Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Chosen Warriors ❯ Chapter XIII: Destiny's Embrace ( Chapter 13 )

Our attempts to summon Qinglongmon ended in failure. The Digital Hunters ambushed us, destroying the only place in the Digital World to summon the beast-god. In order to continue our mission, we had to find the four Shinzahos, which would allow us to bypass the ritual and continue with the summoning. We won the Qinglongmon Shinzahos, a blue earring, and then we won the Zhuqioamon Shinzaho, a ring…but then I lost them both, not to mention Takeru.

And now we’ve arrived in the Northern Quadrant, where we’ll find the Temple of Xuwanamon, where the last Shinzaho is located. If we can’t win this one, we might as well give up, Maria would have all four Shinzahos, and be able to summon Baihumon.

I can’t lose, I just can’t. “””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;””””””””” T he Chosen Warriors Chapter XIII: Destiny’s Embrace “””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;””””””””  

Lord Sentry grinned. “So?”

“Ahab is dead!” the younger blond man shouted, “Doesn’t that matter to you!”

“Of course,” he said, “But Ahab knew the risks when he agreed to that mission. Takeru Takashi was a dangerous foe, but when Operation: Sleeper is activated, they will all pay.”

The other man gasped. “Sleeper is ready?”

“That’s right, my younger brother, Sleeper is ready.”

“When…?”

“Legends say that when the moon was full, an ordinary man could transform into a fearsome wolf creature, that would terrorize the local towns and villages. Tonight is a full moon, and once it reaches its zenith, the Sleepers will awaken, transformed into their new selves, and the world will scream in terror!” “”””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;””””””””

Sora cheered and began to jump up and down, waving her hands. “Anna! Anna!” She ran away from the group and darted down the snow covered hill and into the village of snow digimon. The others followed and found her hugging a girl with short blond hair. “I’m so glad you’re alive!”

“Me too,” Anna smiled. She looked over the red-head’s shoulder. “Is this your friends?” she asked in broken Japanese.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Where are Miyako?”

Her smile faded. “Um, she didn’t…ah…make it.”

Anna frowned as well. “Yes. Lola was killed too.”

“What about Yuri?” Sora asked with a smile.

“He is fine, fine.”

“Yuri?” Yamato whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Daisuke said, “But we don’t really have time. Where’s the Temple of Xuwanamon?”

“There was another group that came before us,” Taichi said,” the New York Team. Are they here?”

She nodded. “Yes.. I believe that Yuri showed them to the Temple.”

“What?” he shouted, “We’ve got to get there now!”

“Please forgive them,” Hikari bowed, “But we really are in a hurry.”

Anna nodded. “Yes, come.”

As the Qinglongmon Warriors followed her, Yamato whispered to Sora. “Yuri?”

Anna quickly lead them over snow covered mountains. “How long until we reach the temple?” Ken asked.

“A few minutes,” she said, “Not much longer.”

“Do you know how long ago Xuwanamon was summond?”

“No, I do not, but the temple says it was Genbu.”

“Another Japanese name,” he said, “I wonder why.”

Noriko shivered. “It’s getting ever colder.”

“Keep your hands beneath your arm pits,” Taichi said, “That should keep them warm.”

Hikari smiled. “What?” Taichi asked.

“Nothing,” she said, “I just think it’s cute the way you look out for her.”

He blushed and turned away. “We’re almost there, right?”

Anna nodded. “Yes, it will not…” She suddenly gasped and shouted in Russian. The only word that could definitely make out was, “Yuri.”

They followed her and saw that she was kneeling beside a blond man, who was lying in the snow. “Yuri!” Sora shouted, “Is he okay?”

Yuri was able to stand, and Taichi helped him to his feet. Anna and Yuri spoke to each other in a flurry of Russian. Finally, Anna responded to them in the best Japanese she could.

“He said that he led the New York team to the temple, but they attacked him from behind. How could Michael let his team do that?”

Taichi clenched his fist. “Where’s the temple?”

She pointed to the top of a snow covered mountain, where a large stone temple could be seen in the blizzard. Taichi nodded. “All right. Let’s get inside before we freeze to death.” “”””””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;”””””””””

Maria had to blink a few times as she entered the complex of the Temple of Xuwanamon. Before her stretched a long tunnel, surrounded on all sides by ice. She shivered. “I don’t like this place.”

Mimi stepped up behind her and placed another coat around her small frame. “Try this, but if you’re still cold, you can wait outside.”

