it at times, but in the end, it lived a full life.
As it was slowly being cut apart by torches in what had to be the largest scrapyard I had ever seen, I wondered what the original captain would think, he was dead at this point, but, he was the one who received it when it was brand new. Anyway, that's when I decided to end my time with the U.S.C, not with a bang, but, with the quiet death of an old friend. Kitty decided to follow me.
Aranea and I, we found we had more than enough money, as we barely spent any of it, to retire to a nice beach house on a civilized planet that was virtually nothing but small islands and beaches, a tiny town and a somewhat famous brewery. A small, young planet known as Paloran, which hadn't even been settled for 200 years, with its lush beaches and relatively cheap housing prices at the time, it seemed like the ideal place to go. During this period the U.S.C was keeping a passive eye out for Henry, Claire, Zari, Phoebe, and our digimon, both to be helpful and to keep them from exposing primitive societies to high level technology. They scanned planets their ships happened to be passing by, eventually they scanned pretty much every hospitable planet under USC control and found nothing. They story became a huge sensation with the galactic media, thousands and thousands of false claims were made. For forty years literally millions of people of various alien races attempted to find them and nothing. However it's important to note that the scanners wouldn't work very well on planets with what was "modern" technology in this part of the universe. Kitty and I stuck out like a sore thumb because the planet we ended up on was in pre-medieval levels of technology.
Our daughter came to visit whenever she could, usually bringing our grandkids along, but as a captain she was always extremely busy. We were lucky to see her a half dozen times a year.
Time took its toll, and even with the white digiroot, there was nothing I could do to prevent Aranea's eventual death. It came slowly, but surely. In the mornings we would walk along the beach, and over the years she would start to get more and more tired by the end of said walks, so we started taking shorter walks until they became so short there was no point in going on them anymore. From that point on we didn't leave the house much aside to visit our daughter. But she continued to grow weaker and weaker until one day she could no longer get out of bed. During her final days she thanked me for everything. She told me her only regret was that she wished she could have seen her parents again, which the U.S.C wouldn't allow, no matter how many times I bothered them about it, and that she never got to meet Phoebe, who I still loved very dearly, her very last words to me were "I really do hope you find her again someday." I held her hand, I told her I really loved her and would never forget her, and she flat-lined seconds later. A lifetime by my side, reached its conclusion. My love of sixty years, gone.
It hit me hard. I knew this day would come, but it still hit me hard. I cried for hours, I'm crying again even as I write this. I cried for her. I cried for Phoebe. Our daughter was out on a mission somewhere and couldn't be reached. Kitty, her current boyfriend, and I were the only ones there. Funeral arrangements were made, our son-in-law arrived with our grandkids. And many, many older people I knew from my service on the Apocala showed up as well. I gave the eulogy, I said my only regrets were that she wasn't my first love, that I couldn't arrange to have her see her parents again, that our daughter couldn't make it, and that she never had the chance to meet Phoebe, which was shocking to some, but others understood. And thus ended my time with her.
A couple weeks later my daughter finally called me, completely inconsolable, it was not the easiest conversation to have. She came to visit when her tour was up, bringing her family with her. We spent the weekend together, celebrating her mother's life.
Things were already slowing down before this and they continued to slow down for a while.
A couple months passed, I started to get over Aranea's death and was trying to find another new adventure, one morning I heard a knock my door.
I opened it and Kitty was standing there, I wondered what this was about, she had been in a relationship with this one guy for awhile, I was halfway expecting her to announce that they were going to get married.
"Hey Kitty how's it going?" I asked.
"I dumped my boyfriend." She said.
"What'd you do this time?" I asked.
"No I dumped him." Kitty replied.
" What? You, you've gotta be joking. Kitty, you two should be getting married, you've been with him for six months, I just why?" I replied.
"Can I come in?" She asked.
"Yeah you can come in for a bit." I replied.
"You should call him, get back together with him, you're making a mistake I guarantee it. " I said.
She just took a seat on my couch and stayed quiet.
"Fuck you need someplace to stay again don't you?" I asked.
For whatever reason she hadn't had a place of her own for quite some time. It wasn't that she couldn't afford it.
"Yes." She replied.
"Ok you can stay here for a while but you need to find your own place eventually." I replied.
"Wait a minute, did he hit you? Is that why you broke up with him? Did you kick his ass?" I asked.
"No, Cj, I just." Kitty said. "Now that Aranea is gone I just, I want to be with you."
"Kitty you were my lieutenant, my daughter has always treated you as her aunt. " I said.
"So?" Kitty replied. "How long has it been since you've had sex?"
"About 15 years give or take." I replied. "What does that have to do with anything we're not having sex right now, you're going to call up your boyfriend and you're going to get back together with him You're going to be with someone that will truly love you for everything you are."
"And then he'll get old and die just like Aranea." Kitty said. "Neither of us has aged Cj, we were meant to be together."
"I can't love you like he can Kitty. Phoebe could still be out there somewhere." I said. "And I'm not ready to love again, not after what happened to Aranea."
