Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Ancient Warriors: First Calling ❯ The Living Legend: Holicmon, Warrior of Life ( Chapter 2 )

Lady's Notes: Well, here's my chapter. Sorry this took so long - my computer was gone for nearly two months. ~_~ But it's back, so all is well. ^.^ Well, almost all…FF.N doesn't always understand that I want something italicized, so if something sounds like it ought to be italicized but isn't, it probably was. Just pretend it's italicized.

HotShot's Notes: Lady's back! Yaaay! ^_^; Please read and review, but most of all - enjoy!

"What the crap is this thing?"

The girl pawed the D-Tector disapprovingly, turning it over in her hands, testing its weight in her grip, and pushing buttons at random in the hopes of instigating some response. None; the black-and-white device didn't so much as bleep. The tiny square monitor, enclosed by a hexagonal decal that made it look larger than it actually was, remained dead.

"Great. First the phone talks to me, then it freaking mutates." Already she could envision the inevitable: "I know you told me not to lose my new phone, Mom, and I didn't! It just transformed into a weirdo piece of junk when I caught a train beneath the subway, right after somebody sent me a voice message telling me to check yes or no on my destiny! I'll buy another one with my own money, I promise!"

Somehow, she had the feeling her parents weren't going to buy that story, true as it might be. But given the situation, Kumi Kitagawa figured that her parents' foreseeable reprimands ought to be very low on her list of things to worry about. Getting grounded was only slightly less important right now than certain other things, such as solving the riddle of "What the heck is going on here?"

Good question. No answer.

Grimacing, the sixteen-year-old clipped her D-Tector to the belt of her black jeans, rebellious-looking affairs bedecked with zippers, chains, elastic bands, and cargo pockets. Her overall attire said `not quite punk': form-fitting white shirt adorned with a fanciful ebony butterfly, white tennis shoes with black laces, zebra-striped socks, and a wristband on each arm - one black, one white. A bold choker bearing the yin-yang insignia summarized her outfit well, as the opposite ends of the spectrum seemed to be all she wore. The only proper color visible on her at all was the rich bronze of her short hair and her verdant eyes, the hue of an uncut emerald. Her nondescript face and figure probably wouldn't stand out in a crowd, but her clothing might; she could have strolled into the monochromatic realm of old television shows and blended in without incident.

Except this wasn't an old TV show, and it certainly wasn't monochromatic. Kumi shielded her eyes with a hand and gazed at the vibrant alien world stretched out before her, a sea of yellow knee-high grass waving in every direction. Broken only by some trees to the right that suggested a forest, the honey-colored meadowland emitted the aroma of unseen wildflowers and fresh earth, nothing like the reek of smog that permeated Tokyo. A handful of wispy clouds threaded their way through the stunningly cerulean sky, doing nothing to block the rays of the burning noonday sun.

If I hadn't pinched myself, I'd swear this was a dream.

Fingering the yin-yang on her necklace, Kumi stepped onto the nearby railroad tracks for a few inches' elevation and checked both ways for any of the trains from the underground station. Certainly the one she had ridden was long gone; it had taken off as soon as she had stepped into this clearing to stretch her legs. Though effectively stranded, the girl had reasoned that another of the mysterious locomotives would trundle by sooner or later and let her hitch a ride back to civilization. Not that she knew how that would happen, as the train she had boarded under the subway hadn't seemed to have any operators. Or other passengers, for that matter.

"Well, this is just peachy!"

Kumi kicked a stone for emphasis, watching it tumble across the springy grass as a zephyr rustled her hair. Absently readjusting some displaced strands, she again scanned about for something - anything - that might tell her where she was, or whether there was any life besides her in the vicinity.

Nope, was the flat conclusion.Just me and Mother Nature. Wonderful.

"So what am I supposed to do now?!"

When she failed to receive an answer from any of the inanimate objects around her, the teenager hopped down from the tracks and punted another rock, as though it was responsible for her plight.

Guess this means I've gotta go find out what the heck is going on. What on Earth had possessed her to not only acknowledge, but obey that stupid phone message? "Choose your fate"…Upon reflection, it sounded like a load of garbage.

Lesson of the day: The word "fate" actually means getting dumped in the middle of nowhere by a freaky train thing. Her eyes darkened as the ramifications of what she had gotten herself into became apparent. Oh, dang…I am so screwed. If I don't get home before seven-thirty, Mom will kill me, bury me, dig me up and kill me again. Then she'll let Dad have a go at it.

Without a second thought, Kumi pointed herself in the direction of the grove of trees and began walking.

****

The ball of light hovered over a patch of clear ground amidst the trees, brushed the earth, then fizzled and dissolved into nothing almost instantly. The figure within gained his bearings and frowned, thin lips pursed in dissatisfaction.

"`Tis a bit distant from the children's location," Mercurymon noted aloud, out of habit. "Some searching may be in order."

Ah, well. It had taken time to get from the Ten Elemental Warriors' stronghold to the fringe of the Wind Continent, and it stood to reason that the humans would have traveled at least some distance by then. Raising his left arm, the metallic humanoid tilted the mounted circular shield towards himself and tapped its surface with a finger. The mirror shimmered, rippled, then faded to translucence, revealing a group of five adolescents making their way towards the forest. Mercurymon nodded as best as he could without a proper head and dropped his arm, letting the image evaporate before striding forward.

