Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Children Of Fate ❯ 19 ( Chapter 20 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: moose_of_doom 
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 18 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 294 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.01.2005 | Pages: 18 | Words: 8.0K | Visits: 294 | Status: Completed
Chapter 19:
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The Digidestined were appallingly outnumbered. At least a thousand Shadowmon were packed into the rooms adjoining to the Arena, and as of yet, the only people with weapons were the sword-armed digiworld troopers, Darren’s hired guards, who were remaining pretty neutral, and the group that had accompanied Davis from Coast town.
Kari pulled the knives from the back of her belt, even as she ran to stand beside her lover. Their Digimon bounded in front of them.
“Do you think we can win?”
“What do you mean we?” he grinned. “All we need to do at the moment is get the Digidestined out of here!”
Kari looked at the Shadowmon, who had stopped several yards away, warily watching the golden blade in Davis’s hands.
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It is. Willis?”
“Got it.” The blonde man replied. He pulled out a palmtop, and tapped a command into it.
A pile of rifles appeared on the ground in front of him. The troopers moved in, and picked the weapons up, levelling them at the Shadowmon. Davis looked around.
“I know you’re all scared, but I’m afraid that your imprisonment has come to an end. Sorry about that.”
He grinned.
“Now, Taythe, it appears that we’ve got a battle on our hands.”
The glow of the paladin-sword seemed to intensify, and Davis sprang forward like a leopard, the sword cutting through the Shadowmon ranks like a hot knife through butter.
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Wentela rose from her bemused state of near-unconsciousness to find herself in the middle of a living nightmare.
The arena was filled with the Shadowmon. But that didn’t bother her.
It didn’t even bother her that said creatures were being systematically massacred by the paladin and his allies.
What really bothered her, however, was the sight of the Digidestined flooding through the exit to the arena, down the path that Davis had cleared. She raised herself to her feet, and screeched at her guards.
“STOP THEM! DON’T LET THE PRISONERS ESCAPE!!!”
The prison guards were not the trained commandos that Darren commanded, however. They were petty criminals for the most part, drafted in off the streets, doing almost anything in return for a little power. They stared at her dumbly, and She snarling at them, she spun back to the stream of running Digidestined. Pulling her Glock from her holster, she fired a rapid series of 9mm parabellum bullets at the chosen children.
Taythe, however, was not known for her marksmanship. Even with the tightly packed Digidestined, none of the bullets found their mark. Stone chips erupted from the wall around the door as her guards finally got the message.
What they managed, however, was to attract the attention of someone whom Wentela REALLY didn’t want to meet again.
One of the Digidestined commandos split away from the group, and fired his rifle up at them. The guards began dropping like flies. Wentela hastily reloaded her pistol, and grabbed a rifle.
Nick grinned a hellish grin as he began slowly walking up the stone steps of the arena towards them. His rifle bucked in his hands, and the last of the prison guard slammed into the ground, bleeding profusely. From his head.
Wentela took one look at the approaching Londoner, and ran.
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The sword was like a bar of flame in his hands, Davis noted. The Shadowmon seemed to melt away as he struck at them, falling back beneath the onslaught.
But he was not fighting alone. Beside him, he could feel his friends throwing themselves into the fray.
Kari’s twin daggers flickered like lightning as she spun. As it had been when she had kicked Wentela, she had no idea where the fighting knowledge was coming from. She slammed a foot into the face of one of the creature, and then hooked the limb around its neck. Leaping from the ground, she swung around, hurling herself into a second creature, knocking it off balance, and into the ground, taking several of its tightly packed fellows with it. The commandos swept into the gap stabbing and cutting with their swords, making sure that few of the Shadowmon would ever get to their feet again.
From the other side of the battle, Derron observed the battle with encroaching dread. Never before had he seen men fight with such fury. And this was when they were fighting a rearguard action!
He shouted at the Shadowmon, ordering them to keep pushing forward. Then he turned to Taythe.
“Head up to the bowl of the volcano. That’s where you’ll have to fight the paladin – this arena is too small to contain that battle.”
“Yes, Derron.”
She turned and ran for the gate. For some strange reason Derron Motomiya felt a pang of regret. He knew that he would never see his adopted daughter again. Whatever happened, whatever the outcome, she was unimportant to him now. But then, she had never been more than a tool.
He was so wrapped up in his contemplate, that he failed to notice the blonde man sneaking up on him. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned.
TK’s right hand wrapped around the hilt of the sheathed silver katana at Derron’s belt. His second bunched into a fist.
Derron reeled back from the punch, spitting blood. TK raised the Katana.
“This is mine, jackass.”
Derron snarled, and drew his longsword. The two began to circle each other, as above them, the twelve dragons took to the sky, flying out through the shattered dome.
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“Davis!” Kari called.
“Yeah?” he yelled back.
“Taythe’s headed for the exit!”
“I know!”
Tai watched the exchange with a grin, and reached for his Digivice, parry the blow of a Shadowmon sword with the blade in his right hand. He pressed the activation stud.
Nothing happened.
“The hell? Davis, our Digivices aren’t working!”
“It’s the Oridian! It’s the same stuff the black spires were made out of!” Ken yelled at him. “But it’s pure! It’s even more potent!”
“SHIT!”
The few Digimon who still had the ability to digivolve in this situation stepped forward. Patomon and Veemon looked up, as the Dragon’s took to the skies.
“You realise that you guys wont be a match for them?” Veemon said soberly.
“I know.” Patomon said. “But we might give you a clear shot.”
“Gotcha.” Terriermon said. “Ah, hell, I wasn’t too bothered about fighting anyways.”
Willis, meanwhile, was desperately tapping away at his laptop. Izzy stood close beside him, adding comments in computer Jargon that no one with a social life outside of cyberspace would be able to understand. Finally, Izzy nodded.
“Try it!”
“DIGI-ARMOUR, ENERGISE!” Willis yelled.
All of the Digimon began to glow.
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Davis desperately beheaded the Shadowmon in front of him, trying to reach the exit. Above him, he could see the winged forms of the twelve ancient dragons taking to the air, flying through the dome that his return had blasted to pieces. He watched as Taythe disappeared through the door that led to the side of the mountain.
“Dammit!”
From behind him, there came a familiar shout.
“ROSETTA STONE!!!”
A large slab of rock slammed past him, dangerously close, he spun, a startled look on his face as he saw Nefertimon and Flamedramon standing there.
“What? How did?”
He and Kari glanced at each other.
“WILLIS!” they shouted in Unison.
The blonde man glared at them over his laptop.
“I’m trying to work here!” he snapped. Pulling a palmtop from his side, he tossed it through the air towards the paladin.
Lunging his sword backwards under his arm into the stomach of one of his enemies, Davis reached up and plucked the device out of the air.
“It’s got some new toys for Edenamon! Get going!”
Davis nodded, and spun back. Then he began to run.
The end result of that charge was as inexorable as an iceberg. The glow on the golden Katana intensified yet again, and Davis’s speed seemed to reach into infinity, as he cut a swathe through the dark creature. From the edges of his vision, he saw TK and Derron circling each other, weapons in their hands. He reached out with his mind, and found Kari.
‘Can you handle things here?’
To her credit, Kari didn’t sound surprised at his mental contact.
‘What do you think I’ve been doing for the past month? Get going, babe.’
He grinned, and ran through the door to the side of the mountain.
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Nick glanced down at the floor of the mine tunnel, and grinned. He could tell that he was still on the big woman’s trail – she left tracks a mile wide.
A rifle round ricocheted around the tunnels as Wentela fired wildly. He was close. He stopped, and attached something to the wall.
A second shot sounded in the darkness of the mine, as Wentela desperately attempted to stop the implacable Englishman from coming any closer.
“Stay back! I’ll kill you!”
“I sort of doubt that.” Came the calm reply.
He stopped around the corner, as the big woman fired a burst. He smiled as the rounds embedded themselves in the rock opposite him. He put down his rifle, and pulled his Beretta from the holster at his hip. Holding the pistol in his right hand, he lifted the rifle in his left, and tossed it out into the shaft at head height.
Wentela fired, swiftly emptying the contents of her rifle’s magazine into the roof of the corridor, and even as she pulled the trigger, Nick was diving low out onto the floor of the shaft, his Pistol extended. The silenced Beretta coughed twice.
