Chapter 8 - Desert Chase

The odd digital duo continued southeast from the mining town in the direction the Drimogimon had instructed, following the slightly less crooked path that served as the road. But after an hour of travel and a few sore butt cheeks later, the outline of another village came into view when they rounded a dusty hill. However, as Aster grinned at the potential of another clue and short rest for her weary body, she also noticed they were no longer alone on the desolate roadway.


Though as Aster observed the vehicle, she realized the enormous car wasn't following the gentle curves of the desert road but rather driving recklessly straight forward, kicking up a large quantity of dust.


"Something's not right here," thought Aster to herself, increasing the throttle of her motorcycle to get a closer look at the suspicious automobile. But once Aster closed some of the distance, a snarl formed at the edge of her lips. There was a large, mostly scratched off Cerberus Forces logo visible on the side of the battered armored van.


"That's them! That has to be them!" shouted Terra in excitement, pointing towards the vehicle with a clawed hand, and his other continued hanging onto Aster so he wouldn't fall off. "What should we do? How do we stop them without hurting Roy inside?"


Thinking for a moment as she forced her motorcycle to accelerate, Aster continued focusing on the armored van before shouting instructions back to her passenger. "I'm going to pull right behind them; you aim for the wheels with your pepper breath attack! It's our best chance of making them stop without hurting anyone inside!" shouted Aster, entirely throttling her bike as they rapidly started to gain on the much slower armored van.


"I-I'll do my best!" shouted back Terra in agreement, trying to sound confident despite all the worry, hope, and fear welling up inside of him. But in truth, Terra couldn't be more worried about his friend. "What if I miss and they end up getting away? What if I do hit them, but I end up hurting Roy in the process?" squirmed Terra to himself as the armored van began to swerve, kicking up additional rocks and sand in their direction.


Heart racing and pupils narrowed, Aster and the bike moved as one as Terra hung on for all he was worth, waiting to blast the rear tires when the opportunity presented itself. "Now Terra, now!" ordered Aster as they whizzed around a corner, the dust cloaking the tires subsiding in an opportune moment.


"I can do this, Roy is counting on me to rescue him, I won't let him down!" roared Terra, taking in a deep breath before expelling a small fireball towards the van's back. However, in his haste to seize the moment, Terra had forgotten to account for the speed at which they were moving and adjust his shot accordingly.


Not only did his shot miss the battered grey vehicle, but the bolt's sudden explosion caused Aster to momentarily lose her concentration as she swerved to avoid the blast before her.


"Damn it, Terra! Aim your shots at where they're going to be, not where they are!" snapped Aster once she had gotten her motorcycle back under control, adrenaline flowing through her as the thought of having even a small sliver of revenge drove her forward. "You don't need the perfect shot, just aim for the back as I pull up along the side!" she shouted, part of her knowing this would be a lot easier if Terra hadn't insisted on coming along.


Rather than replying and potentially incurring more of the pretty vixen's wrath, Terra began to shoot rapid-fire at the van's backside once Aster had maneuvered into position once more, mitigating the risk if he missed. It took a few more shots, but eventually, the plucky Agumon managed to hit his mark, getting the armored vehicle's back tires to burst while only slightly scorching the rear doors.


Its rear tires shot and axles grinding; the armored vehicle suddenly began to fishtail as the driver lost control before plowing headlong down a short sandy embankment before impacting with a loud crash.


Skidding to a halt and rapidly throwing down the bike's kickstand, Aster dismounted before rushing towards the crumpled driver's side door of the car, leaving Terra behind to attempt dismounting on his own. But upon ripping the driver's door open, Aster's ears drooped in disappointment when she saw who the driver was. Instead of the driver being an angry Boogiemon, it was a bruised and battered Petitmamon with a broken wing looked back at her, quivering in fear. "P-please, don't hurt me!" cowered the small purple demon as he raised his arms in a pathetic defense. "Y-you can have whatever you want in the car, just please don't hurt me!" he pleaded as Aster slammed a balled fist in frustration against the van's side before taking off towards the backside of the armored van.