So…the Ancient Warriors art truth, not fiction. It wasn't disturbing, just something of an intellectual revelation. The Ancient Warriors were the heroes of fairy-tales; every day, children around the world fantasized of the Warriors' mighty deeds, and every night, bedtime stories about Reavermon and her allies kept little ones entertained. They were fantastical tales, wherein mythical `humans' descended from another world and donned the mighty Spirits of the Ancient Warriors, defeating evil forces and saving the universe from peril after terrible peril.

But they were imaginary, mere superheroes. No one believed in the Ancient Warriors, or their Spirits, and only those learned enough to recognize the existence of the "organic world" believed in humans.

And yet, `tis true.But who - or what - hath brought them here?

Mercurymon's footsteps crunched softly against the leafy carpet of the forest, patches of sunlight sporadically flashing off of his reflective body. He temporarily turned away from his musings and enjoyed the tranquility of the lush haven around him, so unlike the infinite battlefield the interior of the continent was becoming. It reassured him that even with all the current upheaval, there still remained places untouched by pandemonium. The silence here was not the silence of death or devastation, but that of peace and harmony between Digimon and their homeland. At least in this one sheltered corner of the planet, all was well.

"SOMEBODY HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Or not.

"YIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEK!"

Bushes thwaped harmlessly against Mercurymon's armored body as he sprinted through the undergrowth, following the undulating shriek of the distressed stranger.

`Tis a dame, by the sound of it, was his only thought before he burst through a tangle of brush and beheld a wild Boarmon, eyes blazing with savage fury as it reared and tore into the base of a tree. Sharp tusks gouged trenches into the thick wood, its front hooves clapping against the trunk as though to climb it. Stepping back a few paces and bellowing, the fiery pig threw itself forward in a Slamming Attack; the tree cracked audibly and visibly in response.

None of this would have been a problem except for the fact that there was a human girl in the said tree, clutching desperately to a limb and screaming.

CRACK!

The tree creaked, pieces of bark chipping off as it tilted a dangerous fraction. Clouds of steam spewed from the incensed Boarmon's nostrils; it rammed the wood again, the blow causing a two-foot rift to appear in the weakened trunk. The girl yelped at this, then again when she noticed Mercurymon.

He distinctly heard her cry of, "What the hell?!" before he dove for the Boarmon, diverting its attention away from its victim. Blazing orange eyes flared indignantly, and the beast charged, but a deft swipe by Mercurymon slammed a heavy metal mirror-shield between its eyes. The pig's thick skull saved it from a concussion, but not by much. One hard kick later, the Boarmon turned tail and scampered into the undergrowth, oinking in pain and defeat.

"A little help up here?!"

The tree continued to snap within, splintering at the base. Desperate fingernails dug into the bark, seeking a better hold even as the entire tree wobbled.

"Hey, whatever the heck you are down there - HELP ME! This thing's gonna fall!"

"Jump!"

"WHAT?!" The girl's eyes widened incredulously. "Are you crazy?!"

"I said jump, milady! `Tis the only safe way!"

"What do you mean SAFE?!"

CRUU-UUUUUUUNN-CH!

Wood chips shattered in all directions as the broken tree reeled before beginning to topple, its moaning like a thousand bones snapping at once. The girl trapped in its death throws braced herself as if to jump, lost her balance, and plunged straight down as the tree crushed a horizontal path through the foliage.

****

"OOF!"

The breath flew from her lungs forcefully as though she had been rammed in the chest. Her eyes remained clamped shut as the entire world was reduced to the roar of the falling tree and the palpable shock of its impact on the earth.

Then there was silence.

…Yikes…

Kumi forced her eyelids open and stared at the sunlight streaming through the gaping hole in the forest canopy. The tree's fractured stump sat as a fresh reminder that it had been healthy and over twenty feet tall ten minutes ago.

Man, that was one pissed pig…

"Thou canst stand, milady?"

Kumi made a noise that sounded like a rodent being stepped on and scrambled to the ground from where she had been in the arms of…of whatever he was. Apparently, he had caught her as she had fallen, which explained the sudden impact yet lack of broken limbs.

"Art thou injured?"

Rubbing an elbow with one hand and brushing her clothing with the other, Kumi took time to answer the question, her focus directed more at the baffling figure himself than at his query. He looked for all the world like somebody's full-length mirror had decided to sprout limbs and walk off. Tall and steely jade in color, with a rectangular mirror mounted in his chest and a round one above that, the figure looked like nothing Kumi had ever heard of in her life. A human form was definitely implied, but the objective was defied by the shield-like mirrors mounted on each of his arms, bolted directly to his metal body. His conical upper portion failed to resemble a head or neck in any way, save for the adorning mirror; set approximately where a face ought to be, it bore a pair of light purple lips.

As if the day hadn't been weird enough already.

"I'm fine, I think." Kumi tenderly nursed a developing bruise. "Nothing serious, thanks to…" She faltered. "…You. Um…Whoever you are."

The sentient furniture accessory half bowed at the waist.