She shook her head. “No…I…I need to do this.”

Sam placed a pair of binoculars over his eyes and focused on the base of the mountain. “It’s the Qinglongmon Warriors. They’re here!”

Michael nodded. “All right, let’s hurry and get the Shinzaho. Close the door and let’s go.”

Tatem nodded and she and Sam slid the giant doors closed. They quickly ran after the others, but the braided-haired girl continued to stare at the door until it vanished around the corner. “””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;”””

When the Qinglongmon Warriors reached the closed door, the blizzard had quickly picked up. Ken and Yamato tried to open the door, but were shocked when it would not budge.

“What’s wrong!” Taichi shouted over the wind.

“The door’s stuck or something!” Yamato shouted back.

Hikari shivered, rubbing her arms. Daisuke glanced over his shoulder at the fierce wind and snow blowing in every direction. “We’ve got to hurry, or we’ll freeze to death!” “”””””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””

Back inside, the Baihumon Warriors had arrived at a large stone door at the end of the hall. There was a carving of a large turtle in the rock, with seven glowing stars around it. “I guess this is the place,” Wallace said.

“Should we knock?” Maria asked.

Michael and Mimi pounded on the door. There was silence for moments before the rock door began to slide apart, splitting in the middle. They peered inside to see a large cavern, this one covered by ice. They slowly stepped inside.

“Stop and identify yourself!”

The warriors leapt to Maria’s side and started spinning their heads around the room. “Who’s there?” Mimi shouted.

“We are the last Warriors of Genbu, the Guardians of the divine Shinzaho. Now, identify yourselves.”

Maria cleared her throat and stepped forward. “I am Maria, Priestess of Baihumon, and these are my Seven Warriors.”

“Baihumon? You mean Byakko?”

“That’s right,” Wallace said, “We’re here for the Shinzaho.”

“Then you must face us before you can claim it.”

The cold mist in the cavern was suddenly pulled towards the far end of the room, forming into two human figures, one with an eye patch, and the other carrying arrows on his back.

The one with the eye patch spoke first. “My name is Hikitsu.”

The one with the arrows nodded slightly. “And I am Tomite. If you want the Shinzaho, you’ll have to defeat us first.”

Michael nodded. “Fine. Warriors, get ready to…” He glanced over his shoulder to stare down the tunnel behind them. He glanced at the two warriors in the rear “Tatum, Wallace, go and keep the Qinglongmon Warriors busy.”

“Are you sure?” Wallace asked.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

They nodded and ran out of the cold cavern. The two ice warriors stared at the Baihumon Warriors. “Are you ready?”

“Not quite,” Michael smiled. He nodded at his remaining warriors, who quickly changed into their armors, then evolved to their highest levels: Michael as SSJ Vegetta, Mimi as Sonya Blade, Sam into Escaflowne, and Steve into Ranma.

The two Genbu Warriors raised their eyebrows in surprise. “Impressive, but power’s only as good as the one who can use it!”

Michael grinned. “Why don’t you wait to find out? Maria, stay in the corner, the rest of you, let’s go!” “””””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ”

It was a full twenty minuets before the Qinglongmon Warriors were able to break the outer door down and enter the temple. They were all freezing, but still very much alive.

Taichi shook the snow off of his shoulders “All right, now where do we go?”

Yuri mentioned down the hall. “That way, come.”

Daisuke hugged Hikari tightly to help warm her, while they ran after Yuri. They eventually entered a large ballroom-type room with a large pillar in the center. There were three other halls besides the one they had just come from, one on each wall. “All right,” Yamato said, stepping forward, “Where now?”

“Wallace!” Daisuke shouted.

The Baihumon Warrior was standing at the entrance to the hall directly across from them. He had already evolved to perfect form of Dark Knight Cecil. He pointed his black sword at the pillar in the center of the room. He flinched, and a wave of dark energy flowed from his blade, striking the pillar. The giant marble column cracked near the base and fell forward. “Incoming!” Taichi shouted, leaping to the left along with Noriko, Sora, Anna and Yuri, while the other Qinglongmon Warriors were thrown to the right. The pillar smashed down between them, ripping out most of the ceiling, which surrounded the two groups of fighters.

Taichi shouted as he slammed his fist into the fallen pillar, which cut him off from the others. “Hikari! Yamato! Daisuke!”

Sora placed her hands near her face. “Oh, I hope they’re okay.”