Even as she heard the click of the firing pin on an empty chamber in her rifle, Wentela felt two punches in her legs. Without even knowing why, she collapsed to the ground.
Nick got to his feet, and walked slowly towards her. The corridor was a dead end. She had nowhere to run. She reached for the Glock in her belt, whipped it up, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing. She hadn’t reloaded the weapon. Desperately, she reached for a magazine.
The Londoner’s boot swept up, and knocked the gun out of her hands, sending it skittering away along the ground. He placed the barrel of his silenced Beretta against her forehead.
Wentela held her breath.
“Relax.” He snarled. “I’m not going to kill you. I don’t want your blood on my hands.” He pressed the barrel against her skull. “You may deserve to die, Wentela, and I think that you know that. But I’m not going to give you death. I’ve already put you on crutches for the rest of your life, and I’m gonna be happy with that.” He pulled away, and holstered the gun again. Reaching into his pouch, he tossed a water bottle and a packet of rations at her feet. “You can wait the battle out down here.”
He turned and walked away.
“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” she yelled after him. He kept walking.
He could hear her screams long after he had left the maze of corridors. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a small device. He pressed the button on its top.
The plastic detonation charge he had attached to the wall of the corridor exploded, blowing away the support struts that had held the roof up. He glanced back around the corner, and was happy to see that the corridor was completely blocked.
“Well, I let her live. I didn’t promise where.” He said to no one in particular.
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“All right, that’s it, retreat!” Liam yelled.
Kari nodded at him once, and drove her twin daggers into the neck of the Shadowmon in front of her. Flipping backwards, she kicked the creature up, sending it into the troops behind it.
“Where’s TK?” she shouted.
“I don’t know! Wait…” Liam’s voice tailed off. “He’s over there! He’s fighting Derron!”
Kari made her decision in a single instant.
“Liam, you, the master, Mimi and Michael come with me! Make sure you’ve all got weapons. Everyone else get out of here!”
Liam took one look at her face, and nodded.
“Mills, Haeder, Get the Digidestined out of here!”
“Got it!” the SAS Commando called back. Haeder’s response was an intensifying of the fire coming from his few remaining GSG-9 troopers. Liam and Kari charged, side by side, into the fray of the Shadowmon.
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“ROSETTA STONE!”
“ROCK CRUSHER!”
Nefertimon and Digmon were side by side, their attacks carving through the Shadowmon with practiced ease.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” the flying Digimon called to her grounded companion.
“You don’t have to tell me!” He replied. “Where’s Flamedramon?”
“He’s gone after Davis!”
“Figures!”
The pair continued to blast at their enemies.
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TK and Derron circled each other, their swords held in their hands. Although he was certain of his own skill as a swordsman, TK couldn’t be sure of his opponent, and the fact that Derron was wearing armour was definitely gonna make things difficult.
The strike, when it came, was almost imperceptible. If it hadn’t been for the slight tightening around Derron’s eyes, TK would probably have died instantly. As it was, that slight change in expression gave the blonde Digidestined the chance he needed to raise his own defences. The Silver Katana leapt up and took the slash of the longsword on its edge. Sparks flew from the force of the blow, stinging the side of TK’s cheek. He spun away from the blow, into a backhanded cut that hissed through the air towards Derron’s midriff. The blade scored against the armour, and swung away.
The pair backed away from each other. TK grinned.
“Well, that settles that then.”
And they leapt at each other, in a blast of elemental fury.
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Kari’s dagger planted itself into the head of an enemy, as she desperately tried to get through the crowd of Shadowmon to TK. Beside her, Liam ran the Knight’s sword that he had received from Tetsato Dartha through several of the creatures, the long blade running through three bodies at once as he hacked at them. The Master himself stood next to his companion, jabbing his sword in neat, measured lunges, slashing the throats of the Shadowmon with casual skill and grace.
Behind them, Mimi and Michael fired their rifles in an almost continuous stream, finishing the creatures off. A third gun suddenly entered the fray, as Nick Pallet, his Beretta in his hands, entered from the door to the mines, neatly popping bullets through the heads of the Shadowmon as if he were on a firing range.
Kari felt a surge of pride. For the moment, at least, these people were her warriors, and this was a battle they could not lose. She gritted her teeth, and determined that she would not let Davis down by giving up.
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Mills and Haeder, Meanwhile, found themselves submitting to a command. It wasn’t from Kari or Davis, but it was delivered in a level tone of voice that told the two sergeants that if they valued their anatomy in its current position, they’d better obey.
“Where do we go now?” Mills asked.
Tasha gave them a level glance.
“We head down. The citadel is only so complicated, and if we follow Davis’s path of destruction, we should get back to the entrance. So lets get moving.”
Haeder glanced at Tai.
“Is she always like this?”
“Most of the time. She’s as bad as her cousin. I think she knows what she’s doing.”
“Thanks Tai.” The blonde girl said. Salamandramon peeked out from around her neck.
“The Shadowmon are coming.”
“How do you know?”
“I can smell them.”
Sure enough, The Digidestined heard a growl come from the chamber behind them. Several of the troopers casually tossed grenades into the room. When the dust from the explosions settled, the more immediate noises had faded, but they could hear more of them in the distance.
“Lets keep going.” Tasha said.
“I can live with that.” Mills replied, somewhat nervously.
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The Silver Katana sparked away from the longsword once more, and TK slid the blade forward, coming in close to snarl at Derron over the crossed blades.
“You cant win, Derron, give it up!”
The only response Derron gave was to lift his knee into the Digidestined’s chest, driving him backwards. TK gasped as the blow knocked him to the ground, and he struggled to get back onto all fours.
“You kids just don’t get it.” Derron snarled. “All this time, you’ve been thinking that Taythe was your enemy. You were wrong. I’m the one with the power here.”
He kicked TK in the stomach.
“I’m smarter…”
A second kick, driving the breath from the young Digidestined’s body.
“I’m stronger…”
He raised the longsword, swinging it down. TK desperately began to lift his Katana to block the strike.
A huge clang sounded, as four blades blocked the Longsword at once. TK’s Katana was joined by one of Kari’s knives, and Liam and Dartha’s broadswords.
“Yeah?” Kari said. “Well I’m prettier.”
Her fist slammed upwards, and for the second time that day, Derron was knocked away by a punch to the jaw. Liam helped TK to his feet.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Now finish your job.”
The rest of the group stepped back, as TK walked forward, his face expressionless. Kari glanced behind her, and saw that the Shadowmon had all left the hall, presumably chasing after the Digidestined.
Derron snarled at the advancing blonde man, and swung a massive two-handed blow at TK’s Neck. Without even looking, the Digidestined lifted Taneka Motomiya’s silver Katana, and stopped the blade Dead. Twisting, TK spin-kicked the larger man across the face, knocking him backwards against the pile of Oridian ore. He grinned.
“You really shouldn’t have told me that this was all your fault.”
As Derron tried to push himself away from the black metal, TK lunged for the first time in their duel.
The silver Katana slid neatly into Derron Motomiya’s chest, and blood spattered across the Oridian, as he slid to the ground.
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The door of the citadel was open. Well, the term is more ‘destroyed’ than open. And it was a good thing too. Tasha could hear the growls of the Shadowmon close behind them. She drew her sword, and desperately shepherded the Digidestined and troopers through the shattered door.
The rifles opened up at the far end of the corridor, and she could hear the screams of anguish as the creatures ran into the hail of bullets.
“C’mon! Let’s get the hell outta here!” she yelled.
“I think they get that part, Tasha.” Salamandramon muttered.
“Haeder, Run!” she heard Mills shout.
The big German nodded in reply, and the three of them dashed towards the door. Seconds later, the Shadowmon came crashing through after them. Tasha ran for the edge of the bluff, but she was dismayed to see that there was no-one waiting for them, and the cliff was too high to get over on their own.
Haeder, Mills and Tasha turned to face their enemies. The Shadowmon were advancing slowly, stalking towards their prey.
Tasha heard a regular thumping sound. She guessed that her heart was in her ears. It sounded a little fast, but that wasn’t too surprising. The adrenalin in her veins was keeping her going.