"Thou art welcome," he replied, his smoothly deep voice and Shakespearean accent a far cry from the slang Kumi was accustomed to. "What bringeth thee in this direction? I assumed thy comrades and thee wer't yet to tread this far."

Kumi took a moment to translate what she had been asked, then cocked an eyebrow.

"`Comrades?' You mean, like, other people? I haven't seen any…"

Those other kids in the train station? Some of them wound up here, too?

The metal figure's mouth twisted in a way that suggested puzzlement.

"`Twould seem that ye humans wouldeth have come collectively; yea, I wer't sent forth in search of thy group. Dost thou mean to imply that thou hath entered the Digital World alone?"

Kumi blinked several times.

"Um…Yes, I think." What is the heck is he saying? "But can you hold up for a sec? I mean, no offense, but I'd really like to know what's going on here. Like why a flaming pig just chased me up a tree."

"`Twas merely a Boarmon," the stranger explained nonchalantly, shrugging. "Territorial beasts, but their tongues art worse than their tempers."

"Boar…mon?" The girl shook her head, trying to process the name. "Okay, I get the `boar' part, but what's a `mon'? And no offense, but what the freakin' heck are you? You look like…" Her eyes swept him from top to bottom. "…Well, I don't really know what the crap you look like."

This wasn't the most gracious way to phrase the question; her rescuer scowled accordingly.

"I, good lady, am Mercurymon, the Warrior of Steel." He raised an arm-mounted shield to illustrate the point. "I hath been sent as an ambassador by the Elemental Warriors to seek the humans who hath arrived unexpectedly into our world. `Tis not a common thing when legends rise to life."

He might as well have been speaking Swahili for all that Kumi understood him. Slowly, she attempted to pick apart the information, trying to find some rationale inside the mess.

"Digital World?" she finally echoed. "And that would be this place?"

"Verily, milady." Mercurymon's sweeping gesture indicated not only the forest but the entire globe. "Thou art in the Digital World. All that you seeith here hath been created of fractal code."

"Fraggdal who?"

"Data."

"Oh."

The conversation halted abruptly as Kumi collected her scrambled thoughts.

Digital World?…A world made entirely of data?

Wow.

Maybe I fell in the subway and hit my head reallyhard…

"`Tis populated by Digimon like myself," Mercurymon continued, interrupting Kumi's reverie. "Digital Monsters, if thou wishest for the proper name, though in fact-"

"Whoaaaaaokay. Baaack up there a second, Merc!" Kumi pantomimed the action to emphasize her disbelief. "How, exactly, did this happen? I mean, sure, the whole underground train thing was pretty whack, but I didn't think it was gonna lead to this. I mean…how…Why?…"

Stupid piece of junk! she thought suddenly, running bewildered fingers along the edge of her D-Tector. First it tells me to get on the freaky train, then once I get off, it gives me a stupid beepy-signal leading straight to what? A killer psycho fire-pig and Shakespeare reincarnated as a mirror. This is beyond insane.

"Milady?"

Mercurymon waved a hand gently in front of Kumi's face, attempting to regain her attention.

"Doth there be something the matter?"

"That's it; I am officially freaked out!" the girl blurted, backing away from Mercurymon a few paces. "Isn't there anything normal in this crazy-"

"HEY!"

Kumi and Mercurymon both whirled to see a black-haired boy burst through a tangled bush a few yards away, catching his breath and waving towards the wreckage behind them.

"I told y'all so! A tree did fall, it's right-" He then noticed the two figures standing before him and started.

"WHOA! There're people, too!"

****

"There's what?"

Acqua yanked violently on the turquoise jacket tied around her waist, managing to free it from a twig's grasp. With a determined grunt, she shoved a looming branch away and struggled a few more feet through the undergrowth.

"Lance, can you give a hand here?" Her muffled words caused an arm to reach back into the brush and grasp her own, yanking her through the ensnaring foliage. The both of them then wrestled with the greenery just enough to let Diana, Kevin, and Raze through before prying themselves away from its clutches.

"Oww…" Acqua delicately pulled a briar from her palm and winced. "Geez, why'd we have to go through the thorn bush?"

No one answered. Curious, the blue-haired girl looked up from her hand and involuntarily dropped her jaw.

Striding towards them was quite possibly the strangest creature any of them had ever seen…if creature it was. It looked more like a mirror with limbs. And lips.

"Is that another Digimon?" Kevin whispered, instinctively hugging a little closer to his older sister. Raze's fingers slipped down towards her D-Tector; it didn't look hostile, but then again-

"My greetings, children," said the mirror diplomatically, coming to a halt before them. "Be not afraid, for I bear thee no ill will. I hath been sent to guide thee, not do thee harm."

That voice…

Raze felt her belligerence wane even as her common sense warned her not to trust automatically. Trust wasn't something she did on a regular basis anyway, yet somehow…

He won't hurt us.

"How do we know you're not lying?" she heard herself question cautiously, with suspicion she did not actually feel. "What's your name and business?"

The mirror spread his hands wide in a mollifying gesture.

"I am Mercurymon, the Warrior of Steel." He bowed. "My fullest respects, milady. Art thou not the one who beareth the Spirit of Souls?"

