Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen Warriors ❯ Chapter X: Flash of Battle ( Chapter 10 )

After our failure…my failure with summoning Qinglongmon, the sacred alter was destroyed. Because of that, we now had to find four sacred objects called Shinzahos. Then, with all four, I could call Qinglongmon and finally ask him my wishes.

Maybe if I knew what was going to happen to us, to my friends, I might have completely abandoned my quest. The price was not worth what was lost. “”””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””” T he Chosen Warriors Chapter X: Flash of Battle “”””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;”””””””””

Hikari took a deep breath and smiled. “So, back here again.”

The other Qinglongmon Warriors joined her as she looked up at the Temple of Qinglongmon. “Yeah,” Yamato said, “And somewhere inside is this Shinzaho we’re looking for?”

Ken nodded. “Yes, there should be deeper levels then what we saw last time.”

“I guess we’d better get started,” Taichi said.

The Qinglongmon Warriors walked past the alter they received their armors from and journeyed through a large opening and into a long hall. They continued to walk in silence, until Takeru spoke up.

“Is it just me, or are we moving downwards?”

Sora looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, I think the hall is sloping down.”

The walls suddenly became covered with strange pictures carved into the cement material, pictures of seven other warriors, each one with strange powers, which they displayed in the defending of their priestess.

Hikari stared at the carvings. “Are these…?”

“They’re us, right?” Daisuke said, “I mean, the other Qinglongmon Warriors? The first ones?”

“I would say that’s a fair assumption,” Ken said. He lightly ran his hand over one of the warriors, a tall man with what looked like face paint.

Taichi was staring at an image of a massive man, dressed in armor, with a cape flowing behind him. His face was almost completely expressionless, with arrogant and hateful eyes. “I don’t think I really like this guy. Something…evil about him.”

“Take a look at this one,” Yamato called, mentioning to a creature that resembled a werewolf. “Something’s…odd about these people.”

Sora glanced at an image of a woman, with lightning crackling around her. “I’m with you, I don’t like these people.”

Noriko was staring at an image of a young man playing a flute. “There’s something familiar about this one.”

Hikari walked down the wall to an image of a younger girl standing in the center of the seven warriors. She was dressed in what appeared to be ceremonial robes. “I guess that’s the Priestess right?”

“I would assume so,” Ken said.

Hikari stared at the image for a long while. “I wonder what she wished for? Were they good ones? Did she use them to help the world, or were they selfish? Did she think of others, or only of herself?” She sighed deeply. “I just wish I could ask her.”

Daisuke stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulder. “Let’s try to find the Shinzaho. Maybe we’ll learn more there.”

They continued down the hallway. The walls slowly grew less and less organized and constructed, becoming instead cracked and crumbling, obviously a place that was many, many years old. They were just beginning to wonder how light was able to illuminate this dark tunnel, when the world suddenly became pitch black.

“Well this is just perfect,” Taichi sighed, “What the hell just happened?”

“We did.”

“Who said that?” Daisuke demanded, “Show yourself!”

The hall suddenly exploded in bright blue light. Two figures appeared at the very end of the hall, before a dead-end. Both looked exactly the same, save for one was dressed in orange, and the other in blue. The blue one carried a flute, while the other had strange ball weapons with blades attached to the underside.

“You will come no further,” the weapon-carrier said.

“State your name and your business,” the flute-carrier ordered.

Hikari stepped forward. “I am the Priestess of Qinglongmon. These are my seven warriors. We’ve come here searching for the Shinzaho.”

“Qing Long…?” the weapon-carrier asked, eyeing the other, “You mean, Seiryuu?”

Hikari hesitated. “I..ah…”

“Yes,” Ken stepped forward, “We are the warriors of Qinglongmon, also called Seiryuu.”

The flute-carrier stared at them. “If you truly are warriors of Seiryuu, then defeat us using the energy of the dragon god!”

“What?” Taichi gasped.

The flute-player made a motion with his hand. “I am Amiboshi.”

“And I am Suboshi,” the other said, “Defend yourself! We have guarded the Shinzaho of Seiryuu for centuries! We will not give up the Shinzaho so easily!”

“Evolve!” Taichi ordered, “Now!”

They quickly changed into their armors, before their armors cracked and changed into their next forms: Taichi into Goku, Daisuke into Serge from Chrono Cross, Yamato into Seiji from Samurai Troopers, Sora into Sailor Venus, Takeru into Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, Ken into Yugi, and Noriko into Malon from The Legend of Zelda.

