Chapter 39:
Destination, America
“So that’s it?”
Souichi looked up from his laptop to see Seita starting at him skeptically. “Is what it?”
“We get on a plane and fly to America?” Seita asked. “That’s so… normal.”
Souichi scowled. “What else do you expect?”
Seita shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe you had something like a supersonic jet or something? Or a Digimon that could fly?”
Souichi laughed. “I’m not special like you and your sister. Just be glad I was able to get you plane tickets.”
“I’m surprised the flights aren’t grounded already, with the world being invaded by Digimon,” Taira added.
Seita stared at Gazimon and Lopmon loafing around, and a thought occurred to him. “Wait… how are we going to get the two of you through airport security? You can’t exactly pass for dogs or cats!”
“They can go as stuffed animals!” Yuka suggested.
“Until they get run through the X-ray,” Seita replied. A horrific thought popped into his head. “What would happen if you X-rayed a Digimon?”
“Nothing good, probably,” Taira answered, absently typing on her laptop. “But don’t worry – we’ve taken care of that.”
Souichi pulled out two small devices and walked over to Gazimon and Lopmon. “If you’ll excuse me,” he said, attaching the devices to them with adhesive. Then he pushed a button on both devices. Gazimon and Lopmon promptly disappeared.
“Whoa!” Seita blurted out, “Where’d they go?”
“We’re still here, Seita,” Gazimon replied, amused. “We’re just… invisible? Neat!”
Souichi reached over and deactivated the two devices, and removed them. “Holographic emitters,” he said, “designed to show you whatever you want to see. Or nothing at all.”
“One of ITI’s inventions?” Seita asked.
“Surprisingly, no,” Souichi replied, “It’s something new by one of the big entertainment companies.” He smirked. “About time they started inventing something new that isn’t government or medical. A sign that the world’s finally recovered.”
“Hopefully it’ll continue that way,” Taira said, “and that this Digimon invasion isn’t a sign of worse things to come.”
“That’s what we’re here to stop!” Seita said seriously.
They were interrupted by Nami and Takashi entering the room, followed by Seita and Yuka’s parents. Their mother looked exceptionally disturbed.
“We’ve had a long talk,” Takashi said, “and this is what we’ve decided…”
“You’re not coming?” Seita asked, surprised.
Their father shook his head. “We won’t be able to help you where you’re going,” he explained.
“We would only get in the way…” their mother added, and burst into tears, gathering both Seita and Yuka into her arms.
“If only we could take your place,” she continued, “If only we could fight this battle for you, we would.” Her face crumpled. “But we can’t!”
“All we can do is support them,” Taira said gently, “In any way we can.”
Their mother stared at Taira and nodded. Taira’s daughter was involved in this as well, she remembered. The fear must have been eating her alive, though she didn’t seem to show it.
Their father walked over to Seita, carrying the emergency bag.
“Take this with you,” he said, “Your passports are in it, as well as important papers, and extra food.” He handed it over to Seita. “Don’t let it out of your sight!”
Seita nodded, taking the bag. “I won’t!”
“It may not be much,” their father said, “but it’s the best we can do.”
“That, and keeping ourselves safe so you’ll have someone to come home to,” their mother added.
They both gave their children one last hug, then faced the other four adults.
“We’re counting on you! Take care of them!”
Nami looked back at them gravely. “With our lives,” she said finally.
It turned out that the journey through airport security was a walk in the park. Everything went off without a hitch as Gazimon and Lopmon invisibly waltzed through security wearing the holographic emitters. Seita was oddly disappointed, while Yuka counted it as a blessing. When they finally boarded the plane, the adults were starting to believe that nothing would go wrong.
Fourteen hours later, Yuka was gently shook awake. “Mmm… Huh?”
“We’re landing soon,” Seita whispered.
Yuka looked sleepily around the plane. Other passengers were beginning to wake up after the landing announcement was made, and were fastening their seat belts. She looked outside the window and all she could see were clouds and fog. Then she looked down at Lopmon sitting in her lap, awake and alert as if she had never slept.
The ground was completely covered in deep fog when the plane finally touched down. Long moments passed as the plane taxied to the gate then slowed to a complete stop. As the plane continued to sit at the gate with no announcements and no one being allowed off, Seita and Yuka overheard other passengers talking about being detained.
“What do they mean?” Seita demanded. “They can’t let us off?”
Souichi shrugged. “The airport’s probably dealing with a lot of grounded flights because of this fog. It’s a miracle we even landed.”
Suddenly a series of loud screeches and howls erupted from outside the grounded plane. The other passengers chattered and looked around worriedly. Taira, Souichi and Takashi looked at each other. “Damn it,” Souichi muttered.
More howls echoed from outside the plane, and Seita and Yuka quickly left their seats, carrying Gazimon and Lopmon like stuffed animals.
“Where are you going?” Takashi called after them, “Come back here!”
When they reached one of the emergency doors, Seita put Gazimon down and started fiddling with the latch.
“Hey!” A woman yelled out, “What are you kids trying to do?”
Seita ignored her and continued trying to open the door. A hand immediately yanked him away. “Hey!”
“Step away from the door, son.” the woman said calmly, pulling him away from the door. The badge in her hand identified her as an air marshal.
“We need to get outside!” Yuka said frantically.
“There’s something dangerous out there,” Lopmon spoke up.
“And we’re the only ones who can deal with it!” Gazimon added.