Startled, Raze glanced down at her D-Tector and back up at the Digimon.

"Yes, I am…How did you know?"

Mercurymon's thin lips curved in a small smile of…was it amusement?

"Again, I hath been sent to aid thee. Thy coming hath been noted by the Ten, and I am their ambassador to thee. If thou wishest, I wilt conduct thee to them and-"

"Oh, cut the crap!"

Everyone started as someone emerged from behind Mercurymon - a scowling girl around sixteen with a D-Tector strapped to her waist. In obvious annoyance, she began adjusting a lopsided wristband.

"I saw you guys at the train station," she testified. "Who are y'all? And do you freakin' mind? Merc here was giving me the 411 before youbusted in on us." She threw an accusatory glare at the group.

"Peace, milady," Mercurymon insisted, blocking her with one of his arm-mounted shield mirrors. "`Tis fortunate they arrived, or I wouldeth have been forced to seek them out. Methinks they art as much in need of an explanation as thee."

"Got that right!" Lance planted himself where he stood and cocked his head to the side, spiked hair bristling. "Mercury-shmercury - we just wanna know what's up with this whole `Digital World' deal! First we get called here by our cell phones, then Raze morphs out into a kung-pow armor thing and kicks a ghost's butt!" He flashed a grin at the girl in question. "Not that it wasn't totally awesome, but still."

"`Twas no mere `armor thing', lad; `twas Reavermon, the Ancient Warrior of Souls," Mercurymon corrected. "Apparently, the five of thee hath been summoned-"

"Six!" barked Kumi, frowning. "I got the stupid message too, y'know!"

"-The six of thee hath been summoned by the Ancient Warriors to don their Spirits and take up arms against the forces that plagueth our world," he finished. "Thou art in the Digital World, a coded counterpart to thy organic homeland, and we who reside here art called `Digimon' - digital monsters. Though such a title seemeth barbaric in mine own opinion."

"Things that chuck scythes at you qualify as barbaric!" Diana said vehemently. "At least Raze or Reavermon or whoeverwas enough to take that thing down."

"Ancient Warriors…" Raze toyed thoughtfully with the buttons on her D-Tector. "Phantomon mentioned something about me - Reavermon - being a fairy tale. Is that true?"

"Aye." Mercurymon's upper portion dipped in what could have been a nod. "The Ancient Warriors art no more than whimsical fantasies of yore. `Tis remarkable that such legends art in fact reality."

"And what does the legend of the Ancient Warriors say?" Raze pressed. "Anything that might help us figure out why we're here?"

The metallic Digimon's semblance of a face looked as pondersome as a mirror could; around him, the six humans silenced themselves expectantly.

"`Tis not a straightforward thing, milady," Mercurymon finally answered. "The legends art as old as the Digital World itself, and much hath been lost through the years. Whence the story came or by whom `twas concocted art mysteries. The tales vary from region to region, but hath one element in common - that the Ancient Warriors wouldeth summon humans from another world to battle the evils of our realm, and that only the chosen humans couldeth utilize the Spirits of those mighty heroes."

"And the thing I found was Reavermon's Spirit." It made sense, in a fantastical sort of way. Raze rubbed her thumb against the D-Tector's On button. "She called me here to fight."

"`Twould seemeth so. Apparently, the Ancient Warriors hath seen the six of thee fit to support our world in this, its time of crisis."

"Crisis?" Kevin's query reflected the sentiments of the others. "What's going on? What's wrong here?"

Mercurymon stifled a bitter sigh.

"War."

****

Civil war, huh?

Kumi violently shoved aside another low-lying limb and trudged deeper into the forest, following the flashing indicator on her D-Tector.

Give me a break. It's not my fault they're having social problems here.

Mercurymon had blathered on about some angel named Lucemon having started to ravage the land after bringing years of peace to it, and about the factions who were fighting against his growing dictatorship. And about how Kumi and the others were supposed to "help restore order by aiding in the valiant struggle with the Fallen One".

Pst. Whatever. I don't need that crap.

She had stalked off quietly in the middle of his rambling; no one had noticed or cared. Not that she had expected them to. Or wanted them to. She didn't know those people and didn't see a good reason to become all buddy-buddy just because they were in the same boat.

They can go get themselves slaughtered if they want to. Doesn't mean I have to be an idiot and follow.

Shoving her way past yet another web of underbrush, Kumi stopped and consulted her blinking D-Tector. One thing had sounded meaningful in Mercurymon's oration: she had been called here by an Ancient Warrior who wanted her to have its Spirit, and this gadget that had been her cell phone would lead her to it. She had been following its signal before she had encountered the Boarmon, but now she actually knew what the tiny yellow sphere meant and wasn't hesitant to go after it. Forget any gallant responsibilities that might be attached to the thing.

I'm close, she noted. Let's see…I think I only have to keep ahead a little longer…

Looking up, Kumi found her view blocked after ten feet by a hedge of thorny bushes that extended horizontally for as far as her eye could see. Not exactly heartening, especially since her clothing had already suffered some superficial but noticeable damage from hiking through the forest.

I am not going through that; I already look like a jungle freak, the girl thought, plucking pieces of plant life from her person. I hope the rest of this stupid place isn't as nature-y as this.