“I’m sure they are,” Taichi said, “But we’ve got to keep moving.” He glanced at Noriko, Anna and Yuri. “Are you guys okay?”

“I’m okay, Taichi-san,” Noriko said.

Anna and Yuri nodded. “Yes, we are fine.”

Taichi glanced at the opposite wall. While the pillar and debris did completely separate the right side of the room, it appeared they could exit through the hallway on the opposite wall. “Come on, let’s go.”

They ran into the hall through the entrance and instantly heard a painful, yet familiar song. The melody flowed through their ears, causing the world around them to start to spin. They all fell to their knees, except for Noriko, who, while struggling to stand, continued to march forward.

“Noriko!” Sora shouted.

“That…song…she’s here. I stopped her before, I need to do it again!” She screamed the last word, which allowed her to fight past the pain and quickly evolve to her Adult form of Malon from Legend of Zelda. She took a deep breath and began to sing as loud as she could. Soon, her song became louder then the other. She could sense the sound waves were growing behind her. She spun around and saw Tatem, evolved to her perfect form of Adult Zelda, standing in the room they had just come from. She did not speak, only sing even louder. Sound waves began to pour from her mouth, forming into a beam of almost light. Noriko’s own sound waves changed into a beam as well, and the two smashed into each other. The Qinglongmon Warrior could feel herself began to falter, but she continued to sing as loud as she should. Soon, she felt her body start to twitch and a new power flowed from within her. Her clothes changed and shifted. She had evolved into her perfect form of Adult Malon.

She grinned slightly and continued to sing as loud as she could.

On the other side of the pillar, more debris and bricks had fallen. Yamato had to push with all of his might to get the large piece of the ceiling off of his back, freeing him and the other members of the small group. “Is everyone…everyone okay?”

Ken chuckled, struggling to get to his feet, but could not manage it. “I’m getting really tired of always getting injured.”

Daisuke had been shielding Hikari, so the back of his shirt was complete ripped apart, but despite that, he was none the worse for wear. He glanced at the others, then at the walls. The hall at the opposite end was cut off, but the hall on the perpendicular wall was accessible. “All right, we’d better go that way.”

Yamato limped over and supported Ken as they began to walk towards the opening in the wall. However, they did not get far, as Wallace jumped down from nowhere and blocked their path.

“I can’t let you pass,” he said, “And for what you did to Lou, I am going to kill you all!”

“We didn’t do anything!” Hikari protested, but Daisuke leapt in front of her. He gave her a gentle push with the back of his hand, which caused her to fall into Ken’s arms. Yamato jumped to stand by Daisuke’s side.

“Ready?” he asked.

Daisuke nodded. “Ready.”

The two warriors quickly transformed into their armor, then evolved to their perfect forms of Glenn from Chrono Cross and Ryo from Samurai Troopers. Wallace held out his sword and waited patiently as the two Qinglongmon Warriors charged forward.

Yamato poured his fire attack on Wallace, but he blocked it with the small shield attached to his wrist. Daisuke shot from the right, using his sword to slice the chest plate off. Yamato attacked with his fire attack again, blasting him from behind. Wallace, however, spun around and swung his sword, sending a wave of blackness that struck Yamato and threw him to the ground.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” he laughed.

Had be been paying attention, he would have noticed that Daisuke was charging towards him from behind, his sword ready to strike. He swung his sword into Wallace’s back, which was protected by his armor. However, the force of Daisuke’s attack was still enough to send the Baihumon Warrior crashing into the fallen pillar.

“Damn you!” he screamed. He jutted his sword at them and screamed, “Dark Wave!” Daisuke and Yamato braced themselves as Wallace’s attack sent them flying backwards into the wall. “””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;””””

Inside of the cold cavern, the Bahumon Warriors were holding their own against the two Warriors of Genbu. Mimi fired a small ball of light at the warrior with the hat. He held out his palm and fired a blast of cold air. Mimi’s attack was frozen solid, but it gave Michael enough time to leap around behind him.

Michael fired a beam of purple light from his palms. “Galic Gun Fire!”

The hat warrior stood perfectly still as Michael’s attack flew straight through him. Mimi had to actually jump out of the way before his attack destroyed a large portion of the floor. Both Baihumon Warrior could only gasp in horror.

“Surprised?” the Genbu Warrior laughed, “Well, let me fill you in, I’m dead.”

“What?” Mimi shouted.

“That’s right. Both Hikitsu and I have long since given up our lives to protect the Shinzaho. If you want your priestess to summon Byakko, then you’ll need to prove your worth to us.”