Both Amiboshi and Suboshi were surprised, but they did not back down. “Did you see that light?” Suboshi asked.

“It is the light of Seiryuu,” Amiboshi said, “But, let us see if they can truly use it.” He placed the flute near his mouth and began to play. The Qinglongmon Warriors all fell to their knees as the haunting music reverberated through their ears.

“I…can’t …move!” Daisuke shouted.

“It hurts! My body’s on fire!” Takeru shouted,

Taichi struggled to raise his head. “N…Noriko…can’t…you…help us?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” she responded, “…c…can’t sing….”

Sora was moaning in extreme pain, clutching her hair in an attempt to rid her mind of the song. “Ahh, I can’t…”

“Just…hold on…” Yamato said, “Please…”

Ken stared at his friends. “Got...to…fight…it…” He reached for his pocket and removed his deck of cards. Despite the extreme pain, he grabbed the top card and threw it as hard as he could. It flew through the air and struck the flute in Amiboshi’s hand. He stopped playing only for a moment, but it was long enough for Taichi to fire a Kamehamaeha, knocking him back. He placed his flute back over his mouth and started playing again. This time, however, the Qinglongmon Warriors remained standing.

“How can this be?” he shouted.

“That’s easy,” Daisuke grinned, mentioning over his shoulder to Noriko.

“You?”

The short-haired girl nodded. “My song can block yours,” she said.

“My turn!” Suboshi shouted. His hovering blades suddenly came to life, dancing and twirling around the small hall. They bounced and clanked off the stones, tearing through the air.

“They’re all over the place!” Takeru shouted, dropping to the ground as one of the blades shot over his head.

“Hikari’s in the center, now!” Taichi ordered. Daisuke grabbed the brown-haired girl and yanked her into a protective circle, the circumference made up of the other seven warriors. Each one stood completely at attention, staring at the deadly blades. One came for Daisuke, but he blocked it with his sword. Another one came for Sora, but her energy attack blasted it into nothing. One came for Takeru, and he prepped his sword. However, the blade was falling fast, and it hit the floor, ricocheting at and angle beneath his sword, ripping the side of his abdomen.

“Takeru!” Yamato shouted.

“Oh no,” Sora gasped.

“Are you all right?” Daisuke asked, “Come on, buddy, Takeru?”

Hikari stared at her blond friend, who was losing blood fast. Ken was ripping Takeru’s shirt off as Noriko attempted to dress the wound. All she could do was stare at the red stain growing beneath him. Something within her began to grow.

“Takeru!” she screamed, her eyes exploding with blue light. Amiboshi and Suboshi stared in awe.

“That is the energy of Seiryuu,” Amiboshi said.

Suboshi was about to respond, but could not as Taichi’s energy slammed him into the rear wall. He slowly rose to his feet. “There is no longer any reason for us to fight. You have passed the test.”

“You almost killed Takeru!” Yamato shouted, “And it was all a test?”

Amiboshi nodded. “We could not give up the Shinzaho without being certain that you were truly a Priestess of Seiryuu.”

“There had to be a better way then this!” Yamato shouted, mentioning to where Takeru was lying on the ground. Noriko had managed to use his shirt as bandages. The bleeding was starting to slow down, luckily.

Hikari stepped forward and stared at the two warriors. “Who cares about the Shinzaho now! Takeru’s hurt!”

“No, it’s okay,” Takeru said, slowly rising to his feet. He was holding his injured side. “We need that Shinzaho.”

“But…”

“Hikari…”

She shook her head. “All right, fine.” She turned to the two Seiryuu warriors. “Where is it?”

Suboshi mentioned to the wall he had been flung into, which mysteriously vanished. On the other side was a small pedestal, which contained a small blue orb. Hikari walked over and lifted it. “An earring?”

“Yes,” Amiboshi said, “The Shinzaho is created when the energy of the god flows into an object that the Priestess is wearing at the time of the summoning.”

Hikari bowed, even though she did not want to. “Thank you.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Taichi said. He stared at the two ancient warriors until the last of his team had left the tunnel. “””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””

Mea nwhile, the Baihumon Warriors threw open the door to their own temple, limping once again into the desert.

“I don’t ever want to go through that again,” Lou said, whipping the sweat and dirt from his forehead.

“Those warriors were tough,” Tatum said, “But we needed to do it, Maria needed us.”

“Don’t say it like that,” their Priestess said, holding the strange mirror in her hands, “You make it sound like I’m ordering you around or something.”

“But you are the reason we’re all here,” Mimi smiled, “Because you need to summon Baihumon, and we’re need to fight for you and protect you.”