Checking the signal yet again, Kumi looked both ways before arbitrarily deciding to head left and followed the wall of briars through the woods. Expecting to find an opening within minutes, she found herself traipsing still after a good quarter of an hour, with no indications of breakage. Futilely, she scrambled up and down the immediate area, seeking a way to pass the barricade. No luck.

"Well, crap."

Kumi grit her teeth and snatched up a stone, lobbing it at the offending growth in frustration. It rustled the net of thorns, but failed to magically provide a way through them. With an angry snarl, she slammed her fist against a tree trunk and glowered at her D-Tector.

"Knew it couldn't be that easy!" she growled, clenching the device in an iron grip. "Had to be some catch to this Ancient Warrior deal…"

Her frustration smoldered for a while longer, but the D-Tector continued beeping and the Spirit came no closer to her grasp. Gradually, she began to calm herself, taking a few soothing breaths to quicken the process.

Think, Kumi. She craned her neck back to peer with residual annoyance at the intimidating blockade. Can't go through it, can't go around it, can't go under it, can't go over it…

Or can I?

The thorny impediment wasn't terribly tall - perhaps fifteen feet. Hunting about, Kumi located a tree growing near the base of the partition and threw a speculative eye over it. Yes, an overhanging branch. Perfect.

With surprising agility, the girl clambered up the trunk and swung herself onto the branch, perching there like a determined hawk. Her gaze traveled over the top of the hedge below her and towards the forest beyond - and she gasped.

It wasn't a forest at all. The thorns, she saw, formed a protective barrier around a small grassy area, clear save for the low, Japanese-style building squatting in the midst of it. It couldn't be more than a single room, judging by its tiny size, but its style and the statues guarding it told Kumi it was some kind of shrine - Buddhist or Shinto, she couldn't tell. Maybe neither. Either way, it didn't matter, because her D-Tector's beeping suddenly accelerated and she knew she'd found the right place.

Easing her way hand-over-hand across the sturdy branch, Kumi smirked triumphantly at the thorns beneath her before reaching the edge of the limb; or, at least, getting as far out as she could without snapping it.

"Going down," she said aloud, bracing herself for the leap. "Here's to my second tree-jumping experience in an hour…"

This time, however, fared much better than the first; for although she had no one to catch her, Kumi wasn't free-falling, and landed safely if shakily on her feet. Regaining her composure, the girl straightened, then cried out as her D-Tector emitted a searing beam of light.

"OWW! Geez, that burned…"

Snatching the object from her waist, Kumi aimed it at the shrine (where the beam seemed to be directed anyway) and gingerly stepped forward. When nothing exploded, she broke into a trot that quickly turned into a half-run and covered the distance in seconds, skidding to a halt at the doors of the sacred building. Her hand moved as if to knock, then simply gripped the rice paper door and slid it open sideways.

"Hello?"

The spice of incense clogged her nostrils, and she sneezed a couple of times before leaving the door open for ventilation. Once enough of the potent scent had wafted out, the girl slipped into the shrine and used her D-Tector's light to examine the small room.

"Weird…" she muttered, taking in the multicolored flames flickering on translucent candles, the multitudinous statuettes of creatures (or gods?) she had never seen before, and the eerie closeness of the space in general; as though, despite its well-kept appearance, she had been the shrine's only visitor for a long, long time.

Or maybe just the only visitor…

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she turned a full circle, the only thing she had room to do in the close quarters. It was even smaller than it looked from the outside.

Now where's that Spirit?

Tentative fingers brushed over the room's many religious artifacts, touching some holy symbols she recognized and many she didn't. Eventually her eye was drawn towards the very rear of the shrine, where her D-Tector's now dim light was streaming into a crystal sphere set upon a marble dais. Next to this rested a slab of polished stone, onto which an inscription had been delicately engraved. Kumi knelt, careful not to upset anything, and squinted in the semidarkness, deciphering the kanji.

"`The shrine of sanctity rests here to protect all who dwell in this forest from the evils of old. Any who disturb it shall be cursed with a thousand afflictions, lest a fool release the horrors contained by its holy strength.' Lovely, but it doesn't say anything about a Spirit."

Dismissing the useless warning, the girl poked around a bit more, inspecting anything that might possibly be the Spirit of her Ancient Warrior. It didn't help that she had absolutely no idea what one of these Spirits was supposed to look like. It could be any of the dozens of relics around her. An ivory carving of a serpent, a clay sculpture of a springing panther, dozens of trinkets of unrecognizable material molded into arcane shapes and symbols…

Again, Kumi found herself inexplicably attracted to the back of the shrine. This time, however, she ignored the carved admonition and instead scrutinized the crystal ball next to it, tracing its circumference with curious fingers. Cupping the heavy sphere in her hands, she lifted it off of its dais and turned it this way and that in the insufficient illumination, trying to locate any distinguishing features or markings.

If you turn it this way, it kind of looks like there's a yin-yang inside, she observed, tilting it to the right. Must be one of those optical illusion things.

Shrugging, Kumi gave up on the useless if appealing item and set it back in its place on the smooth stand.

What else-

At that moment, three things happened in rapid succession: Kumi turned and jarred the dais, the crystal orb fell to the floor and shattered, and every candle in the shrine went out.