The air marshal stared at Gazimon and Lopmon, who, in her mind, probably looked like walking, talking plush toys. Her gaze moved over to the two children, then back to the Digimon. The unearthly howls outside the plane continued to sound.
“Please!” Lopmon said forcefully, “Open the door and let us out!”
The air marshal sighed, and slowly opened the door.
The thick fog outside covered everything, and all that could be seen were the outlines of trees and the black surface of the tarmac.
Then, there was a whoosh as a Wingdramon zoomed past the plane, howling. High in the sky, a large horde of Wingdramon hovered, ready to attack.
Gazimon glowed and leapt out of the emergency door, warp evolving to BanchoLeomon on the way.
Yuka pulled out her Crest and slotted it into her Digivice. “Go, Lopmon!” she said, motioning her out. With the extra energy, Lopmon glowed and evolved right up to Antiramon.
BanchoLeomon and Antiramon jumped up, and each grabbed hold of a Wingdramon, hanging on as they flew higher into the sky and closer to the horde.
BanchoLeomon began jumping from Wingdramon to Wingdramon, attacking them and deleting them one by one. The last Wingdramon he landed on attempted to dive-bomb the plane, but he managed to redirect it to the ground before deleting it.
“Incoming!” BanchoLeomon shouted as he rocketed toward the ground and reverted back to Gazimon, bouncing off the tarmac. “Oww!” He got up, shook himself off, and took a flying leap, landing inside the plane doorway. Seita grabbed him and pulled him inside.
Meanwhile, Antiramon was battling a group of Wingdramon in midair, leaping and hovering between them. A few tumbled out of the sky and crashed, but soon got back up again. One Wingdramon fired a supersonic beam of fire at Antiramon, hitting her in the chest. The attack launched her clear into the air. As she tried to right herself, the 1:30 second time limit expired.
Antiramon glowed, reverted to Lopmon, and dropped from the sky like a stone.
“Lopmon!” Yuka screamed, watching her fall through the clouds.
“Yuka, get back!” Seita yanked her away from the open plane door.
“Lopmon!” Yuka shouted again, starting to cry.
Suddenly, Yuka’s Digivice glowed. It transformed and became a silver device with pink accents. With a flash of light, her second Crest appeared alongside the first – the Crest of Miracles.
On the way down, Lopmon opened her eyes and was filled with bright, warm energy.
“Lopmon, warp evolve to… Cherubimon!”
An angelic, fairy-like beast Digimon emerged from the light. Hovering, she turned to face the horde of Wingdramon.
She lifted her arms, summoning a group of thunderclouds and forming them over the Wingdramon, then made a sweeping motion down.
“Heaven’s Judgment!”
A multitude of lightning bolts rained down on the Wingdramon, shocking and deleting many of them in mid-air. The remaining Wingdramon launched themselves at Cherubimon in a last-ditch attempt at attacking.
A handful of spears appeared in Cherubimon’s hand, and she threw them at the remaining Wingdramon.
“Lightning Spear!”
The spears impaled the remaining Wingdramon, fragmenting them down into nothing but data.
Cherubimon flew down to the grounded plane and hovered in front of the emergency door, smiling, then reverted to Lopmon, floating down into Yuka’s arms.
Yuka hugged Lopmon tightly. “You were marvelous out there!”
“All because of you,” Lopmon answered with a tired smile.
With the defeat of the Wingdramon, the fog finally started to lift. After a few moments, it was completely gone.
The air marshal sighed, and yanked the emergency door closed. “Everyone back to your seats,” she called out to the curious passengers who were trying to catch a glimpse of the action. “Emergency’s over.” She then turned to Seita and Yuka.
“All right, you two,” she said tiredly, “get back to your seats with those… things of yours-”
“Digimon!” Yuka said brightly.
“Whatever,” the air marshal continued, “They’ll probably let us off the plane soon.”
Seita looked at the air marshal thoughtfully. “You must see a lot of stuff, ma’am, if this doesn’t surprise you!”
The air marshal muttered something unintelligible under her breath and walked to the front of the plane.
Soon enough, the captain gave the go-ahead to let the passengers off the plane. Some of the passengers looked at Seita and Yuka curiously, while others left quickly.
When Nami passed by, the air marshal stopped her.
“Ma’am…” She looked at her and everyone else in their group, including Seita, Yuka and the Digimon hanging limp in their arms like dolls. “Whatever mess you all are involved in… good luck.”
“Thank you,” Nami said, “I’m sure we’re going to be an exciting story for you to tell!”
The air marshal smiled hastily. “Thank you for flying with us,” she said, ushering them off the plane.
Several hours later, the eight of them were packed into a rental van as they drove away from the airport.
“Do you know where Kyoko’s living now?” Souichi asked Takashi, who was driving.
Takashi nodded. “I was there once last year… when Akira went missing. If I knew then that she went to the Digital World, maybe things would be different now.” He looked in the rear-view mirror at Seita, Yuka and their Digimon sleeping in the back seat, thought of Akira, and Tian, and Kei…
“We have an obligation to these kids,” he continued, “to protect them and support them. But somehow I feel like we’ve failed already…”
“It’s no good thinking that way,” Nami said, “We’ve gotten this far, and we need to see this through to the very end.”
“And Kyoko?” Taira asked.
“She’s involved in this whether she likes it or not,” Nami answered. “She has two children who are Chosen, and even if she’s decided to ignore Akira, she won’t do the same with Kei.”
Everyone fell silent at that, as every mile brought them closer to a reunion they weren’t sure they wanted to have.