The first indication of how wrong she was came when the front ranks of the Shadowmon were suddenly blown apart. The explosion sent their shattered bodies flying up into the air, slamming them into the walls of the citadel far behind them.
Tasha spun, and saw that Mills was grinning. An insectoid shape hung in the sky, its bulbous front twisting this way and that, providing an accurate picture for the two men seated inside.
The apache Helicopter opened up with its Chaingun, spraying the Shadowmon with heavy-calibre 20mm bullets. Unlike the effect of the rifles, the creatures weren’t just hurt by the rounds. they were torn apart.
Rifles began to pick up the cacophony of gunfire as the combined forces of the 22 SAS regiment, the US Delta Force and the German GSG-9 leapt over the ridge, their guns blazing.
A hand tapped on Tasha’s shoulders, and she glanced up. Jun Motomiya was looking down at her from the ridge, her hand outstretched to help her up to safety.
“You looked like you needed a little help.”
“It didn’t come at a better time.”
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Darren looked down from the ruins of the citadel windows, and carefully safed his rifle.
He turned to the remainders of his troops. Unfortunately, the Shadowmon had been a little indiscriminate when they had picked targets.
“What do we do now, sir?” his second in command asked.
“Nothing. We leave, quickly and quietly. There’s always a private war going on somewhere. How does south America sound?”
His men grinned.
“Pretty good to us, sir.”
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Davis exited the Arena, and cast his eyes around. Far up on the hilltop, Taythe was slowly climbing towards the apex of the mountain, her long cloak flowing behind her. he ran after her.
“TAYTHE!!!”
She glanced back at him, and moved into a run herself, practically flying up the mountainside in her haste. His feet carried him inexorably after her, towards the final conflict in a battle that had began generations before he had even been born.
“I write my own fate.” He muttered to himself.
Taythe suddenly vanished, disappearing into the crater of the dormant volcano that the citadel rested on. Davis heard a roaring behind him, and turned. From the shattered dome atop the arena, the twelve dragons of the digital world rose into the air.
“Ignore them. They’re my problem.” A familiar voice sounded from beside him.
Davis turned, and looked into Flamedramon’s eyes. He nodded once in silent agreement, and reached for his Digivice.
White light shone around Flamedramon, as he grew into the only form that could defeat the Shadowmon.
“FLAMEDRAMON, DIGIVOLVE TO… EDENAMON!!!!”
Davis grinned up at the huge white-armoured warrior.
“Have fun, buddy. See you on the flip side.” As he continued on up the hill, He opened the palmtop Willis had thrown him, and tapped a few commands into it.
“D-MOD TWO, ACTIVATE!”
He didn’t look back to see what new toys Willis had given his Digimon. Edenamon was on his own now. They both were.
He pushed all thoughts of the Digimon battle from his mind as he dropped into the crater of the volcano. Slowly, he walked forward, and faced Taythe over a distance of Ten paces.
“Greetings, Daisuke.”
“Greetings, Taythe.”
He frowned slightly.
“Do we have to do the whole politeness thing? I kinda wanna get this over with.”
She laughed ruefully.
“You’re not the only one. How about we don’t do the politeness, and say we did?”
He grinned.
“I don’t think we could get away with it.” He pulled the Golden Katana from its scabbard at his side, and let its tip touch the floor. “Taythe Motomiya, I challenge you to single combat, for the sake of the digital world, and all who dwell within it. I am Daisuke Motomiya, the paladin and their protector. What is your response to my challenge?”
She unsheathed her own blade, and raised it to her face.
“Daisuke Motomiya, I accept your offer of single combat. I am the Champion of the line of the dragon lords, and I will fight for their honour.”
In opposite motions, they reached up and undid the buckles holding their sword scabbards to their waists. Davis then shrugged off his black leather trenchcoat, as Taythe also allowed her cloak to fall to the ground.
And the battle between the two sides of the coin began in earnest.
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Edenamon waited on the mountainside, his new weapons planted in the ground beside him, and attached to the sides of his armour.
Willis had clearly taken a leaf out of Paildramon’s book when he had designed the upgrades for the warrior-Digimon. The two cannons that were now attached to his sides glistened in the early morning light. The two swords that were stuck in the ground behind him, however, had a strangely curved look to them. Edenamon suspect that a certain amount of Otakuism was in Willis, because why else would the blonde man have supplied him with what were virtually replicas of the Gundam Sandrock’s heat Shotels?
His thoughts were cut off as the twelve dragons halted in the air above him, their wings beating lazily to keep them in the air. The largest detached itself from the group, and swooped a little closer.
“Edenamon.”
“Terras.”
“Wilt thou submits? We bear thee no ill malice, but, if needs must, we will commit our duty with the utmost of our ability.”
Edenamon allowed the archaic language to slip through the filtering systems of his mind. he already knew his reply, of course, but translating would give him a way to gain some time. He sighed.
“I’m sorry, Terras, but I cannot accept your offer.”
The dragon nodded sadly, which was no ill feat for a creature with a six-foot neck, and without warning, the twelve launched a concerted blast at the white-armoured Digimon.
But Edenamon was no longer there. High above the group, the two cannons at his side, swung up into his hands.
“BLASTER CANNON!”
A hail of energy blots slammed down through the air at the twelve. The smallest absorbed the majority of the blasts as he moved into the direct line of fire. Holes appeared in the dragon’s body as he fell to the ground, and vanished.
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Davis began walking in a circle, opposed by Taythe on the other side of the bowl. His Katana hung loosely in his hand.
“Do you really want to do this, Taythe?” he asked.
“It’s what I was born to do.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I know. But what I want is irrelevant.”
He smiled slightly.
“Don’t you ever believe that.”
He felt a slight tingling in his hand, and glanced down at his sword. Even as he watched, sparks flew from the blade, and on the plain metal, the stylised image of a dragon appeared.
His eyes went wide, and he glanced up.
Taythe was already moving, her longsword swinging high over her head, a cut that would split him down the middle if it hit. The golden katana shot upwards, as he stepped to the side, and deflected the blade off to his right.
The black longsword whipped round in a backhanded cut, and he sprung back, letting the blade pass inches away from his chest. Taythe followed up, lunging at him, as he spun, letting her attack carry her past him.
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Edenamon dropped through the air, as the sky crackled with the energy attacks of the eleven remaining dragons. The Blaster Cannons at his side fired again, scattering the ancient Digimon.
‘I can’t take them on together, not with that shield of theirs,’ he thought, ‘so I’ll have to take them on separately.’
He let the cannons drop and raised the twin blades. And massive speed, he blasted towards the Dragons. The swords came up.
It wasn’t an actual strike. All the huge white-armoured Digimon did was extend his arms. The momentum however, did all the work for him. The swords slashed through the dragons like lightning, felling several in the first strike.
He spun, aiming his arms at the next target.
“BUSTER BLAST!”
Twin muzzles sprouted from his wrists, and titanic balls of energy launched out, swatting more of his enemies from the air.
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Davis dodged another of Taythe’s attacks, and cursed under his breath. He had to move off the defensive!
As Taythe swept in with another lunge, he leapt to the side, spun, and planted his booted foot firmly onto the side of Taythe’s head, knocking her off balance, swinging, he slashed the golden Katana at the back of her neck.
Taythe rolled forward, out of range. She came to her feet, and Davis sprang towards her, slashing his sword up from the ground.
She parried the blow one-handed, and countered swiftly, her blade flickering at Davis’s eyes.
Sparks began to fly once again from Davis’s sword, as more pictures of the Dragons appeared. Taythe watched the blade with dismay, knowing that her companions were falling one by one.
Davis took advantage of the momentary hesitation, and lunged.
Taythe knocked the blade clumsily away, and leapt back, moving swiftly out of range. Her footing was off. Davis snarled his victory, and started forward into a lethal strike.
‘NO!’
He heard the voice in his mind, and stopped. Keeping his eyes on Taythe, he turned his mind inwards.
‘Grandmother?’
‘That’s not the way, Davis.’
‘But I have to beat her!’
‘Wrong, boy. You’re here to defeat her, not to destroy her.’
He realised what she was saying, and nodded to himself. Taythe began to prepare herself for his attack.
‘What do I need to do?’