…Crap.

Then there was a small earthquake, and the building collapsed.

****

"OVER HERE!"

Diana's call was half-wheeze; she clutched at a stitch in her side and slowed to a halt in front of a towering mass of thorns. The other humans and Mercurymon followed close behind her, stopping before the tangled obstruction.

"Why…did that girl…have to run off?" Acqua demanded between breaths. "And what wasthat?"

That being the tremor that had knocked the group off of their feet moments ago as they had been combing the woods for Kumi. No one could make a completely logical connection between her absence and the mild earthquake, but it was obvious that the latter had something to do with the former. And probably not in a good way.

"You think she's through this?" Diana questioned, sizing up the hedge. "Looks pretty dense to me…"

"And with good reason - `tis the shield for the Forest Shrine," Mercurymon informed them. "Within these brambles resteth a holy site said to protect this forest from evil."

"Really?" Kevin's eyes sparkled with avid interest. "Does it actually do that?"

As if on cue, the sky darkened to an ominous purple and the temperature dropped several noticeable degrees. A sudden gust from behind the hedge rattled it ferociously, slapping their faces with a grim burst of wind.

"Not anymore," Raze surmised grimly, reaching for her D-Tector. "What did that girl do?"

Before Raze could lay a finger on her D-Tector, Mercurymon had raised his right arm and shot a blast of green energy from its mirror, vaporizing the immediate portion of the imposing barrier. Lance whistled appreciatively.

"Nice!" was all he said before diving through the sizeable puncture. The others exchanged glances at his impulsiveness before ducking in after him; Mercurymon had to nearly bend double to fit himself through the opening.

Fortunately, the barrier wasn't nearly as wide as it was long, and in moments the six of them emerged into a circular clearing of short grass. Whatever shrine had once stood there was gone; all that remained was a carpet of material fragments from some explosion. Wood, steel, clay, and even semiprecious stones were strewn thickly over the grass, as though someone had smashed every icon in the shrine and then blown the whole thing up twice. As the group tentatively closed in on the wreckage, a distinctive black crater became visible in the ground, where the foundation of the building ought to have been.

"…What did that girl do?" Raze repeated, nudging a chipped stone cow's head with the toe of her shoe.

"You…you don't think she…?" Acqua wondered, but Raze just snorted.

"No. If all of this is in pieces, she would be, too. We'd see at least some of her lying around."

"Er…Right." As accustomed as she was to Raze's bluntness, Acqua couldn't help but make a repulsed face before continuing to delicately pick her way through the debris. Ahead of her, Mercurymon, Diana, and Lance were peering down at the crater, attempting to figure out what had created it.

"It wasn't an explosion," Diana concluded immediately, studying a shard of clay. "Nothing's burnt. There was some sort of blast, definitely, but no explosives involved. And that wouldn't explain the sky, either." She jerked her thumb towards the clouds, which remained the inky color they had taken on minutes ago. "That's the part that creeps me out."

"`Tis no squall that staineth the skies such vile hues." Mercurymon frowned uneasily. "I fear `tis some devilry unbound by the destruction of this holy place. Such temples art often the lock that keepeth a dangerous exile imprisoned, though I myself hath never encountered such a situation."

Lance squinted at the sky, feigning dubiousness.

"Well, I don't see any reason to start a panic-fest," he said good-naturedly. "C'mon, what're the odds that this old place was a jail cell for some psychopathic-"

The rest of his sentence was swallowed by a roaring cackle that reverberated through the darkened forest and froze the blood in everyone's veins. Shrieks and gasps caught painfully in people's throats; everyone but Raze and Mercurymon went slightly pale. The demonic laughter boomed again, sending chills scampering down various spines.

"FOOLS!"

Evil and arrogance and insane ecstasy swilled together into one scream of triumph. A mighty wind knocked Lance, Diana, and Mercurymon out of the shallow crater, which glowed a hellish crimson from beneath before spouting a column of flame high enough to pierce above the treetops of the surrounding woodland. Within it shimmered a dark figure, shrouded by the fiery veil and laughing mirthlessly.

"…Okay, so you're right," Lance admitted squeakily, staring as the fire and the laughter began to grow. "Um…Plan, anybody?"

Any possible reply was drowned in the next roaring boom that sent a seismic shockwave through the clearing. The towering flames dimmed first to purple and then an unholy black before dissipating, folding away in flickering layers to expose the demon concealed beneath them.

"At last…" The creature's blood-red eyes narrowed to slits; its face parted in a wicked, fanged smile. "I am FREE!"

~

Digimon Analyzer

Name: Devimon

Type: Virus

Description: An evil demon who was sealed underground for his heinous behavior. His Touch of Evil corrupts even the noblest Digimon, and his Death Claw sends his enemies straight to the grave!

~

"MOVE IT!" Lance hollered instantly, grabbing Diana's wrist and yanking her up from where she had been thrown next to him. The two scrambled towards the others, Devimon's cackling driving nails of fear into their stomachs. Mercurymon remained where he had been tossed, bracing himself defensively.

"Surrender thyself, devil, lest ye be apprehended by force!"