"I don't care I just want you, I've always wanted you. Please just give me a chance, I dumped him so I could be with you." Kitty said.
"Kitty, I just, I can't. You can stay here, but I can't." I replied. "I need to go to the bar, your room is down the hall where it's always been." I said.
"No stay here." She said, before she stood up and digivolved into her lilithmon form.
"I've never slept with anyone as a lilithmon before, I've been saving it for you." She said.
"Just sleep with me one time, I want you to have this. Then you can decide whether we should be together or not." She said.
She set the nazar nail on the ground, put her arms around me and kissed me in a way that I had not been kissed in quite a while. She threw away everything for this moment, she had been waiting so long, I was no closer to finding Pheebles than I was 20 years ago.
"Ok, but if Phoebe comes back or if we find her again, then, you're going to be in the same position your boyfriend is now."
"You mean the same position you're in now." She said.
"No you damn know well what I mean." I said.
"I'll take that risk." She said.
"And you know, now that Aranea is gone, I still have to go and try to find her, and then we'll have to try to find a way to get back to our kids." I said.
"I'll help if I can. Even when you find her again." Kitty said.
"You swear?" I asked.
"I swear with everything that I am just give me a chance." She said.
"Ok, so where do we go from here?" I asked.
"How about we go to your room and I demonstrate my love for you?" She said before kissing me again.
"Ok." I replied.
And so began our new relationship and what was probably the third best sexual encounter of my existence. She was the digimon incarnation of lust, so as you could expect her body was pretty much perfect. Though not as soft or fun to hug as her previous form. But she could switch between them at will so it was like having two girls at once almost.
-several minutes later-
"So what do you think?" She asked shortly after we finished.
"Ok, you're in." I said as I tried to catch my breath as she layed there naked beside me.
"You'll be my boyfriend now?" She asked.
"If you'll be my girl." I replied.
"I've waited 80 years to hear that." She replied.
"Yeah well, now what are we going to do?" I asked.
"I don't know." She replied.
"How are we going to explain this to my daughter and grandkids?" I asked.
"I don't know, we'll deal with it tomorrow." She said.
"You want to go out with me to the bar tonight?" I asked.
"You won't leave me there will you?" She asked.
"No, why would I?" I said. "You want to give this a shot let's give it a shot."
"Ok then let's go." She said as she stood up and de-digivolved, which instantly dressed her up again.
"Ok just let me get dressed again I can't do what you just did." I said.
"
From the time she learned how speak, my daughter always referred to her as her aunt, so this caused a lot of confusion and disgust even among the grandkids, and eventual great grandkids, within the next decade, but they saw how happy we were and they eventually got used to it. Pretty much everybody we knew at the U.S.C at this point was dead, I attended a few of their funerals, a few of the ones I had been closer friends with and could remember a few situations they had gotten themselves into to the joy of their families. My daughter eventually retired and decided to move close by. After what I went through with Aranea it wasn't something I preferred, but I decided it was more important to be a good father to her and grandfather to her kids than it was to spare myself from more emotional pain. We had a few good years there together, just like on the Apocala years before. But once again time took its toll, and once again I eventually found myself aside her deathbed as I held her hand. Her husband had passed a few years prior. Once again she thanked me for being her father just as her mother had thanked me for being her husband decades ago. She told me she hoped I would find Phoebe, and that she regretted never getting to meet her. I told her it was an honor to have her as my child, and that if she found her mother up there, to tell her that I still remembered her, and I'm still looking. Then she took the hands of her children, told them she loved them and advised them to look after me, and then she too left this plane of existence. A beautiful life I had seen in its entirety. The funeral came up, attended mostly by former workmates she had known but I had no clue who they were, we shared stories, Kitty got mad at me for staying out late that night, just talking about my daughter's life and all that she had accomplished. I was kind of mad at her cause she didn't even want to come.
When that finally cleared up, when I finally was able to regain my composure, it was about time for a change.
My grandkids, who were now adults themselves, came by to sell my daughter's house bringing my great grandkids along with them. I hugged them, I told them I loved them, but I couldn't do this anymore. I told them to treat me like I was dead, because if things were normal I would be by this point anyway. I told them about their grandmother's home planet, about where I came from, and about where she came from, in a bid to maybe inspire in them a harmless sense of adventure. At the time it seemed to work more on the kids than the adults, who had already established their own lives at that point. I finished by telling them that this was probably the last time they would ever see me or great aunt kitty. They thanked me, told me they hoped I would eventually find Phoebe, and said farewell, and that was the last time I ever saw my grandkids.