‘Taythe’s story doesn’t end in this bowl, paladin. You cant kill her.’
‘Got it. Any ideas’
‘You don’t really need my help, dear. You’ve got all the skills yourself.’
He nodded, and lowered his sword, as Taythe raised her own blade. The katana hung loosely in his hands, and he looked calmly at the raven-haired girl.
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Edenamon slammed his armoured fist into the face of one of the smaller dragons, and he felt the skull crunch under the impact. Reaching upwards, he swung one of his swords around, cutting through the body of another.
It was just he and Terras now. The largest of the dragons of the ancient digital world hovered in the air opposite him. Edenamon could feel the energy building in his opponent. He pulled his hands back, and disregarded his two swords, letting them fall with an almighty clang to the side of the volcano far beneath him. The two Blaster cannons disengaged from their positions on the side of his armour. He held his hands a little apart, and allowed his own energy to build.
“REDEMPTIONS… EYE!!!”
The titanic blast of energy left his hands, and at the same instant, Terras slammed his head forward, and another huge beam blasted towards Edenamon.
The twin beams met in mid air, slamming together with elemental force and chaos. Neither of the huge Digimon were prepared to back down. Both were pouring all the power at their disposal into this conflict.
Then, a third beam joined the conflict. Nefertimon, in a release of the energy essential to her armour digivolve, poured out her power at Terras. Pegasusmon, following her lead, fired his own blast at the huge dragon.
Terras ignored their attacks, as his conflict with Edenamon continued. A golden beam of energy joined the two lighter ones piercing into the Dragon’s body. Rapidmon, in his golden-armour state, fired the beam from his hands, the Digimon joining in their final conflict.
From the ground, Digmon joined the conflict, a yellow beam slamming into Terras’s back.
Halsemon took over from Nefertimon as she flew up to Edenamon’s side.
“We can’t keep it up for much longer! You’ve got to hold on!”
“That’s more difficult than it looks, Nefertimon! I’ve only got so much energy left!”
“Then take mine!”
Edenamon’s eye swivelled towards her through the visor of his head armour.
“What?”
“Take my energy! Use it against Terras, like you did against Viramon!”
“I can’t do that! You wont be able to defend yourself!”
“There isn’t any other way, Edenamon!”
He swore virulently,
“That does help, Edenamon.” She said Primly. “IF you don’t take the energy, then I’ll just give it to you!”
“Alright, Dammit!”
She felt the gentle touch of his mind on hers, and then her form shrunk, and Gatomon fell to the ground. Digmon broke off his attack, and caught the exhausted cat-Digimon as she fell.
Edenamon’s eyes narrowed through his visor.
“THIS IS THE END, DRAGON!!!!”
The energy that he had taken from Nefertimon flooded out through his hand, pulsing down the already huge beam. The huge globe of energy that had formed where the two beams connected absorbed the blast…
And then flew down the beam back into Terras. A titanic explosion filled the sky, flattening all of the armour Digimon against the mountainside. Edenamon hung in the sky, his white-armoured form outlined against the blast.
And then it was over. The huge Digimon lowered himself gently out of the sky, and then faded down into the familiar shape of Veemon. He walked slowly over to where digmon was cradling Gatomon, and put his clawed hand gently on the side of the cat-Digimon’s face. She opened her green eyes, and stared up at him.
“Thankyou, Gatomon.” He said quietly.
=============================================================
“Put up your sword.” Taythe said.
“Why?”
“We have a duel to finish?”
“Why do we have to fight, Taythe?”
“Because that’s all I know how to do!” she cried in anguish.
He nodded slightly.
“Then so be it. If you think you can kill me, I invite you to try.”
She ran at him then, her sword swinging around in a brutal cut.
His head barely moved, yet the cut seemed to pass through him. She knew that it was impossible… nothing could be that fast!
He stared at her calmly, challenging her to try again.
She didn’t give him any warning this time, but instead smoothly lunged forward, aiming to tear into his throat with her blade. His head twitched to the side, and her lunge carried on past him. He reached up, and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.
“Taythe…” he said. “There is no further need for you to fight. You have two choices – you can carry on attacking me, or we can stop this futile fight, and live out our lives as human beings.”
She spat in his face, and withdrew her sword. Backing off, she snarled at him.
“Why do you insult me with these offers? Are you such a coward that you need to try and stop the fight in order to win?”
he smiled gently.
“Taythe, I am no coward. Nor am I trying to insult you. I just don’t feel the need to have any more killing, when peace is within our grasp.”
“Peace?”
She said it softly, and in that single instant, Davis knew he had won. He could see it in her eyes, the final crash as the shields she had drawn around her soul fell away. she felt it too.
“NO!!”
with that final scream, she ran at him, her sword drawn back. at the last possible instant, she lunged forward, aiming for his heart.
The black longsword never found its mark. As her momentum carried her forward, Davis stepped aside. The straight blade ran straight into the wall of the volcano, and stuck there. Desperately, she tried to pull the blade out. Davis spun, raised his Katana, and brought it down in a massive cut.
Taythe closed her eyes as the golden blade came down.
=============================================================
Kari looked up, as time seemed to Flash, the world slowing down until she could hear the giant ‘tick’ as the universe moved from one second to the next. She could feel something.
“Davis… no!”
and the world froze
=============================================================
Out on the bluff, the Helicopter seemed to hang in the air as the flash moved past them, and Jun swore under her breath, and gripped Tai’s hand tightly. Her hand locked in that position
=============================================================
The sword was still in the air as the two figures watched the completely still forms of Daisuke Motomiya and Taythe Motomiya in the no-time between the moment in which one second passed through to the next.
“He has not killed her.” one of the figures asserted. “It is not a victory.”
“Death is an absolute, and there are no absolutes in this contest. He has, however, defeated her. My champion claims victory. It is over.”
The first figure snarled.
“No! It is not over!”
And he vanished. The second figure sighed.
“He’s always so SULKY when I win.”
And then he too vanished.
The moment passed.
=============================================================
Taythe felt a huge shot run up her arms, and opened her eyes. To her great surprise, and for some reason, minor disappointment, she was still alive. She looked down at her hands.
Davis sheathed the Katana as Taythe dropped the hilt of the longsword. The blade, however, remained lodged in the wall, severed neatly at its base by the huge strike.
“Why…?”
“Why didn’t I kill you?”
She looked at him, with a kind of appeal in her eyes.
“I didn’t see the need to, Taythe. You may have hurt me, but that’s a part of life. I’ve been hurt before.” He thought for a second. “I’ve never had a scar running across my chest, but I’ve been hurt before. You’ve never experienced that feeling.”
He turned away, and looked up at the rim of the bowl of the volcano. Taythe stared down at the hilt in her hands, and let it drop to the ground. When it hit, it shattered like glass, and the two dark crests fell into the dust. Davis knelt, and scooped them up, placing them in his pocket.
“You see, Taythe, I don’t need to kill you. It’s not my choice to make. Its yours.” He looked sidelong at her. “ So I’m giving you the choice. You can stay the way you are, and keep your soul cooped up like a bird in a cage…” he extended his hand. “Or you can choose life, and let it, and yourself, fly free. Your choice.”
She hesitated. He could see the silent battle waging within her, as it had done within him. He could have killed her with that strike, and removed one of the greatest threats to the digital world he had ever encountered.
But that would have made him worse than Derron. He had realised that he had not come here to destroy Taythe, or even to really defeat her. He had come here to save her.
The battle within Taythe’s heart reached its conclusion, and slowly, quietly, she reached her hand up, and placed it in his.
“I choose life.”
She fell to her knees, her forehead knotted in pain. Even as he watched, something seemed to leap out of her, something black and evil. It span away into the air above the digital world.
“Are you okay, Taythe?” he asked.
“I’m… fine. But my name… it isn’t right. Its not real.”
She looked up into his earnest, smiling face, and remembered another smile, the smile on the face of her mother, the scent of blossoms in the summer breeze, and a name that had been whispered to her, even as she giggled in innocence.
“My name… isn’t Taythe. I’m… Kayoko.”
“Kayoko Motomiya. Sounds fine to me.”
She gave him a look at the surname.
“Hey, you’re my little sister now, you get that? And brother and sister usually have the same name.” He stood, and pulled her up. “So come on, little sister. Lets get outta here.”