The demand was met with an amused grin that bared Devimon's glistening teeth.

"You pathetic fool! I AM FREE!" Black energy crackled across the demon's body as he stretched his ragged wings and long arms elatedly. He flexed taloned hands, clenching one into a fist. "Free to enjoy the delight of killing again, after so long…"

Thunder bellowed in synchrony with Devimon's mad laughter. With one powerful flap, he ascended even further above the clearing, eyes shining down on the group like dual flames.

"Now, which of you is first?"

Mercurymon's chest mirror reflected the few scattered rays of light, causing him to flash like a beacon in the ethereal twilight. His scowl clashed deeply with Devimon's smirk.

"Thou art unwise to assume that thy liberation granteth thee true freedom. I wilt put a stop to thee!"

"Don't bother, Mercurymon."

The collected command attracted all attention to Raze, who reached for her D-Tector and switched it on, cold eyes never leaving the demon hovering above.

"I'll handle this idiot," she said quietly. "It's my duty as an Ancient Warrior, after all." The device's silver portions shimmered in a beam of light refracted off of Mercurymon as the girl raised it up to the darkened sky.

"SPIRIT!" Her summon was audible even over a sudden crack of thunder. "Come to me! Execute - Spirit Evolution!"

The D-Tector's screen shimmered, glowing brightly with the symbol of souls for all of three seconds before flickering out.

"…What?!"

Frantic fingers poked every button, black eyes darting across its surface in obvious bewilderment.

"Why won't it answer me?!"

"Spirit?" Devimon emitted another howling laugh and backwinged. "Don't insult me with old wives' tales, human!"

"Hold thy tongue!" Mercurymon ordered, raising a shield and charging up a beam attack. The Virus Digimon leered at the Warrior of Steel.

"Holy thyfire," he mimicked, "else you might slay one of your little fleshy friends!"

"But…" Kevin's voice quaked; he fought to control it. "He can't hit us; we're behind him!"

The group's confusion lasted only until Devimon cupped his large hands and shot out a ray of violet energy, which solidified into the unmistakable form of Kumi. Gagged and bound by invisible constraints, she floated directly in Mercurymon's line of fire and squirmed violently, eyes wide. Her D-Tector was not on her person.

"This little lady's clumsiness allowed me to escape. I do suppose I owe her a thank-you." Twelve-inch claws wrapped around Kumi's neck, resting on her throat. "How about a one-way trip to hell?"

"How about you shut up and put her down?!" Acqua retorted. "Only cowards use hostages as shields!"

"Do they really?" Devimon asked lightly, as though Acqua's comment had intrigued him. "Well, I suppose I'll just let her go, then…"

Kumi's magical restraints dissolved. With a scream, she plummeted to the crater directly below in a thirty-foot fall that ended with a sickening crack. Neither the children nor Mercurymon could see into the depression from where they were standing, but they didn't need to. Devimon's grin told them everything.

"You…YOU…" Diana choked over her own enraged words. "You MONSTER!"

The devil laughed again; Mercurymon raised an arm-shield, but Devimon snorted disdainfully.

"Pah! Your meager attacks cannot harm me." A thin barrier of misty red energy appeared in front of him. "Go ahead and give me your best!"

Explosive white light burst upwards from the crater, engulfing Devimon and causing him to screech in anguish. The flare tore through the unnatural stormclouds in the sky and dissolved them like fire burning away dew, until the sun shone unimpeded upon the forest. A tornado of pure light formed from the remains of the detonation before dispersing, leaving a holy aura shimmering in the immediate area of the crater.

"What madness is this?!" hissed Devimon, flexing his claws angrily and squinting.

Inside of the iridescence floated an unharmed Kumi, her D-Tector suspended at her side and beaming light at a figurine hovering above the remains of some shattered crystal. The statuette grew too bright to gaze upon, but Kumi's eyes remained locked on it, focused as though unable to perceive the brilliance. A vaporous figure floated out of the Spirit, almost too translucent to perceive; the onlookers distinguished the shape of a winged humanoid before the ghost and the girl took two steps forward and strode directly into one another. Kumi's D-Tector absorbed the statuette and fell into her hand, its screen emblazoned with a yin-yang sign.

"EXECUTE…" She thrust her shining device to the heavens. "SPIRIT EVOLUTION!"

Streams of blinding fractal code spewed from the device, swallowing Kumi completely and causing everyone to shield their eyes again. Moments later, the data vanished, and an Ancient Warrior soared upwards to face the bewildered Devimon.

"HOLICMON!"

Pearly white, metal angel wings sprouted from the warrior's back, permanently set in slicing curves to either side of her. Smaller versions of these metallic wings swept back from the armor atop her head and the heels of her boots, the latter's white leather matching that of her elbow-length gloves. She was neither as tall as Reavermon nor as well-protected; her attire consisted only of torso armor, a layered skirt, shoulder guards, and a wide collar, all of the same metal as her false wings. Dark purple hair fell just short of her shoulders; her eyes, the same hue as Kumi's, seemed the only things that remained unchanged. Emblazoned upon each of the angelic figure's pointed shoulder guards was the yin-yang that had shone so fiercely from the girl's D-Tector.