Time was changing the very planet we had moved to, there used to be just a small town on the island, now there was an entire bustling city full of tourists, Kitty didn't like this place, she liked to play in the dry sand on the edges of the beaches, far from the waterline, but still hated water after all these years, and I personally found it to be getting a bit too busy. So we decided to sell our house of the past 40 or so years as well, 40 years ago, Aranea and I bought it for 250000, now it was apparently worth almost ten times that, so not all the changes were that bad. We sold everything save for our clothes, my pokeballs, the digivice, and a few family pictures, we bought our own spaceship, the fanciest we could buy that could still be crewed by two people and headed off into the stars. Our immortality and service in the U.S.C led to us becoming extremely well known across this 100 or so planet wide section of space, we were both more powerful than we had ever been, and we were in love, sort of, though nothing could ever come of it as she still couldn't get pregnant, we never married either, after what happened with Aranea, I decided I was done with marriage until I found Phoebe again, or at least figured out what happened to her. I was kind of forced into marrying Aranea to begin with, I didn't actually fall in love with her until much later. Kitty always felt more like a friend than a soul mate to me, I never really understood why. We had a lot of fun on our journey, but we would never be as close as Phoebe and I were, not necessarily by choice. I really wanted that spark again, but it just wasn't there.
Sometimes, as I stared out into the empty blackness of space, I wondered if the Time Travel Guy would show up and correct all of this, as everything had gotten so far off track, but then I would turn back and see Kitty taking off her clothes, and then we would go another round. She switched between her persiamon and lilithmon forms to try to keep things interesting. She said that throughout all these years, I was still the only one that ever fucked her in her lilithmon form, whether that was true or not, I had no idea, but she usually preferred to stay in her persiamon form unless she really needed the extra strength, purely because a lot people found her more approachable and less intimidating that way. That said, the feeling of having a beautiful naked angel wrap her wings around you as you fuck her harder and and harder is one not easily forgotten.
We left the section of space we had spent the last century in for frontiers new. Not even knowing where to even begin to look for Phoebe. Time heals most wounds, eventually I was over Aranea's death, as well as my daughter's, but I kept pictures of them around so if I ever did come across Phoebe again at least I could share them with her. I hoped she wouldn't be mad at me, but they were gone, how could she be? As our voyage continued, occasionally we'd have to stop at either a nearby planet or space station to get supplies, normally food.
It was mind-numbingly boring up there, for the most part, not much to do but eat, sleep, watch the same old reruns on tv for hours on end, and fuck. During our time in the U.S.C Kitty was exposed to tv, so at this point she had a few shows she liked to watch, and through one of these shows she developed an interest in gardening. At first it led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent plants, but eventually she actually got the hang of it.
When I wasn't banging her, I spent my days scanning comparatively uncivilized planets for life forms that didn't belong there using a similar method to the ones the USC used to find us in the first place. Thanks to the advancement of technology, said scanning equipment was now available for large civilian vessels. Kitty either spent her time awkwardly following me around or in her garden up on deck 6. Sometimes she even fell asleep in there.
It was really easy to lose all track of time. We had a pretty large ship, for a civilian vessel, 7 decks, full interior appointments, even a swimming pool, which Kitty hated. We barely spent any of the money we made while working for the U.S.C, combined with the ridiculous amount of money we made off the house, we could afford quite a bit. I must have banged her in every major room but the pool room, as she wouldn't go near it, even in her lilithmon form.
One time I had a dream, while we were both asleep, and this insanely gorgeous blonde woman in a white robe came into our room. Her beauty had an unnatural quality, her form difficult to describe aside from the word perfect.
"Who are you? " I asked.
"I'm Phoebe, I got a new body after the accident, I don't know how." She said.
"Yeah, right." I replied. "I'm not really sure how many people have made that claim, I lost count at 129, but hey at least you seem to be a woman this time."
"I know about you and Aranea and Kitty. I forgive you, but you have to make love to me now, before she wakes up."
"Everybody knows about that. Why don't you tell me the name of her sister and I'll believe you." I said.
Phoebe doesn't have a sister.
"I have a sister? I forgot. It's been so long." She said.
"What's your real name and how did you get on this ship?" I asked.
"I teleported." She said.
"Show me." I replied.
"I'm tired, I can't. Can we just make love?" She asked.
"You're too tired to teleport, but not tired enough to refrain from making love?" I asked.
"You have to see my new form, it's amazing, my feet are smoother than they ever were." She said.
"How the hell did you know about that?" I asked, nearly convinced before I realized either Aranea or Kitty must have said something at some point.
"You want to see?" She asked.
"No because you're not Pheebles and you won't tell me who you really are." I said.
She kept pressuring me to have sex with her until things eventually faded into another dream I can't really remember the plot of aside from it having something to do with a shiny red barbecue grill.
"Look just make love to me and you'll never see me again." She said.
"What are you some kind of crazy fan?" I asked as she crawled on top of me and kissed me.
Everything went hazy from there, I woke up some time later and she was gone, it was one strange dream, but it was only one of many I have had of being re-united with Phoebe, just one of the more memorable ones.
Several weeks later, a giant fricking battleship appeared out of nowhere, having just come out of hyperspace. It wasn't uncommon to see smaller vessels pop in and out of existence, but something this big only meant one thing.
And if that wasn't insane enough. Two more popped up a few seconds later.
Three big black triangular battleships, not unlike the star destroyers from a certain franchise.
"You are trespassing in a restricted area, identify yourself or you will be shot." The radio blared as the helmeted face of a man appeared on the windscreen.