=============================================================
*********
The Digidestined were appallingly outnumbered. At least a thousand Shadowmon were packed into the rooms adjoining to the Arena, and as of yet, the only people with weapons were the sword-armed digiworld troopers, Darren’s hired guards, who were remaining pretty neutral, and the group that had accompanied Davis from Coast town.
Kari pulled the knives from the back of her belt, even as she ran to stand beside her lover. Their Digimon bounded in front of them.
“Do you think we can win?”
“What do you mean we?” he grinned. “All we need to do at the moment is get the Digidestined out of here!”
Kari looked at the Shadowmon, who had stopped several yards away, warily watching the golden blade in Davis’s hands.
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It is. Willis?”
“Got it.” The blonde man replied. He pulled out a palmtop, and tapped a command into it.
A pile of rifles appeared on the ground in front of him. The troopers moved in, and picked the weapons up, levelling them at the Shadowmon. Davis looked around.
“I know you’re all scared, but I’m afraid that your imprisonment has come to an end. Sorry about that.”
He grinned.
“Now, Taythe, it appears that we’ve got a battle on our hands.”
The glow of the paladin-sword seemed to intensify, and Davis sprang forward like a leopard, the sword cutting through the Shadowmon ranks like a hot knife through butter.
=============================================================
Wentela rose from her bemused state of near-unconsciousness to find herself in the middle of a living nightmare.
The arena was filled with the Shadowmon. But that didn’t bother her.
It didn’t even bother her that said creatures were being systematically massacred by the paladin and his allies.
What really bothered her, however, was the sight of the Digidestined flooding through the exit to the arena, down the path that Davis had cleared. She raised herself to her feet, and screeched at her guards.
“STOP THEM! DON’T LET THE PRISONERS ESCAPE!!!”
The prison guards were not the trained commandos that Darren commanded, however. They were petty criminals for the most part, drafted in off the streets, doing almost anything in return for a little power. They stared at her dumbly, and She snarling at them, she spun back to the stream of running Digidestined. Pulling her Glock from her holster, she fired a rapid series of 9mm parabellum bullets at the chosen children.
Taythe, however, was not known for her marksmanship. Even with the tightly packed Digidestined, none of the bullets found their mark. Stone chips erupted from the wall around the door as her guards finally got the message.
What they managed, however, was to attract the attention of someone whom Wentela REALLY didn’t want to meet again.
One of the Digidestined commandos split away from the group, and fired his rifle up at them. The guards began dropping like flies. Wentela hastily reloaded her pistol, and grabbed a rifle.
Nick grinned a hellish grin as he began slowly walking up the stone steps of the arena towards them. His rifle bucked in his hands, and the last of the prison guard slammed into the ground, bleeding profusely. From his head.
Wentela took one look at the approaching Londoner, and ran.
=============================================================
The sword was like a bar of flame in his hands, Davis noted. The Shadowmon seemed to melt away as he struck at them, falling back beneath the onslaught.
But he was not fighting alone. Beside him, he could feel his friends throwing themselves into the fray.
Kari’s twin daggers flickered like lightning as she spun. As it had been when she had kicked Wentela, she had no idea where the fighting knowledge was coming from. She slammed a foot into the face of one of the creature, and then hooked the limb around its neck. Leaping from the ground, she swung around, hurling herself into a second creature, knocking it off balance, and into the ground, taking several of its tightly packed fellows with it. The commandos swept into the gap stabbing and cutting with their swords, making sure that few of the Shadowmon would ever get to their feet again.
From the other side of the battle, Derron observed the battle with encroaching dread. Never before had he seen men fight with such fury. And this was when they were fighting a rearguard action!
He shouted at the Shadowmon, ordering them to keep pushing forward. Then he turned to Taythe.
“Head up to the bowl of the volcano. That’s where you’ll have to fight the paladin – this arena is too small to contain that battle.”
“Yes, Derron.”
She turned and ran for the gate. For some strange reason Derron Motomiya felt a pang of regret. He knew that he would never see his adopted daughter again. Whatever happened, whatever the outcome, she was unimportant to him now. But then, she had never been more than a tool.
He was so wrapped up in his contemplate, that he failed to notice the blonde man sneaking up on him. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned.
TK’s right hand wrapped around the hilt of the sheathed silver katana at Derron’s belt. His second bunched into a fist.
Derron reeled back from the punch, spitting blood. TK raised the Katana.
“This is mine, jackass.”
Derron snarled, and drew his longsword. The two began to circle each other, as above them, the twelve dragons took to the sky, flying out through the shattered dome.
=============================================================
“Davis!” Kari called.
“Yeah?” he yelled back.
“Taythe’s headed for the exit!”
“I know!”
Tai watched the exchange with a grin, and reached for his Digivice, parry the blow of a Shadowmon sword with the blade in his right hand. He pressed the activation stud.
Nothing happened.
“The hell? Davis, our Digivices aren’t working!”
“It’s the Oridian! It’s the same stuff the black spires were made out of!” Ken yelled at him. “But it’s pure! It’s even more potent!”
“SHIT!”
The few Digimon who still had the ability to digivolve in this situation stepped forward. Patomon and Veemon looked up, as the Dragon’s took to the skies.
“You realise that you guys wont be a match for them?” Veemon said soberly.
“I know.” Patomon said. “But we might give you a clear shot.”
“Gotcha.” Terriermon said. “Ah, hell, I wasn’t too bothered about fighting anyways.”
Willis, meanwhile, was desperately tapping away at his laptop. Izzy stood close beside him, adding comments in computer Jargon that no one with a social life outside of cyberspace would be able to understand. Finally, Izzy nodded.
“Try it!”
“DIGI-ARMOUR, ENERGISE!” Willis yelled.
All of the Digimon began to glow.
=============================================================
Davis desperately beheaded the Shadowmon in front of him, trying to reach the exit. Above him, he could see the winged forms of the twelve ancient dragons taking to the air, flying through the dome that his return had blasted to pieces. He watched as Taythe disappeared through the door that led to the side of the mountain.
“Dammit!”
From behind him, there came a familiar shout.
“ROSETTA STONE!!!”
A large slab of rock slammed past him, dangerously close, he spun, a startled look on his face as he saw Nefertimon and Flamedramon standing there.
“What? How did?”
He and Kari glanced at each other.
“WILLIS!” they shouted in Unison.
The blonde man glared at them over his laptop.
“I’m trying to work here!” he snapped. Pulling a palmtop from his side, he tossed it through the air towards the paladin.
Lunging his sword backwards under his arm into the stomach of one of his enemies, Davis reached up and plucked the device out of the air.
“It’s got some new toys for Edenamon! Get going!”
Davis nodded, and spun back. Then he began to run.
The end result of that charge was as inexorable as an iceberg. The glow on the golden Katana intensified yet again, and Davis’s speed seemed to reach into infinity, as he cut a swathe through the dark creature. From the edges of his vision, he saw TK and Derron circling each other, weapons in their hands. He reached out with his mind, and found Kari.
‘Can you handle things here?’
To her credit, Kari didn’t sound surprised at his mental contact.
‘What do you think I’ve been doing for the past month? Get going, babe.’
He grinned, and ran through the door to the side of the mountain.
=============================================================
Nick glanced down at the floor of the mine tunnel, and grinned. He could tell that he was still on the big woman’s trail – she left tracks a mile wide.
A rifle round ricocheted around the tunnels as Wentela fired wildly. He was close. He stopped, and attached something to the wall.
A second shot sounded in the darkness of the mine, as Wentela desperately attempted to stop the implacable Englishman from coming any closer.
“Stay back! I’ll kill you!”
“I sort of doubt that.” Came the calm reply.
He stopped around the corner, as the big woman fired a burst. He smiled as the rounds embedded themselves in the rock opposite him. He put down his rifle, and pulled his Beretta from the holster at his hip. Holding the pistol in his right hand, he lifted the rifle in his left, and tossed it out into the shaft at head height.
Wentela fired, swiftly emptying the contents of her rifle’s magazine into the roof of the corridor, and even as she pulled the trigger, Nick was diving low out onto the floor of the shaft, his Pistol extended. The silenced Beretta coughed twice.