"Look alive, Devimon, `cuz you're not gonna be that way much longer!" Holicmon's gloved fists glowed, and she drew one back as though to punch the demon from a distance.

"Wh-What?! Impossible!" Devimon spluttered. "Holicmon?! An…Ancient Warrior?! They do not exist!"

"Think again, hornhead! Inochi BLAST!"

Holicmon threw a barrage of rapid-fire punches at nothing; her glowing hands shot white spheres of holy energy through the air and into Devimon. The startled Digimon was bombarded mercilessly for several seconds before he managed to maneuver out of harm's way. Smoking and snarling, he thrust his right hand forward to sink his claws into her, arm extending far beyond its normal reach.

"Touch of Evil!"

"HiYAH!"

A swift pivot and kick in midair knocked Devimon's hand aside; the Ancient Warrior grinned maliciously and raised her fists.

"Want some more, doofus? Inochi Blast!"

This time, each of Holicmon's hands produced one large ball of energy, and she hurled them simultaneously at her opponent. Both caught Devimon square in the chest; he was sent crashing into the nearby treetops and took a few moments to emerge again, obviously battered.

"You'll pay for this!" The devil's voice rose to a shriek of fury. "Death Claw!"

Devimon's attack missed Holicmon completely, as she had disappeared. He whirled, searching for her, and was caught by an uppercut directly in the jaw. Hissing in pain, he spat out one of his fangs and slashed furiously for the warrior beneath him, but failed to come into contact with her in any way - until she swooped upward and kicked his head.

There was the crick of something snapping; Devimon howled, clutching at his face. Holicmon flew out of immediate range and stood on air, resting one hand on her hip and cocking her head to the side slightly.

"You're even dumber than you look," she grinned, tossing her hair with one hand. "Don't you know not to mess with an Ancient Warrior?"

Her enemy's bitter curses ceased, and he glared at her with a mixture of rage and bafflement.

"You cannot be Holicmon!" he managed. "You…you are a legend!"

"I am Holicmon," the Ancient Warrior corrected, "and you're history!"

Raising her left hand, the angelic Digimon spread her fingers wide, palm facing Devimon. Her right hand pointed itself towards the sky, and a swirling mandala of light appeared beneath her feet, forming itself into an elaboration of a yin-yang symbol. It took Devimon a moment to realize that there was also one beneath him, and that try as he might, he could not move away from it. His red eyes widened.

"No-!"

Holicmon's right hand dropped with all the force of a guillotine.

"CIRCLE OF LIFE!"

The yin-yangs beneath herself and Devimon shone in unison; Holicmon remained motionless and unaffected, but Devimon arched his back, screaming, and burst violently into strings of fractal code. A small, glowing Digiegg floated away silently as Holicmon procured her black-and-white D-Tector and held it in front of her face.

"Your life has been taken because you compromised the lives of others!" she declared. "May death teach you what life is truly worth! Fractal code digitize!"

And with one sweeping motion, she scanned all of Devimon's data into her Digivice.

****

"Most interesting."

The image within the massive crystal flickered slightly, zooming in on Mercurymon and the five humans now crowded around a smug-looking sixth. AncientTrojamon peered intensely at the scene.

"It appears that the Warrior of Life has been awakened."

"Indeed it does," concurred a gigantic beetle opposite the wooden horse. "First the Warrior of Souls, then the Warrior of Life…Is there a predestined sequence to their awakening?"

A rumbling growl drew all eyes towards a great ebony cat sitting in the shadows.

"Does it matter?" AncientSphinxmon questioned. "Or should we not be asking ourselves why these warriors are here at all?"

From somewhere across the huge council table, a shaggy yak-like creature shook his head vigorously.

"Now that doesn't matter!" AncientMegatheriumon snorted. "All that matters is getting those children here safely before Lucemon gets wind of this. AncientGreymon, shall I also send a representative to assist them?"

The appointed leader of the Ten Elemental Warriors shifted slightly.

"Only if it is necessary." His rumbling growl of a voice rippled like low thunder through the chamber. "We do not wish to attract Lucemon's attention to them. AncientWisemon, what say you to this?"

"I do not see a need." The robed mirror folded his sleeves placidly. "I have every confidence in Mercurymon. Anything excessive will only attract Lucemon's notice, as you said."

AncientMegatheriumon grunted in displeasure but made no contradictory remarks. Ten pairs of eyes focused once more on the central crystal, pondering those within it. It was several subdued minutes before someone ventured to break the contemplative silence.

"So…" AncientMermaimon murmured softly. "Which warrior shall be next?…"

Lady's Notes: Well, there's my first contribution to HotShot's story. ^_^ To let you know, HS bases a lot of her Digimon off of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and Holicmon looks pretty much exactly like the Dumanis Valkyria. Try looking for a picture of it…my computer refuses to display web addresses in any form, even without a hyperlink. -__-;;

HotShot: Reavermon isn't based specifically off of one card, so you'll just have to use your imagination. =P We'll tell you which cards the others look like, though, so you can check `em out!

Lady's Notes: And please, please review this chapter with constructive criticism! Flames and two-sentence compliments do me absolutely no good as a writer. If you say anything positive or negative, be as specific as you possibly can. ^^ Thanks a million to any who give input!