"This is former captain CJ of the U.S.C Apocalla." I said before they blew us to bits.
"This isn't U.S.C space, turn back or . . . . . "
"Wait, lieutenant." A familiar voice said in the background.
"Wait what, no way." I said.
"What?" Kitty asked.
"Holy fucking shit." I exclaimed.
"It's only been about a century." The voice replied.
"Zari what the fuck are you doing on a Zelusian ship?" I asked.
The Zelusians were a long term enemy of the U.S.C, they tried to steal our cargo, oh about, once every frigging week.
"I'm an Admiral." She replied. "This is my fleet."
"Zari? You're alive?" Kitty exclaimed.
"Open the docking bay!" Zari yelled.
"That's against all protocol." Some idiot objected.
"Do it anyway." Zari said. "I know these guys they won't try anything."
"He's U.S.C." Another idiot objected.
"Former U.S.C" Zari corrected.
"I retired like 40 years ago, or something like that I don't even know anymore." I said.
"You don't even look 40." The lieutenant replied.
"Lieutenant, they're immortals, like me." Zari said. "So stop arguing and let them on."
"Oh." The lieutenant realized.
-20 minutes later-
We successfully docked to the giant black triangle of doom and were almost immediately embraced by Zari the moment we stepped off of our ship.
"So how's it going? You served with the U.S.C for a few years?" She asked.
"We basically served until they scrapped the ship we were serving on." I said. "It was the U.S.C Apocala, a cargo ship, not even half the size of this."
"Never heard of it, but still, if you were the captain that's pretty impressive." She replied.
"That's not even half the story." I said. "I had a daughter."
"With Kitty?" She asked.
"No, with, you know what just come on board I'll show you the pictures." I said.
"They won't let me, it's against protocol." Zari said.
"Oh, well then I'll just get them then." I said.
-a few moments later-
"See this was my wife for the longest time, and then that's our daughter, she became a captain too, of a I don't remember, I think it was the U.S.C Astralova. "
"The missile frigate?" Zari asked.
"Something like that, as soon as they put her on her own ship we were lucky if we saw her twice a year."
"She wasn't on it when we destroyed it was she?" Zari said.
"No, I think she retired before that, thankfully, that would've been awkward." I said.
"You ever think about what Phoebe would think?" She asked.
"Well they're both dead now so, well anyway how have you been?"
"Great." Zari replied. "And I don't think Phoebe is dead."
"Why you know where she is?" I asked.
"Well no, but, I thought you two were dead for the last century, and we're having this conversation." Zari said. "For the record I had a husband and two sons, and outlived them all."
She took my hand, and we shared our pain for a brief moment.
"Yeah same, after attending my wife's funeral and then my daughter's, I just kind, I couldn't deal with it anymore." I replied. "So what's it like working for the Zelusians?"
"What do you think? I have 3 Black Hole class battleships under my command. " Zari said.
"Hmm, not bad. Unless you end up against a U.S.C Sorelis class." I replied.
"Hehe, you wish." She replied.
"Well not right now since I'm on here." I joked.
"What are you talking about?" Kitty asked.
"Really?" I replied. "See this is why nobody ever promoted you past 1st lieutenant."
Yes, I was the one that basically got the gears turning to promote her, after I was promoted myself to captain. To be fair, she had been an NCO for nearly 20 years at that point. I knew she could fight like hell, but what held her back was nearly everything else. That and one of her dipshit ex boyfriends got scratched and decided to press charges. She was really close to getting kicked out, but then we got attacked, the moron went AWOL, was later found hiding in the engine room, as his mates were busy dying to protect the cargo. Anyway, he ended up getting the boot and nobody looked into the case any further.
"Well I can't remember all these ships, most of them just look like giant flying triangles." Kitty replied.
"That's not true, and it's not their looks that matter anyway, it's their class, performance and armament that matter." I argued.
"So are you two together or . . . " Zari began to ask.
"Yes." Kitty cheerfully replied as she hugged me.
"More or less, at least until we find where Phoebe is." I said.
"It's been twenty years and he still won't marry me." Kitty said.
"Kitty I told you before we even started this, I'm done with marriages, you know why." I replied.
She really hoped I would marry her someday, but I couldn't, until I found out what happened to Phoebe, I wouldn't be marrying anybody, I wouldn't have married Aranea if I had a choice at the time all those years ago, but I was kind of more or less forced into it, we both were, really. And we were both very lucky it went as well as it did.
"Anyway, I'm starting to feel glad that I left the U.S.C when I did." I said. "Could you imagine what would . . . . "
"You would be toast." Zari interrupted.
"Really? You'd kill us that easily?" I asked.
"I wouldn't enjoy it." Zari replied. "But you, know, if I didn't there'd be a mutiny."
"Eh I understand, at least we're on the same ship now." I said.
"You don't feel bad about betraying the U.S.C?" Zari asked.
"I haven't really betrayed them yet have I?" I said. "And besides, most of the people I've served with have been dead for 20 years, if not more."
"Yeah, same here, most of the people I started with anyway." Zari replied.
"So you're just kind of patrolling the border or ?" I began to ask.