Even as she heard the click of the firing pin on an empty chamber in her rifle, Wentela felt two punches in her legs. Without even knowing why, she collapsed to the ground.
Nick got to his feet, and walked slowly towards her. The corridor was a dead end. She had nowhere to run. She reached for the Glock in her belt, whipped it up, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing. She hadn’t reloaded the weapon. Desperately, she reached for a magazine.
The Londoner’s boot swept up, and knocked the gun out of her hands, sending it skittering away along the ground. He placed the barrel of his silenced Beretta against her forehead.
Wentela held her breath.
“Relax.” He snarled. “I’m not going to kill you. I don’t want your blood on my hands.” He pressed the barrel against her skull. “You may deserve to die, Wentela, and I think that you know that. But I’m not going to give you death. I’ve already put you on crutches for the rest of your life, and I’m gonna be happy with that.” He pulled away, and holstered the gun again. Reaching into his pouch, he tossed a water bottle and a packet of rations at her feet. “You can wait the battle out down here.”
He turned and walked away.
“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” she yelled after him. He kept walking.
He could hear her screams long after he had left the maze of corridors. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled out a small device. He pressed the button on its top.
The plastic detonation charge he had attached to the wall of the corridor exploded, blowing away the support struts that had held the roof up. He glanced back around the corner, and was happy to see that the corridor was completely blocked.
“Well, I let her live. I didn’t promise where.” He said to no one in particular.
=============================================================
“All right, that’s it, retreat!” Liam yelled.
Kari nodded at him once, and drove her twin daggers into the neck of the Shadowmon in front of her. Flipping backwards, she kicked the creature up, sending it into the troops behind it.
“Where’s TK?” she shouted.
“I don’t know! Wait…” Liam’s voice tailed off. “He’s over there! He’s fighting Derron!”
Kari made her decision in a single instant.
“Liam, you, the master, Mimi and Michael come with me! Make sure you’ve all got weapons. Everyone else get out of here!”
Liam took one look at her face, and nodded.
“Mills, Haeder, Get the Digidestined out of here!”
“Got it!” the SAS Commando called back. Haeder’s response was an intensifying of the fire coming from his few remaining GSG-9 troopers. Liam and Kari charged, side by side, into the fray of the Shadowmon.
=============================================================
“ROSETTA STONE!”
“ROCK CRUSHER!”
Nefertimon and Digmon were side by side, their attacks carving through the Shadowmon with practiced ease.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” the flying Digimon called to her grounded companion.
“You don’t have to tell me!” He replied. “Where’s Flamedramon?”
“He’s gone after Davis!”
“Figures!”
The pair continued to blast at their enemies.
=============================================================
TK and Derron circled each other, their swords held in their hands. Although he was certain of his own skill as a swordsman, TK couldn’t be sure of his opponent, and the fact that Derron was wearing armour was definitely gonna make things difficult.
The strike, when it came, was almost imperceptible. If it hadn’t been for the slight tightening around Derron’s eyes, TK would probably have died instantly. As it was, that slight change in expression gave the blonde Digidestined the chance he needed to raise his own defences. The Silver Katana leapt up and took the slash of the longsword on its edge. Sparks flew from the force of the blow, stinging the side of TK’s cheek. He spun away from the blow, into a backhanded cut that hissed through the air towards Derron’s midriff. The blade scored against the armour, and swung away.
The pair backed away from each other. TK grinned.
“Well, that settles that then.”
And they leapt at each other, in a blast of elemental fury.
=============================================================
Kari’s dagger planted itself into the head of an enemy, as she desperately tried to get through the crowd of Shadowmon to TK. Beside her, Liam ran the Knight’s sword that he had received from Tetsato Dartha through several of the creatures, the long blade running through three bodies at once as he hacked at them. The Master himself stood next to his companion, jabbing his sword in neat, measured lunges, slashing the throats of the Shadowmon with casual skill and grace.
Behind them, Mimi and Michael fired their rifles in an almost continuous stream, finishing the creatures off. A third gun suddenly entered the fray, as Nick Pallet, his Beretta in his hands, entered from the door to the mines, neatly popping bullets through the heads of the Shadowmon as if he were on a firing range.
Kari felt a surge of pride. For the moment, at least, these people were her warriors, and this was a battle they could not lose. She gritted her teeth, and determined that she would not let Davis down by giving up.
=============================================================
Mills and Haeder, Meanwhile, found themselves submitting to a command. It wasn’t from Kari or Davis, but it was delivered in a level tone of voice that told the two sergeants that if they valued their anatomy in its current position, they’d better obey.
“Where do we go now?” Mills asked.
Tasha gave them a level glance.
“We head down. The citadel is only so complicated, and if we follow Davis’s path of destruction, we should get back to the entrance. So lets get moving.”
Haeder glanced at Tai.
“Is she always like this?”
“Most of the time. She’s as bad as her cousin. I think she knows what she’s doing.”
“Thanks Tai.” The blonde girl said. Salamandramon peeked out from around her neck.
“The Shadowmon are coming.”
“How do you know?”
“I can smell them.”
Sure enough, The Digidestined heard a growl come from the chamber behind them. Several of the troopers casually tossed grenades into the room. When the dust from the explosions settled, the more immediate noises had faded, but they could hear more of them in the distance.
“Lets keep going.” Tasha said.
“I can live with that.” Mills replied, somewhat nervously.
=============================================================
The Silver Katana sparked away from the longsword once more, and TK slid the blade forward, coming in close to snarl at Derron over the crossed blades.
“You cant win, Derron, give it up!”
The only response Derron gave was to lift his knee into the Digidestined’s chest, driving him backwards. TK gasped as the blow knocked him to the ground, and he struggled to get back onto all fours.
“You kids just don’t get it.” Derron snarled. “All this time, you’ve been thinking that Taythe was your enemy. You were wrong. I’m the one with the power here.”
He kicked TK in the stomach.
“I’m smarter…”
A second kick, driving the breath from the young Digidestined’s body.
“I’m stronger…”
He raised the longsword, swinging it down. TK desperately began to lift his Katana to block the strike.
A huge clang sounded, as four blades blocked the Longsword at once. TK’s Katana was joined by one of Kari’s knives, and Liam and Dartha’s broadswords.
“Yeah?” Kari said. “Well I’m prettier.”
Her fist slammed upwards, and for the second time that day, Derron was knocked away by a punch to the jaw. Liam helped TK to his feet.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Now finish your job.”
The rest of the group stepped back, as TK walked forward, his face expressionless. Kari glanced behind her, and saw that the Shadowmon had all left the hall, presumably chasing after the Digidestined.
Derron snarled at the advancing blonde man, and swung a massive two-handed blow at TK’s Neck. Without even looking, the Digidestined lifted Taneka Motomiya’s silver Katana, and stopped the blade Dead. Twisting, TK spin-kicked the larger man across the face, knocking him backwards against the pile of Oridian ore. He grinned.
“You really shouldn’t have told me that this was all your fault.”
As Derron tried to push himself away from the black metal, TK lunged for the first time in their duel.
The silver Katana slid neatly into Derron Motomiya’s chest, and blood spattered across the Oridian, as he slid to the ground.
=============================================================
The door of the citadel was open. Well, the term is more ‘destroyed’ than open. And it was a good thing too. Tasha could hear the growls of the Shadowmon close behind them. She drew her sword, and desperately shepherded the Digidestined and troopers through the shattered door.
The rifles opened up at the far end of the corridor, and she could hear the screams of anguish as the creatures ran into the hail of bullets.
“C’mon! Let’s get the hell outta here!” she yelled.
“I think they get that part, Tasha.” Salamandramon muttered.
“Haeder, Run!” she heard Mills shout.
The big German nodded in reply, and the three of them dashed towards the door. Seconds later, the Shadowmon came crashing through after them. Tasha ran for the edge of the bluff, but she was dismayed to see that there was no-one waiting for them, and the cliff was too high to get over on their own.
Haeder, Mills and Tasha turned to face their enemies. The Shadowmon were advancing slowly, stalking towards their prey.
Tasha heard a regular thumping sound. She guessed that her heart was in her ears. It sounded a little fast, but that wasn’t too surprising. The adrenalin in her veins was keeping her going.