Sure enough, when Aster pried open the van's back doors, there was nothing but crates loaded with dried rations and odd bits of old equipment scattered about. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Aster stomped her way back to the injured driver as Terra hurried his way over to check things out for himself.


"I-it's not the right van," stammered Terra as he gazed longingly at the supplies in the back of the van. "We failed…Roy is gone," mumbled the stunned Agumon as he stood there motionless, at a complete loss of what to do next.


"We didn't fail entirely," replied Aster as a small, devilish smirk crossed her face as she headed towards the mostly incapacitated driver. "We may not have found Roy, but I'm pretty sure we captured someone who knows where he's being taken. Aster roughly yanked the Petitmamon out of the fraying driver's seat before tossing him onto the hot sand, then towering over the lesser demon. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly where you were taking all these supplies and who you're working for. If I find your answers unsatisfactory, I'm going to beat your ass into the sand. Got it?" demanded Aster as she planted a white footpaw squarely on the demon's chest, her claws only a few inches away from the quivering demon's eyes. "So tell me, where were you driving to?"


"The...uh...w-west, I was heading west!" answered the Petitmamon readily, hoping to avoid the vixen's wrath as much as possible.


Pausing for a moment, Aster took a deep break before glaring the Petitmamon directly in the eye. "The...entire...rest...of...Folder...IS TO THE WEST!" she exclaimed, bringing her paw up for a moment before bringing it down hard on the small demon's chest.


The sudden stomp from the Renamon's powerful legs quickly knocked the air out of the lesser demon, causing him to cough and wheeze until his breath returned. As soon as he was able to, the Petitmamon clarified his answer, with little doubt remaining about the vixen's seriousness. "A-Aeston Springs! I was heading west to a cave near Aeston Springs for my delivery! I was supposed to drop off the car there before taking an empty one to the local villages to get more supplies! I'm just a delivery driver, I swear!" confessed the demon, tears welling up in his eyes as he cowered underneath Aster's heel.


A low, disappointed grunt escaped from Aster's mouth as she continued to bore down on the low, pathetic writhing demon. "Good answer. Now for my next questions, who do you work for? And what are they doing with all these supplies?" pressed Aster, angry that they had only managed to capture a supply runner.


"I-I don't know! T-t-the supplies are always hiding in a dead drop when I pick them up, and n-nobody is around! A-and when I drop off the supplies, there's only ever one or two other Digimon there who never really say anything when they help me unload!" explained the Petitmamon frantically, fearing another strike from Aster's foot as the claws hovered frighteningly close to his eyes.


"That's not good enough. I need a name...something I can track!" pressed Aster, grinding her heel a bit into the demon's chest as she waited. "Come on now...I don't have all day!"

"I swear I don't know! The only thing I've overheard was that someone named Draugar has been kidnapping people! I don't even know where the main hideout is never mind who's in charge of it!" told the demon honestly, clearly afraid that Aster wouldn't accept his truthful answer and would punish him for it.


Pausing for a moment to weigh her captive's words, Aster lifted her paw from the delivery driver when she noticed the concerned look on Terra's face. "Fine, that will do for now, but we're going to take you are going to be our prisoner until we drop you off with the Brave Guard." Explained Aster, figuring Terra likely wouldn't let her finish off the Petitmamon, even if transporting him would be a pain. "Terra, try to find some rope or anything else useful inside the van while I watch over our new friend here," instructed Aster, trying to get the innocent dino doing something productive.


Huh? Oh, sure thing," replied Terra with a nod once he had refocused on the situation at hand. Although he was certainly saddened that his friend was still missing, a small part of Terra made him feel proud of his accomplishment of taking out the van.


After climbing into the back of the supply van, Terra started to open up the boxes and scavenge around inside of them, eventually finding some rope that would work well enough. "Got it!" she shouted back to Aster before exiting triumphantly, the rope held high as a prize.


"Excellent. Nice work," complimented Aster, her eyes only leaving her captive for a moment as she held out her paw. She bound the Petitmamon with it, making sure it was nice and secure to prevent any wiggling during transportation. For the most part, the small demon barely put up any resistance, his spirit broken and resigned to his unknown fate.