Meanwhile, Sam and Steve were struggling against the Genbu Warrior. While Sam was inside of the Escaflowne armor, Hikitsu seemed to have the ability to created giant creatures out of ice. The Genbu Warrior held his palms together and forced most of the ices in the cavern to merge together, taking the form of a massive suit of armor, much like his own. To make matters worse, it was like fighting a mirror reflection; every sword attack was perfectly blocked.

Steve tried to help by attacking the Genbu Warrior from behind. “Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken.” He began firing his fists as fast as he could, trying to smack the warrior from behind, but to his horror, his fists simply passed right through him.

“You cannot defeat us in that manner,” he said, “We are no longer of the physical world.”

“Then how are we supposed to beat you?” Steve shouted.

The Genbu Warrior just smirked and fired another blast of ice at him. He leapt out of the way with seconds to spare; the needle pierced through his pant leg. He fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

“Steve!” Maria shouted. She wanted to run over to him, but the screams of Mimi caught her attention. The pink-haired girl was on her knees, clutching her wrist. It appeared to be sprained, or at the least, twisted. The Priestess of Baihumon stared at her warriors, her friends, all fighting for her. They would soon be killed, she had to do something. She thought of Hikari, how she was able to use an internal power to save her friends before. Could she do the same? She needed to try.

She tried to force energy from inside of her, but nothing happened. She heard Sam scream out; his Escaflowne armor had been ripped apart by one of Hikitsu’s ice monsters. Michael was the only one still standing, and if four warriors could not handle two, what could one possible do? He was going to die, they were all going to die unless she stopped this. She could feel her pain, her rage build up inside of her, threatening to explode…which it did.

She screamed; white light filling the ice cavern. Her warriors and the Genbu Warriors instantly stopped, staring at the young Priestess of Baihumon. She continued to scream, the white light growing in intensity, until it finally subsided. The two Genbu Warriors stared at her, then nodded at each other.

“You have passed the test,” Tomite said, “You have proven your devotion to your warriors.”

“Wait,” Maria said, mentioning to her warriors, “It…wasn’t about them?”

Hikitsu shook his head. “No. The tests are meant for the Priestess, she must prove herself worthy of possessing the Shinzahos, which you have.”

Maria slowly walked over to where Sam was lying on the ground. She gently examined his wounds before moving onto Steve.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, struggling to his feet.

Maria smiled and mentioned to Michael, who was carrying Mimi in his arms. “How about you?”

“Nothing a good bath won’t cure,” Mimi smiled, “Plus, I really need to wash my hair, I must smell like a meat house.”

Maria smiled, then turned her attention to the two Genbu Warriors. “Okay. Where’s the Shinzaho?”

Tomite removed a strange necklace from beneath his shirt. “Here, this is the Shinzaho of Genbu.”

Maria stepped forward to take it, but her pupils suddenly grew to large size and she collapsed to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Michael gasped.

“Tatem,” she said, “Something’s happened to Tatem!” “”””””””̶ 1;”””””””””” 221;””””””””””& #8221;””””””””

Noriko kept screaming her song out as loud as she could, pouring her waves into a strong beam that continued to smash against Tatem’s musical beam. Taichi and Sora were still on the ground, clutching their heads; Tatem’s song was still causing them too much pain to help.

Neither Baihumon Warrior nor Qinglongmon Warrior could speak, but they would have had nothing to say, it was not time for insults, not time for witty banter; it was time to fight to the end.

Unbeknownst to them, however, the battle between Wallace, Ken and Daisuke were causing fierce tremors to shake through the entire temple complex. One of these tremors shook the hall where Noriko and Tatem were fighting, sending a large section of the floor that Tatem was standing on to rise slightly. The Baihumon Warrior’s beam of sound waves was lifted as well, which caused her beam to shoot over Noriko’s, and Noriko’s beam to shoot beneath hers.

Noriko’s sound beam rammed into Tatem’s chest, causing her to skid along the brick floor until she smashed into a fallen pillar. A sick snapping sound was heard as her neck hit the brick pillar, but the Qinglongmon Warriors did not hear it as Noriko, who had been hit with Tatem’s own sound waves, was thrown backwards. A sharp piece of debris was jutting upwards, and the Qinglongmon Warrior fell directly onto it, the debris shooting through her back and out her chest.

“Noriko!” Sora screamed.