The first indication of how wrong she was came when the front ranks of the Shadowmon were suddenly blown apart. The explosion sent their shattered bodies flying up into the air, slamming them into the walls of the citadel far behind them.
Tasha spun, and saw that Mills was grinning. An insectoid shape hung in the sky, its bulbous front twisting this way and that, providing an accurate picture for the two men seated inside.
The apache Helicopter opened up with its Chaingun, spraying the Shadowmon with heavy-calibre 20mm bullets. Unlike the effect of the rifles, the creatures weren’t just hurt by the rounds. they were torn apart.
Rifles began to pick up the cacophony of gunfire as the combined forces of the 22 SAS regiment, the US Delta Force and the German GSG-9 leapt over the ridge, their guns blazing.
A hand tapped on Tasha’s shoulders, and she glanced up. Jun Motomiya was looking down at her from the ridge, her hand outstretched to help her up to safety.
“You looked like you needed a little help.”
“It didn’t come at a better time.”
=============================================================
Darren looked down from the ruins of the citadel windows, and carefully safed his rifle.
He turned to the remainders of his troops. Unfortunately, the Shadowmon had been a little indiscriminate when they had picked targets.
“What do we do now, sir?” his second in command asked.
“Nothing. We leave, quickly and quietly. There’s always a private war going on somewhere. How does south America sound?”
His men grinned.
“Pretty good to us, sir.”
=============================================================
Davis exited the Arena, and cast his eyes around. Far up on the hilltop, Taythe was slowly climbing towards the apex of the mountain, her long cloak flowing behind her. he ran after her.
“TAYTHE!!!”
She glanced back at him, and moved into a run herself, practically flying up the mountainside in her haste. His feet carried him inexorably after her, towards the final conflict in a battle that had began generations before he had even been born.
“I write my own fate.” He muttered to himself.
Taythe suddenly vanished, disappearing into the crater of the dormant volcano that the citadel rested on. Davis heard a roaring behind him, and turned. From the shattered dome atop the arena, the twelve dragons of the digital world rose into the air.
“Ignore them. They’re my problem.” A familiar voice sounded from beside him.
Davis turned, and looked into Flamedramon’s eyes. He nodded once in silent agreement, and reached for his Digivice.
White light shone around Flamedramon, as he grew into the only form that could defeat the Shadowmon.
“FLAMEDRAMON, DIGIVOLVE TO… EDENAMON!!!!”
Davis grinned up at the huge white-armoured warrior.
“Have fun, buddy. See you on the flip side.” As he continued on up the hill, He opened the palmtop Willis had thrown him, and tapped a few commands into it.
“D-MOD TWO, ACTIVATE!”
He didn’t look back to see what new toys Willis had given his Digimon. Edenamon was on his own now. They both were.
He pushed all thoughts of the Digimon battle from his mind as he dropped into the crater of the volcano. Slowly, he walked forward, and faced Taythe over a distance of Ten paces.
“Greetings, Daisuke.”
“Greetings, Taythe.”
He frowned slightly.
“Do we have to do the whole politeness thing? I kinda wanna get this over with.”
She laughed ruefully.
“You’re not the only one. How about we don’t do the politeness, and say we did?”
He grinned.
“I don’t think we could get away with it.” He pulled the Golden Katana from its scabbard at his side, and let its tip touch the floor. “Taythe Motomiya, I challenge you to single combat, for the sake of the digital world, and all who dwell within it. I am Daisuke Motomiya, the paladin and their protector. What is your response to my challenge?”
She unsheathed her own blade, and raised it to her face.
“Daisuke Motomiya, I accept your offer of single combat. I am the Champion of the line of the dragon lords, and I will fight for their honour.”
In opposite motions, they reached up and undid the buckles holding their sword scabbards to their waists. Davis then shrugged off his black leather trenchcoat, as Taythe also allowed her cloak to fall to the ground.
And the battle between the two sides of the coin began in earnest.
=============================================================
Edenamon waited on the mountainside, his new weapons planted in the ground beside him, and attached to the sides of his armour.
Willis had clearly taken a leaf out of Paildramon’s book when he had designed the upgrades for the warrior-Digimon. The two cannons that were now attached to his sides glistened in the early morning light. The two swords that were stuck in the ground behind him, however, had a strangely curved look to them. Edenamon suspect that a certain amount of Otakuism was in Willis, because why else would the blonde man have supplied him with what were virtually replicas of the Gundam Sandrock’s heat Shotels?
His thoughts were cut off as the twelve dragons halted in the air above him, their wings beating lazily to keep them in the air. The largest detached itself from the group, and swooped a little closer.
“Edenamon.”
“Terras.”
“Wilt thou submits? We bear thee no ill malice, but, if needs must, we will commit our duty with the utmost of our ability.”
Edenamon allowed the archaic language to slip through the filtering systems of his mind. he already knew his reply, of course, but translating would give him a way to gain some time. He sighed.
“I’m sorry, Terras, but I cannot accept your offer.”
The dragon nodded sadly, which was no ill feat for a creature with a six-foot neck, and without warning, the twelve launched a concerted blast at the white-armoured Digimon.
But Edenamon was no longer there. High above the group, the two cannons at his side, swung up into his hands.
“BLASTER CANNON!”
A hail of energy blots slammed down through the air at the twelve. The smallest absorbed the majority of the blasts as he moved into the direct line of fire. Holes appeared in the dragon’s body as he fell to the ground, and vanished.
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Davis began walking in a circle, opposed by Taythe on the other side of the bowl. His Katana hung loosely in his hand.
“Do you really want to do this, Taythe?” he asked.
“It’s what I was born to do.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I know. But what I want is irrelevant.”
He smiled slightly.
“Don’t you ever believe that.”
He felt a slight tingling in his hand, and glanced down at his sword. Even as he watched, sparks flew from the blade, and on the plain metal, the stylised image of a dragon appeared.
His eyes went wide, and he glanced up.
Taythe was already moving, her longsword swinging high over her head, a cut that would split him down the middle if it hit. The golden katana shot upwards, as he stepped to the side, and deflected the blade off to his right.
The black longsword whipped round in a backhanded cut, and he sprung back, letting the blade pass inches away from his chest. Taythe followed up, lunging at him, as he spun, letting her attack carry her past him.
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Edenamon dropped through the air, as the sky crackled with the energy attacks of the eleven remaining dragons. The Blaster Cannons at his side fired again, scattering the ancient Digimon.
‘I can’t take them on together, not with that shield of theirs,’ he thought, ‘so I’ll have to take them on separately.’
He let the cannons drop and raised the twin blades. And massive speed, he blasted towards the Dragons. The swords came up.
It wasn’t an actual strike. All the huge white-armoured Digimon did was extend his arms. The momentum however, did all the work for him. The swords slashed through the dragons like lightning, felling several in the first strike.
He spun, aiming his arms at the next target.
“BUSTER BLAST!”
Twin muzzles sprouted from his wrists, and titanic balls of energy launched out, swatting more of his enemies from the air.
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Davis dodged another of Taythe’s attacks, and cursed under his breath. He had to move off the defensive!
As Taythe swept in with another lunge, he leapt to the side, spun, and planted his booted foot firmly onto the side of Taythe’s head, knocking her off balance, swinging, he slashed the golden Katana at the back of her neck.
Taythe rolled forward, out of range. She came to her feet, and Davis sprang towards her, slashing his sword up from the ground.
She parried the blow one-handed, and countered swiftly, her blade flickering at Davis’s eyes.
Sparks began to fly once again from Davis’s sword, as more pictures of the Dragons appeared. Taythe watched the blade with dismay, knowing that her companions were falling one by one.
Davis took advantage of the momentary hesitation, and lunged.
Taythe knocked the blade clumsily away, and leapt back, moving swiftly out of range. Her footing was off. Davis snarled his victory, and started forward into a lethal strike.
‘NO!’
He heard the voice in his mind, and stopped. Keeping his eyes on Taythe, he turned his mind inwards.
‘Grandmother?’
‘That’s not the way, Davis.’
‘But I have to beat her!’
‘Wrong, boy. You’re here to defeat her, not to destroy her.’
He realised what she was saying, and nodded to himself. Taythe began to prepare herself for his attack.
‘What do I need to do?’