"Yeah, basically. " She replied.
"Gotta protect those stolen coronium mines." I said.
"They're not stolen, they were annexed." Zari replied.
"Mhm, sure." I laughed, as bad as stealing mines was, neither of us were taking any of this seriously. Our ship used to take coronium out of similar mines, back towards homes space, where it would be offloaded at various munition plants and used in the production of space torpedos. Which we would then take to various storage facilities scattered around the galaxy, or on more eventful days, directly to frontline battleships that needed a resupply en-route to wherever they were going to use them. Wasn't as peaceful as it sounds, those torpedos were worth a fortune on the black market, idiots attacked us constantly trying to steal them.
"So I take it you're just out looking for Phoebe." Zari said.
"Yep." I replied.
"In your fancy space yaught?" She asked.
"Yep. 3526 Janali" I replied.
Basically the Rolls Royce of spaceships in this part of the universe.
"Is that the one with the built in Simulation room?" Zari asked.
"Nah I didn't opt for it." I said. "I want to find my baby girl, not get lost in a fantasy in space."
"I see." She replied.
"Do you know where any of the others are?" I asked.
"I wish." She replied.
"You know as an admiral I can instantly promote you both to lieutenant if you're interested."
"Eh, I already played space army man navy cadet thing once." I said. "No offense, I mean."
"No it's allright, I have days like that too." Zari replied. "But have you ever served on an actual battle ship?"
"No this would be a first, if I said yes." I replied. "To be honest, I'd rather not risk getting blown up."
"Well both of you would be safer on here than on your yaught you know? Pirates will be all over that thing." Zari said.
"Ehh if we can't outrun' em we can outfight them." I replied. "Wait a minute Zari, what happened to the space police?"
"I don't think they've managed to expand to this sector of the universe." She replied. "I've been to almost every hospitable planet under Zelusian control, I've seen no sign of them, none of their usual signs. I think we're farther away from home than we've ever been."
"I miss riding on that damned train." I said.
"You remember the bus?" She asked.
"Hell yeah I remember the bus." I replied. "I wonder if it's still there in the digital world, just sitting there."
"You know you two have to stay here for a while." She said.
"Well yeah, I'm not going to leave, not unless you come with us." I said.
"That's sweet, but my tour doesn't end for a few months yet." Zari replied.
"Well we're immortal now, so, as long as you can keep this ship in space and our ship in the hangar."
"Arrangements can be made." Zari replied.
"Sweet." I replied.
"I'll get somebody to show you to your quarters, I have to go do some admiral stuff now but I'll see you both later I promise." She said.
"Right, see you later." I replied.
So a lesser member of the crew showed us both to a small, but comfortable room, where we basically hung out for a few hours, watched the local zelusian tv full of anti U.S.C propaganda, and chilled.
"So what happens if you find her?" Kitty asked.
"We've been over this several times, we can still be friends, but we can't be what we are now. Whatever this is." I said.
"Will I ever find someone else?" Kitty asked.
"I have no idea, I don't know what will happen once we get the group back together." I said. "I mean hell, we could find another immortal that you get along with perfectly."
"Like Henry?" Kitty asked.
"No, I meant someone completely new and different, besides, odds are Henry and Claire are still a thing." I said.
"What if they got separated like you and Phoebe and hooked up with their digimon?" Kitty asked.
"I don't know what if?" I asked.
"Then they would be like us." Kitty said.
"Your point being?" I asked.
She was about to cry, like she did almost every time we had this conversation.
"Hey calm down, forget about the future for a moment ok, right now I have you, you have me, right now we're together, and it could be awhile before we find out what happened to Phoebe." I said.
"What if Phoebe has someone else?" Kitty interrupted.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I replied.
"Is there any way this ends with you marrying me?" Kitty asked.
"Look if that's what you're trying to get out of this then you should just stop ok? I don't want you to get hurt." I said.
"There isn't is there?" Kitty asked.
"Honestly, I can't say for sure. I mean hell Kitty, I still have an infant son somewhere out in all of this that I haven't seen in god knows how long."
"He's probably dead by now." Kitty said.
"Well yeah maybe in this reality but the time travel guy said he would take us home once we got halfway across the universe, and now I don't even know what side of the universe we're on." I said with just a hint of anger. That comment floored me.
"Then again he would have access to revives so maybe not." I said a few moments later.
"What?" Kitty asked.
"Look Kitty, we may never be married, but as far as I'm concerned, we're still family." I said. "I don't know what the hell you are to me, but you're not my wife yet still more than just a friend, and if that's not enough for you, I'm sorry."
"Beebooo." The doorbell chimed.
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
The door slid open a few seconds later.
"Oh. Hi Zari." I said.
"What's going on?" Zari asked.
"Just, some stuff." I replied.
"Just some stuff huh?" She replied.
"Answer me this, how does a captain of the U.S.C accidently fly into Zelusian territory?" Zari asked.
"Well for one thing, I haven't been captain for almost 60 years or so, and secondly, the ship was on autopilot, we weren't really paying attention to the star maps, yatta, yatta, we ended up in Zelusian space." I said.