After salvaging a bit of fuel from the wreck and adding it to her motorcycle, Aster assisted Terra onto the bike before placing their extra passenger in his arms despite the Agumon's visible confusion. "Hold onto him, Terra, whatever you do...don't drop him," Aster instructed, looking her companion in the eye to make sure he understood. "I'll be driving a bit slower to Aeston Springs since we're a bit overloaded. But try not to fall off, all right?" she chuckled to herself before swinging a leg up and over onto her bike.


Once Aeston Springs had been programmed into the motorcycle's navigation system, Aster, Terra, and their new demon friend adjusted their course and headed West towards the nearest Brave Guard police station.


The ride was long and boring, but it gave Aster plenty of time to ponder and reflect upon their acquired information. "There's something bigger going on here, Roy's kidnapping couldn't have been an isolated incident," thought Aster to herself as she drove, glancing back every now and then to make sure Terra was still behind her and keeping the Petitmamon in check. "Sure they're not very well trained, but they're organized and equipped well enough to get the job done. Plus, there's that Draugar leader he mentioned. Could that be the Boogiemon who kidnapped Roy? He did seem a bit more competent than the other goons we've run into, but if he can afford to have people running supplies for him across Folder, why is he risking his neck to kidnap people rather than letting someone else do his dirty work? Agh, none of this is making any sense."


After a few hours or so, the trio rolled into the lively town of Aeston Springs as dusk began to take its hold and the streetlamps gradually flickered lazily to life. But unlike the other struggling towns they had visited previously, Aeston Springs was much greener and certainly newer. As they idled along, they noticed the streets and stores bustling with various activities as all sorts of Digimon and even a few humans as they wandered about, enjoying the touristy nightlife the town was known for.


With their bound captive, they certainly received numerous weird looks as they putted to the police station where Aster dropped the kickstand and parked her beloved bike. Even though Aster had built quite the tolerance for long-distance riding over the years, her tired muscles nonetheless voiced their complaints as she assisted Terra with their captive. Holding the lesser demon with one paw, Aster helped Terra dismount with her other, feeling a bit sorry for the dinosaur-like Digimon as his stubby legs trembled when he tried to move forward.


It only took a few minutes, though, until Terra's balance returned unto him, and he scampered after Aster into the large elaborately carved stone structure. Inside, Aster was already conversing with one of the Apemon officers inside, letting him know of the events which had taken place and why she was dragging around a bound Petitmamon.


Although the officers weren't entirely sure of Aster's claim, they agreed to hold the demon until someone could check out the crash site of the van for confirmation and to see if there was any additional evidence on board. After securing lodging for the night, Aster made her way over to where the young Agumon was waiting patiently before telling him the plan. "So far, so good, I suppose." The tall vixen stated as the duo made their way outside and back to Aster's bike. "They were a bit skeptical at first, but the officers have heard reports of kidnappings from other towns, and once they investigate the wreckage for themselves, I'm confident they'll believe us," explained Aster with a small smile on her face, happy that at the very least they were making progress.


"So what happens next?" asked Terra, his stomach growling in protest of the recent lack of food as he followed behind Aster, who was pushing her bike to the small inn across the street.


"The station offered to put us up in the inn for the night while they interrogate the driver for any more information he might have. If everything checks out, we will escort the Petitmamon to Capacitor city, where the majority of the Brave Guard are located. They should help us find Roy and everyone else who was kidnapped," explained Aster as she fought back a yawn, her body weary from the day's events.


Once Aster's bike was secure, the two headed inside the inn for a warm, hearty meal before checking into their individual rooms for the night. But as Terra laid there on his bed, belly full, a small smile formed as he thought.


Before Roy was taken, he had been more than content to screw around with his friend, but now…but now, Terra felt as if he was finally doing something with his life. Sure he was terrified of losing his best friend, but helping Aster was exciting and adventurous, even if he often felt embarrassed around the pretty vixen.


But Aster seemed to know what she was doing. And so with the comforting thought that he'd be back with Roy any day, Terra drifted off to sleep, dreaming of motorcycles, car chases, and pretty Renamon who he could impress.

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A new chapter at last. And this time with a fun chase sequence.

Written by Thornwolf33 on DA
Story outline and character design by  AtticusKotch