“Still…”

“What’s our next move?” Sam asked.

“We need the other three Shinzahos,” Steve said, “Including the Qinglongmon one.”

“They probably have it already,” Michael said, “We’d better get to the other temples, and fast.”

“I think the Southern Temple of Zhuqioamon is the closest,” Steve said, “But it’s probably where the Qinglongmon team is going.”

Michael nodded. “Gotcha. We’re gonna need to get there fast.”

Steve unrolled a scroll. “Well, according to Maria’s scroll, the temple is located in a volcanic area, and we’ll need to get over the mountains.”

Michael nodded again. “All right, might as well get started.” “””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””

The Qinglongmon Warriors had discovered the same thing and were making their own trek through the mountains. The journey to Zhuqioamon’s temple was proving to be more difficult then they originally thought. The path was filled with sharp rocks and jagged cliffs. The path grew stepper at odd places, even become completely perpendicular. It was difficult enough to climb, but the added weight of carrying the injured Takeru made it worse.

“I can walk, you know,” he said.

“Yeah, maybe you can,” Yamato said, “But you’re too injured. That wound’s gonna open up again if you don’t be careful.”

Takeru sighed. Clearly this argument had been going on since they left the Qinglongmon Temple. “I fell so useless.”

“You’ll be fine once that wound heals some more,” Sora said, “Any exertion now would just make the wound open again.”

“Don’t sweat it man,” Daisuke grinned, “I’m sure whatever happens, there’s going to be plenty of action.”

At the front of the line, Taichi placed a hand over his forehead and scanned the horizon, bustling with volcanic activity. “Great, I guess it’s just going to get hotter. Man! Ken, how much longer?”

The younger boy sighed and whipped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “Well, I think the temple should be over those mountains,” he said, “Hopefully, some of the southern Chosen Children escaped the Digital Hunters and are there to help us.”

Hikari’s eyes shot open. “Really? I mean, you think that others survived?”

“I don’t see why not,” Ken replied, “We couldn’t have been the only ones who made it.”

“I just hope that’s true,” Taichi sighed, “or else we’re facing extinction.”

“Not to mention having our friends attacking us,” Yamato muttered.

Sora sighed deeply. “They’re not our friends, not anymore. Not after what Mimi…” She clenched her fists and turned away. Yamato placed a hand on her shoulder, but she just brushed it off.

“Sorry, ‘mato,” she said, “But I just need to deal with this myself.”

“I won’t give up hope,” Hikari said, “Maria, her warriors…she’s just like me, they’re just like us. I know that we’ll be friends again, I know that…” Her words were cut off by a massive blast of energy that shot directly over her head and slammed into the rock wall, causing rocks to tumble to the ground. Only Daisuke’s timely grab of Hikari saved her. Ken and Yamato hoisted Takeru and the warriors jumped out of harm’s way.

Once they reached the top of the nearest hill, they could clearly see their attackers, standing on an adjacent ridge, their ‘so-called’ friends, the Baihumon Warriors, evolved to their highest levels.

Michael lowered his arm, his hand still smoking from his attack. “I got your attention. Now, hand over the Shinzaho you got from the Temple of Qinglongmon.”

Taichi stared at him, hate dripping from his eyes. “You bas$!#! You almost killed my sister!” he shouted, “I’m gonna rip your head off!”

He slammed his hands into the boulder before him. The others were certain he had broken every bone in his hand, but surprisingly, he pointed to the Qinglongmon Warriors. “Evolve, now!”

Any anger the others had were replaced by fear at seeing him filled with rage. He did not even wait to see if the others evolved, but Taichi transformed into his armor, then evolved to Goku, then SSJ Goku. He screamed in rage and leapt into battle.

“Oniisan!” Hikari shouted, reaching her hand out after him. She looked to the others, “Help him! Please!”

The others did not need to respond, as they had already evolved to their highest levels and jumped into battle after Taichi.

Michael was surprised at the level of anger behind Taichi. He never really intended to hurt Hikari, only get their attention, but now he was afraid that Taichi would never let them leave alive. He was overcome with rage, but he was not thinking, and that might allow them to leave in one piece.

Taichi began to brutally beat into Michael as hard as he could. The blond warrior had only a few seconds to throw up his arms before Taichi’s attack began. He struggled to protect his face, but Taichi’s rage was fueling his attack. Not to mention that Taichi was at a higher level then Michael. His only hope would be to evolve, or else he was certain Taichi would kill him.