"Well what were you doing?" Zari asked.
"Probably just going crazy." I replied. "It's been awhile since we've seen anyone else. Hell how do I even know this is real?"
She responded with a kiss.
"The hell?" I asked, utterly confused.
"Did that feel real?" Zari replied.
"Yeah, somehow." She said as we staired into each other's eyes.
"Hey back off, he's my boyfriend now I'm not sharing!" Kitty groaned.
"Well then I might just have to steal him." Zari said.
"Nooo!" Kitty cried.
"Oh relax we're not starting anything." I said.
"We aren't?" Zari asked as the door automatically closed behind her.
"You look amazing by the way." Zari replied. "When did you get so buff?"
"Yeah well, military service, muscle drugs, exercises everything. Look, it's complicated enough just being with her, you know that right?" I asked, thinking it odd that I never really realized how much I had actually changed until then.
"Come on sit down, we'll watch some tv, figure out what the heck we're going to do next." I said.
"We can't do much until my tour is over, otherwise they'll be after me for ditching." Zari said.
"So how has the last century been?" I asked. "How'd you end up working for these guys?"
"Well, I woke up on a civilized planet in Zelusian space and after spending a few weeks just getting to know the place I quickly figured it was the best way to ever find any of you again. My training with the space police quickly got me through the application process, and within a decade I was already back to being a lieutenant. Then I met this charming young man and we did the family thing for awhile." Zari explained.
"Same here." I replied.
"I still miss them sometimes." Zari continued.
"I still miss my baby girl. This is the longest we've ever been apart. I dream about her almost every night." I said.
"What about me?" Kitty asked.
"Kitty, she was the love of my life and after fighting Indramon she disappeared without a trace, I dream about you or even Aranea sometimes, but, they just don't have the same impact or meaning as my dreams about her." I explained.
"Well don't be surprised if she has moved on." Zari said.
"I won't I just, I need closure. I mean hell, I would've moved on if it wasn't for our newfound immortality. I was happy with Aranea, but she aged, I didn't, and when she was gone I watched the same thing happen to our daughter, " I said.
"And then after that you realized there just isn't much of a point in falling in love with somebody you know you'll outlive." Zari said.
"Right." I replied.
"But now that we're back together." Zari continued.
"Kitty we might as well let her in." I said. "No sense in her being an eternal third wheel."
"I want you all to myself." Kitty said. " So, no."
"Kitty, we've done nothing but have sex since we started traveling. A little variety wouldn't hurt. Phoebe and I shared you remember, and now we can share Zari." I said.
"Phoebe didn't have to wait 70 years to be with you." Kitty replied.
"Oh that's a bunch of shit, you've had what 26 partners during that time? Something like that?" I said.
"29." Kitty replied. "and all of them were terrible."
"Bullcrap." I argued. "I remember you almost got kicked off the ship cause of one breakup. And I remember you came crying over to my quarters during another and scaring the crap out of my daughter. They were apparently good enough that you were devastated when they broke up with you."
"Sorry Zari, I just had to point that out." I said.
"No it's allright, it explains a lot." Zari replied.
"Well, it has been awhile since I've been with another woman." Kitty said. "Remember Serenity?"
"Yeah she was hot as fuck, then she got pregnant." I said.
"Mhm." Kitty replied.
"So what are we doing it now or?" I asked.
"Well actually, why don't you two come to my quarters, it's a lot bigger room, a lot nicer bed, a bit more privacy." Zari said.
"Allright, show us the way space cop." I said.
"Now come on, I haven't been with the space police for a really long time." Zari replied.
We followed her to her quarters and things quickly got interesting.
"Hey Kitty, why don't you show her your new trick?"
"What new trick?" Zari asked.
"I can digivolve on command now." Kitty said as she promptly digivolved into lilithmon.
"And now I have my own personal goddess of lust I can fuck without any consequences." I said as Kitty set the nazar nail on the floor, knowing she wouldn't need it.
"Oh yeah." Kitty replied as we pulled each other close and started to make out.
"You still have that amazing rack?" I asked Zari between kisses.
"You still have a dick?" Zari asked in return.
"Yeah, of course, I still got the whole package." I said as I fondled Kitty's boobs as we started to get less clothed and more horny.
-2 hours later-
We were all naked lying on this ridiculously comfortable bed. Zari had it made.
"What if it turns out she has five kids with a new husband?" Zari asked.
"Depends on how long said husband lives." I said.
"What if she didn't make it?" Kitty asked.
"Then I'll marry Zari for forty years, then I'll marry you for forty years and we'll just keep going back and 'forth?" I suggested.
"Just marry us both." Zari said.
"Can I do that?" I asked.
"Yeah." Zari replied.
"Why can't I be first?" Kitty asked.
"Because you asked that." I replied." She's alive, she has to be, if the three of us made it."
"So, Zari, I guess we'll just wait until your tour is over then we can all explore the universe together." I said. "It does get lonely on that ship with just the two of us."
"It is a huge ship for just the two of you." Zari said.