“Noriko…” Taichi gasped, unable to even speak. The world seemed to be spinning so quickly, “Noriko…no…”

“Taichi!” Sora shouted, “We’ve got to stop the bleeding!”

He nodded helped the red-head lift the fallen Qinglongmon Warrior from her stake and placed her on the ground. Taichi ripped off part of his shirt and quickly wrapped it around her chest, but her wound was far too large.

She smiled weakly. “T…Taichi-san…”

“What?” he asked, “What?”

“I…I’m sorry I wasn’t more help. I was weak, and just got in the way.”

“What are you talking about?” Sora shouted.

“Yeah,” Taichi said, “You were great! I mean, if it wasn’t for you, we’d have never even gotten out of the Sleeping Valley!”

She smiled. “Please…you should go. I’m sure Hikari needs you…”

“They’ll be fine,” Taichi said.

Sora shot him a strange glance, she never thought Taichi would say something like that. She did not challenge him, however, only glanced at Noriko. “Yeah, I think we’ll stay…just a little while longer.”

Noriko smiled, tears forming in her eyes. “I just wish…I could have been there…when she summoned Qinglongmon…please…tell Hikari…I’m sorry…” She smiled, “And…tell her…Takeru….won’t be alone…”

She suddenly quaked in pain, before her eyes slowly closed; her body lying perfectly still. Sora burst out in tears while Taichi screamed in rage, slamming his fists into the brick walls. “Noriko!” “””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””” ””””””””””̶ 1;””””””””

“Watch out!” Hikari shouted.

Daisuke leapt into the air to avoid Wallace’s sword. Yamato tried to attack from behind, but he suddenly shouted out in pain and fell to the ground. The others stared in shock when they saw Michael standing in the entrance to the hallway. He shot another energy blast from his hand that struck Daisuke, knocking him into Hikari.

“Michael?” Wallace gasped.

“We’ve got the Shinzaho,” he said, “We’re going to summon Baihumon on the roof.”

“What about Tatem?” he asked, running towards him.

Michael only shook his head. “Maria said she’s….we don’t have time now, come on.”

The two Baihumon Warriors exited. “They’re going to summon Baihumon?” Daisuke gasped.

“We’ve got to stop them!” Hikari shouted, jumping to her feet, “Come on!”

They ran through the twisting and turning halls until they reached a set of large double doors. They smashed through them and had to stop from falling off the balcony that had arrived on. Below them were the remaining Baihumon Warriors, surrounding Maria in a circle. The four Shinzahos were lying in a diamond shape directly around her.

“Everyone,” Steve shouted, “You’ve got to focus your energy, quickly!”

Maria began to chant. “Lords of the Stars, Gods of the Digital World, I call to you. Descend from the heavens and grant me my wishes. Appear to me as I call your name, Baihumon!”

The four Shinzahos began to glow brightly, shooting beams of white, red, blue and black into the young girl. The remaining Baihumon Warriors began to glow a bright white and their energy was soon merged with their Priestess. Maria glanced towards the ceiling and the combined energy exploded into the ceiling, filling the room with light.

“No!” Hikari gasped, “This can’t be! We…we lost?”

Ken stared down at his hands. “No! I’m going to stop this!” He quickly transformed into his armor, then evolved into Yugi. He normally could only stop there, but something was augmenting his own strength, he felt the power he needed. He continued to evolve, changing into a perfect image of Yami Yugi.

“Ken?” Daisuke asked.

His fellow Qinglongmon Warrior smiled. “I’ve finally evolved, and now I can use these!” He reached into the card pack on his waist, pulling out three special cards.

“God Cards?” Yamato asked.

Ken pulled out a special card and threw it down on his arm-based Duel Disk. “I now summon Sky Dragon of Osiris!” The card exploded in red light as the massive dragon exploded into room. It roared with power before firing a large electrical ball at the glowing white light. To their horror, the Sky Dragon’s attack dissipated into nothingness.

“No…” Hikari said, shaking her head, “I’ve failed…I’ve failed!” “”””””””& #8221;”””””””””” ;””””””””””R 21;””””””””””&# 8221;”””””””””

Maria was about to summon Baihumon, and I could only stare in horror. I tried, I really did, but what hope was there now? She fulfilled her obligations, and I only let everyone down.

And Noriko…she was gone, another friend dead, all because of me! I couldn’t do this anymore, but I couldn’t give up, it would have meant that Takeru and Noriko…I couldn’t give up, I had to carry on, I had to.