Mimi was not faring any better. Sora was not even speaking to her. She had thrown Mimi against one of the rock walls and was mercilessly slamming her fists into the other girl. Mimi was trying to get her hands up to at least deflect one of Sora’s jabs, but so far she could not.

Despite his injury, Takeru’s massive broad sword was still able to overpower Lou’s simple daggers. He could fell his stomach wound began to open, but he continued to fight on.

While her warriors fought, Hikari stared at Maria on the other side of the battlefield. The Baihumon Priestess and the Qinglongmon Priestess locked eyed through the battle before them. Each one stared daggers at the other, wondering how the other could allow her warriors to fight like this. It soon became a staring contest, each one hoping that their battle of wills could end the battle of flesh occurring between them. However, Maria soon turned her attention away as she heard her warriors cry out. Hikari soon turned as well, seeing that her warriors had surrounded the Baihumon Warriors.

Michael and Mimi pressed tightly against one another, staring nervously at the Qinglongmon Warriors, awaiting the attack they knew was coming. Mimi glanced over at Maria, who was watching with wide eyes. “We can’t let her down,” she said, “We can’t let Maria down. We’ve got to fight back!”

“How?” Tatum snapped, “In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve got us!”

Mimi shook her head. “If we only had…more power.”

Suddenly, each one of the Baihumon Warriors began to glow in a bright white light. “They’re evolving!” Ken shouted.

“Brace yourselves!” Taichi ordered.

The light covering their opponents grew in intensity until it exploded, revealing the new Baihumon Warriors. Michael had evolved to SSJ Vegeta, Wallace into Dark Knight Cecil from Final Fantasy IV, Steve into Ranma, Mimi into Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat, Lou was now Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Sam was now covered in the mechanical suit of armor Escaflowne, and Tatum was now much older, the adult version of Zelda.

The teams stared at each other for a few moments before Michael shot forward and slammed his fist into Taichi’s face, which sent him flying backwards into the rocks of the mountain. Mimi instantly began to attack Sora, while Wallace and Daisuke traded jabs with their swords, Takeru and Lou tried to over power the other with their blades, Ken used his Black Magician card to keep Sam at bay, and Tatum used her Ocarina to scream notes at Noriko.

It was now Hikari’s turn to be concerned. While Maria’s warriors had just been renewed their energy, her warriors were weakened from the battle. If this continued, the Qinglongmon Warriors would lose. She focused on her brother. So far, Taichi was holding his own against Michael, as was Sora against Mimi, and Daisuke against Wallace. While Steve had just evolved, Yamato was fighting using a weapon, so given time, Yamato would win, but Noriko, Ken and Takeru were losing, fast. She needed to do something, but what?

She remembered that power she had at the fight against Amiboshi and Suboshi. How did she make that power work? She stared at Takeru and saw the blood stain began to grow once more. His wound opened up again! She stared at Noriko, who was clutched into a ball, trying to protect herself from the sound wave attacks of Tatum. Even her brother was starting to falter.

She could feel something well up insider of her, just light when she still possessed the Crest of Light, that strange power within her. Her body exploded with blue light, enveloping the battlefield. Each one of the Baihumon Warriors were flung from the enclosed bubble while the Qinglongmon Warriors were safe inside.

“What the…?” Steve gasped.

“It’s a protective field,” Lou said, “Like a barrier that we of the Baihumon Warriors cannot pass.”

Maria stared in awe. “Can I…can I do something like that.”

In the center of the circle, Hikari continued to pour out blue energy. Daisuke and Taichi ran to her side. “Hikari-chan!” Daisuke cried.

“Hikari, are you all right?” Taichi shouted.

“I’ve got an idea,” she said. She took a deep breath before giving a scream, which sent the blue bubble expanding in all directions. When the outer edge smashed into the Baihumon Warriors, it sent them tumbling backwards. By the time they jumped back onto their feet, the Qinglongmon Warriors were gone.

“Darn it!” Tatum shouted, “They escaped again!”

Maria stared at her small hands. “Hikari used that power…do I have something like that?”

“Don’t worry,” Michael said, “If she uses that shield thing again, we’ll find a way through it.”

Maria nodded slightly, staring at the mirror in her hands, “We’ll meet them again, in the Temple of Zhuqioamon.”

“”””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;

We had succeeded in getting the Shinzaho of Qinglongmon, but now we must head deep into the fiery regions of the Southern Hemisphere of the Digital World. Once inside the temple of Zhuqioamon, we’ll probably have to face more ancient warriors to get that Shinzaho, but will the price be too high?