"Yeah, and we have like 20 extra rooms we don't even use." I said.
"So you in or you having too much fun playing space admiral?" I asked.
"Oh I am in, definitely." She replied.
"Sweet." I said.
"I wonder what happened to IceLeomon ?" She said.
"No idea." I replied.
"I've been searching for you and the others for the last 20 years." Zari said.
"Same thing has been happening in U.S.C space, then I find out you're an enemy admiral." I said.
"Am I really still an enemy?" Zari asked.
"No, it's just funny that we ended up on opposite sides again. I won't hold it against you, we're immortals now, we gotta start looking beyond these silly wars." I said.
"It's not that silly though, innocent Zelusians are still dying to U.S.C bombs." Zari said.
"Yeah well, you know no matter who wins, we'll still be like this when every other soldier has died of either old age or combat. You know Kitty and I are the last members of the Apocalla crew still living? And you're probably what the oldest crew member on this ship?"
"Yep." Zari replied. "We're just a trio of naked old people."
"Welll, in mind yes, in body no." I replied.
"Kitty you allright? You fall asleep?" I asked.
"I can't believe even if she's gone you still won't marry me." She grumbled.
"Maybe it's because you keep sounding like you want her to be gone. You know even if we were married it really wouldn't be that different from now. You'd gain a last name and that's about it." I replied.
"That's it?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." I said.
"That's not what I want, I just want to be as close to you as Phoebe was." Kitty said.
"Yeah well that's never going to happen, it's just not possible." I said.
"Crap I have to be on the bridge in twenty minutes, you two get dressed and see yourself out, no word of this to anyone or I'll throw you in the brig you understand?" Zari said as she quickly got out of bed and scrambled for her clothes.
"Um yeah, sure, ok." I replied.
"Hurry up we have to leave to the same time and I have to get moving." Zari said.
"Ok ok." I replied. "Come on Kitty, we shouldn't get her fired."
"But she's working for the bad guys." Kitty said.
"What bad guys? They're letting us stay here." I replied as I got up and started to get dressed.
Kitty simply reverted to her persiamon form, which instantly, and conveniently redressed her, an interesting, but practically useless ability combat wise.
"Done." She said.
We stayed on that Zelusian battleship for a few months until Zari's tour was up and the three of us could leave on our own without the Zelusian army pursuing us. With Zari around, Kitty became a bit more possessive of me and basically wouldn't leave me alone with her. Unlike with Phoebe she didn't care much for threesomes. And that was fine, for awhile.
Iceleomon ended up on a frozen planet, got beaten really bad by a wild, abominable snowman-like creature, reverting to his elecmon form, he escaped and then eventually ended up as IceLeomon again, turned out it was all a matter of climate that kept him as a pandamon. He spent the next 40 years exploring the world, before he came across a sapient race of pitch black skinned humanoids that had adapted to thrive in the cold, confused by his presence, they made friends with him, and over time, when they realized his apparent immortality, he became their king. He learned a lot of things from them, and they learned a lot of things from him, never really knowing his true nature as a digimon. He took a wife, but never managed to father any children, and just as Zari and I had, he eventually outlived her. They were a surprisingly modern society that travelled across the vast icey planes of their planet by steam-powered hovercraft, but they had yet to explore the vastness of space. It was going to be awhile before we found him.
Saphira ended up in the one desert of a huge planet that was 90% water.
The desert was uninhabited, but deep within the oceans there was an advanced Atlantis-like civilization. Fortunately, their submersible aircraft eventually spotted her, and immediately brought her to their capital city.
Henry ended up in a section of space dominated by the Black Sun Alliance, a governing body that basically consisted of illicit traders and glorified space pirates. Basically if you wanted to buy something that the U.S.C or Zelusian governments wouldn't allow in their space, you could get it from them, blood gems, slaves, weapons, drugs, anything, as long as you were willing to pay. It didn't take long for Henry to piss them off, with nothing better to do he made it his mission to shut them down and free as many slaves as possible. He started off small by hijacking one of their ships and from there proceeded to wage war against them eventually forming an army of freed slaves with nothing left to lose and becoming a scarily powerful force actually. Especially when the U.S.C took notice and started secretly backing them. Sadly, even though I was still a captain at that time, I never had enough security clearance to know. His newly formed Anti Black Sun League eventually cut the Black Sun Alliance's economy nearly in half. The slave trade in particular cut to just a quarter of what it once was, as traders became scared to continue to do business with slavers. He found Claire about sixty years later at an auction he had shut down. Unfortunately after she had been sold as a sex slave for several decades, her mind was all but destroyed. Henry finally turned his attention towards locating Phoebe, hoping she could use her powers to help her. Though he really had no way to make any more progress than the rest of us. At this point his second team was getting near retirement age, so he turned the leadership of the ABS league over to his second in command, and bent on revenge, established a new bounty hunting group comprised mostly of former, but younger slaves. Which operated mainly in U.S.C space, ruthlessly focused on going after the leaders of the sex trafficking market with levels of cruelty that would make even pirates shudder. He took Claire along with him with a somewhat vain hope he might run across us. Of course, nobody really gave a damn about his targets, so neither the USC nor Zelusian army bothered to put a bounty on him. A few criminal overlords did, but at this point his reputation proceeded itself and not many were willing to seek him out.