‘Taythe’s story doesn’t end in this bowl, paladin. You cant kill her.’
‘Got it. Any ideas’
‘You don’t really need my help, dear. You’ve got all the skills yourself.’
He nodded, and lowered his sword, as Taythe raised her own blade. The katana hung loosely in his hands, and he looked calmly at the raven-haired girl.
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Edenamon slammed his armoured fist into the face of one of the smaller dragons, and he felt the skull crunch under the impact. Reaching upwards, he swung one of his swords around, cutting through the body of another.
It was just he and Terras now. The largest of the dragons of the ancient digital world hovered in the air opposite him. Edenamon could feel the energy building in his opponent. He pulled his hands back, and disregarded his two swords, letting them fall with an almighty clang to the side of the volcano far beneath him. The two Blaster cannons disengaged from their positions on the side of his armour. He held his hands a little apart, and allowed his own energy to build.
“REDEMPTIONS… EYE!!!”
The titanic blast of energy left his hands, and at the same instant, Terras slammed his head forward, and another huge beam blasted towards Edenamon.
The twin beams met in mid air, slamming together with elemental force and chaos. Neither of the huge Digimon were prepared to back down. Both were pouring all the power at their disposal into this conflict.
Then, a third beam joined the conflict. Nefertimon, in a release of the energy essential to her armour digivolve, poured out her power at Terras. Pegasusmon, following her lead, fired his own blast at the huge dragon.
Terras ignored their attacks, as his conflict with Edenamon continued. A golden beam of energy joined the two lighter ones piercing into the Dragon’s body. Rapidmon, in his golden-armour state, fired the beam from his hands, the Digimon joining in their final conflict.
From the ground, Digmon joined the conflict, a yellow beam slamming into Terras’s back.
Halsemon took over from Nefertimon as she flew up to Edenamon’s side.
“We can’t keep it up for much longer! You’ve got to hold on!”
“That’s more difficult than it looks, Nefertimon! I’ve only got so much energy left!”
“Then take mine!”
Edenamon’s eye swivelled towards her through the visor of his head armour.
“What?”
“Take my energy! Use it against Terras, like you did against Viramon!”
“I can’t do that! You wont be able to defend yourself!”
“There isn’t any other way, Edenamon!”
He swore virulently,
“That does help, Edenamon.” She said Primly. “IF you don’t take the energy, then I’ll just give it to you!”
“Alright, Dammit!”
She felt the gentle touch of his mind on hers, and then her form shrunk, and Gatomon fell to the ground. Digmon broke off his attack, and caught the exhausted cat-Digimon as she fell.
Edenamon’s eyes narrowed through his visor.
“THIS IS THE END, DRAGON!!!!”
The energy that he had taken from Nefertimon flooded out through his hand, pulsing down the already huge beam. The huge globe of energy that had formed where the two beams connected absorbed the blast…
And then flew down the beam back into Terras. A titanic explosion filled the sky, flattening all of the armour Digimon against the mountainside. Edenamon hung in the sky, his white-armoured form outlined against the blast.
And then it was over. The huge Digimon lowered himself gently out of the sky, and then faded down into the familiar shape of Veemon. He walked slowly over to where digmon was cradling Gatomon, and put his clawed hand gently on the side of the cat-Digimon’s face. She opened her green eyes, and stared up at him.
“Thankyou, Gatomon.” He said quietly.
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“Put up your sword.” Taythe said.
“Why?”
“We have a duel to finish?”
“Why do we have to fight, Taythe?”
“Because that’s all I know how to do!” she cried in anguish.
He nodded slightly.
“Then so be it. If you think you can kill me, I invite you to try.”
She ran at him then, her sword swinging around in a brutal cut.
His head barely moved, yet the cut seemed to pass through him. She knew that it was impossible… nothing could be that fast!
He stared at her calmly, challenging her to try again.
She didn’t give him any warning this time, but instead smoothly lunged forward, aiming to tear into his throat with her blade. His head twitched to the side, and her lunge carried on past him. He reached up, and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.
“Taythe…” he said. “There is no further need for you to fight. You have two choices – you can carry on attacking me, or we can stop this futile fight, and live out our lives as human beings.”
She spat in his face, and withdrew her sword. Backing off, she snarled at him.
“Why do you insult me with these offers? Are you such a coward that you need to try and stop the fight in order to win?”
he smiled gently.
“Taythe, I am no coward. Nor am I trying to insult you. I just don’t feel the need to have any more killing, when peace is within our grasp.”
“Peace?”
She said it softly, and in that single instant, Davis knew he had won. He could see it in her eyes, the final crash as the shields she had drawn around her soul fell away. she felt it too.
“NO!!”
with that final scream, she ran at him, her sword drawn back. at the last possible instant, she lunged forward, aiming for his heart.
The black longsword never found its mark. As her momentum carried her forward, Davis stepped aside. The straight blade ran straight into the wall of the volcano, and stuck there. Desperately, she tried to pull the blade out. Davis spun, raised his Katana, and brought it down in a massive cut.
Taythe closed her eyes as the golden blade came down.
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Kari looked up, as time seemed to Flash, the world slowing down until she could hear the giant ‘tick’ as the universe moved from one second to the next. She could feel something.
“Davis… no!”
and the world froze
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Out on the bluff, the Helicopter seemed to hang in the air as the flash moved past them, and Jun swore under her breath, and gripped Tai’s hand tightly. Her hand locked in that position
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The sword was still in the air as the two figures watched the completely still forms of Daisuke Motomiya and Taythe Motomiya in the no-time between the moment in which one second passed through to the next.
“He has not killed her.” one of the figures asserted. “It is not a victory.”
“Death is an absolute, and there are no absolutes in this contest. He has, however, defeated her. My champion claims victory. It is over.”
The first figure snarled.
“No! It is not over!”
And he vanished. The second figure sighed.
“He’s always so SULKY when I win.”
And then he too vanished.
The moment passed.
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Taythe felt a huge shot run up her arms, and opened her eyes. To her great surprise, and for some reason, minor disappointment, she was still alive. She looked down at her hands.
Davis sheathed the Katana as Taythe dropped the hilt of the longsword. The blade, however, remained lodged in the wall, severed neatly at its base by the huge strike.
“Why…?”
“Why didn’t I kill you?”
She looked at him, with a kind of appeal in her eyes.
“I didn’t see the need to, Taythe. You may have hurt me, but that’s a part of life. I’ve been hurt before.” He thought for a second. “I’ve never had a scar running across my chest, but I’ve been hurt before. You’ve never experienced that feeling.”
He turned away, and looked up at the rim of the bowl of the volcano. Taythe stared down at the hilt in her hands, and let it drop to the ground. When it hit, it shattered like glass, and the two dark crests fell into the dust. Davis knelt, and scooped them up, placing them in his pocket.
“You see, Taythe, I don’t need to kill you. It’s not my choice to make. Its yours.” He looked sidelong at her. “ So I’m giving you the choice. You can stay the way you are, and keep your soul cooped up like a bird in a cage…” he extended his hand. “Or you can choose life, and let it, and yourself, fly free. Your choice.”
She hesitated. He could see the silent battle waging within her, as it had done within him. He could have killed her with that strike, and removed one of the greatest threats to the digital world he had ever encountered.
But that would have made him worse than Derron. He had realised that he had not come here to destroy Taythe, or even to really defeat her. He had come here to save her.
The battle within Taythe’s heart reached its conclusion, and slowly, quietly, she reached her hand up, and placed it in his.
“I choose life.”
She fell to her knees, her forehead knotted in pain. Even as he watched, something seemed to leap out of her, something black and evil. It span away into the air above the digital world.
“Are you okay, Taythe?” he asked.
“I’m… fine. But my name… it isn’t right. Its not real.”
She looked up into his earnest, smiling face, and remembered another smile, the smile on the face of her mother, the scent of blossoms in the summer breeze, and a name that had been whispered to her, even as she giggled in innocence.
“My name… isn’t Taythe. I’m… Kayoko.”
“Kayoko Motomiya. Sounds fine to me.”
She gave him a look at the surname.
“Hey, you’re my little sister now, you get that? And brother and sister usually have the same name.” He stood, and pulled her up. “So come on, little sister. Lets get outta here.”
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