Phoebe got into a lot of mischief, super villainess levels of it. She ended up on a planet inhabited by short, round, blue-skinned people that according to her resembled large, sapient oran berries. A primitive planet, they quickly decided to worship her as a goddess. She took advantage of this, and in an attempt to contact us she kept looking for ways to amplify her powers. Having them mine large amounts of silver, a metal which amplifies psychic waves that pass through it, to a certain extent. Whereas aluminum and most other metals absorb them, with aluminum being one of the best. Using the best of their primitive technology, she constructed a small hut out of silver ore and mud. Unfortunately this didn't really work all that well, so she kept piling up more and more silver ore, a crude amplifier at best, even pure silver is only marginally effective. The society was too primitive and she didn't know enough about modern technology to create anything better, so this idea never went anywhere.
One day some slavers showed up, generally bad people that make a living off of capturing less advanced, but intelligent lifeforms to sell as slaves on the black market particularly in Black Sun space where it's legal. Along with capturing some of the locals they also went after her silver, which, just as it is on earth is a fairly valuable element. However, Phoebe, who like most rational people didn't think too highly of them, managed to locate their ship and after getting the gist of how to fly it from the mind of their pilot she threw everyone out of it and took to the skies. Leaving the slavers stranded with a bunch of angry locals. She crash landed on another, much more advanced planet she had learned the location of from one of the crew, and from there set to work on a more advanced psionic amplification device. Upgrading from a series of smaller devices enhancing her abilities to control the minds of the scientist, eventually she had the entire planet working for her. Over the years her little project resulted in the largest psionic amplification device in the galaxy. In a few more years an entire capital class spaceship was built around it and then she set off into space to begin searching for us. Using mind control to slip by undetected. She had almost a quarter of the galaxy under her control before a few ships with bizarre life forms that were naturally immune to mind control managed to make it to one of the planets she had conquered and realized something was up. She lost a lot of influence after that and now some bounty hunters had her picture and were looking for her, but she still had her ship and she was still very difficult to find. She went around the galaxy, scanning entire planets for information that might lead to my location. Most of this information she immediately forgot as it was far too much for her to remember or even process. She was only able to handle it through the use of an onboard super computer that could store the data she scanned and search through it. She spent years in a nearly comatose state hooked up to her machine. Until one day she heard it, a mention of my name, by the great grandson of a former member of the crew of the U.S.C Apocalla. It wasn't much to go off of, of course, but after singling the boy out and scanning his entire mind she managed to get the general direction of where to go. She spent years traveling into U.S.C space. At one point, my great grandkids were talking to each other over the phone, planning a trip to Aranea's home planet, despite U.S.C regulations. To her they stuck out like a sore thumb. And for the first time in nearly a century she disconnected herself from her machine in order to meet my great grandson in person.
She transported herself to the planet and hovered straight up to their front door, she found it easier to hover than walk anymore. She wrang the doorbell and an old man answered.
"Who are you?" Asked the old man who was actually my great grandson.
"Um, this is going to sound weird, but, from what I've seen in your mind you're apparently my husband's great grandson?"
She nearly gave the poor "kids" a heart attack when they realized who she was, but they kindly invited her in.
"You're Phoebe?" He asked. "The Phoebe?"
"Yes." She replied.
"It's really you, everything my father told me, the hair, the red eyes, it all matches up." Said my great grandson.
"Do you know where he went? I've been looking for him for so long." Phoebe asked.
"Well, shortly after grandma died two years ago he left with aunt Kitty when we were just kids. He never came back. From what we know, he's still out there, looking for you." He replied.
"What about your great grandmother?" Phoebe asked.
"What about her?" Asked my great grandson.
"What was she like?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't really know she was gone long before I was born, all I know is she wasn't from here." My great grandson explained.
"I guess I'll have to ask him that myself when I find him." Phoebe replied.
"Yeah, you will. You're not angry with him are you?" My great grandson asked.
"No, not at all, I'm just kind of surprised he had a kid." Phoebe replied. "Do you know where he went?"
"I know they left in a 3526 Janali star cruiser, if that helps." My great grandson replied. "Spent every last cent of their money on it."
"Awwe, he bought a space bus." Phoebe replied.
"It's a lot more than just a space bus." My great grandson replied.
"Anyway, it's been an honor to finally meet you miss, my father has told me stories about you and great grandpa my entire childhood, I never thought you'd come to see us."
"Well I had to, you're his great grandson, that means you're mine by extension. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my husband, maybe we'll return someday." Phoebe cheerfully replied.
"Please do, it would mean so much to us." My great grandson replied.
And with that she left, while my great grandson immediately went to the phone to tell his siblings what just happened.
So there we all were, on our own paths, destined to reunite again at some point, everything was set in motion, but there was still adventure to be had, and there was still a home we needed to return to.