Crest Armors Remix

by Mathais

Unveiled by their resolve, the Chosen Children fight in the Crest Armors, discovering their true selves within.

2. End and Beginning: Part 2

Story Title: Crest Armors Remix

Chapter Title: End and Beginning: Part 2

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Digimon Adventure/02

Warnings: None

Pairings: None

Summary: Unveiled by their resolve, the Chosen Children fight in the Crest Armors, discovering their true selves within.

Disclaimer: The characters of the Digimon franchise do not belong to me.

Note: The second part, because I never finished the first.

OoOoO

Sora's memories were hazy. What had she been doing? Where was she? Why was there...

Soft feathers beneath her fingers reminded her of where she was. Slowly and painfully, she righted herself, feeling her burned skin tug and stretch. She carefully held Piyomon in her arms, distinctly remembering how they'd dived into a Mugen Cannon to protect... Yamato!

Frantically, she looked around because she realized that, if she woke up alone and still in this twisted space, all was not well. Around her, she saw Agumon and Tailmon, but no one else. Where were Koushiro and AtlurKabuterimon, Jou and Zudomon? For a moment, a brief, terrifying moment, she thought they might be dead, gone and deleted like before.

Sora then smacked herself on the head and told herself to get a grip.

If they were dead, then she'd be dead too. And she knew that Agumon and Tailmon would already be long gone before they'd let anything get to their partners.

And so, leaving Piyomon with the other Digimon, she began to move forward to look for the others. She thought she could see flashes of light in the distance, and it caused her heart to speed up in fear. Where were the others? Were they hurt, in pain?

Suddenly, she stopped, clutching her chest.

She was scared. Scared for them, scared for everything. Scared of her own weakness, of her own fear.

She remembered the chill of the darkness, the way it invaded her body and amplified all her doubts.

But something else overrode that.

She remembered the rest of the Chosen Children. She remembered their kindness, their strength, even when they'd shattered into pieces. She remembered as they glued themselves together, finding their way back to each other through all of the pain and sadness.

They were complete again. A family by bond.

A family who loved each other.

And that realization pushed at the darkness, blowing harder and stronger with each passing moment. Because she knew it, felt it—their love encompassed her completely.

She'd learned that, hadn't she?

Their love bound them together, even as they did stupid things in spite of it and sometimes because of it. It linked them in one giant web until they were one group, one being.

And her love for them all was telling her what she needed to do.

"Armor of Love!" she called out as winds, the very same winds which connected her to her Chosen family, circled her body. Within the swirling typhoon, she felt her body grow and strengthen, giving her unimaginable power. Reddish-brown armor covered her limbs, giving her protection with maneuverability, and feathers stuck out at the joints. As two feathery wings, the same color as her armor but edged with yellow feathers, burst out of her back, Sora didn't even notice the bird mask which covered her face until she blinked. Using her newfound wings to burst forward, she felt the gloves and greaves on her hands and feet form, and she knew without looking that the heart-shaped Crest of Love adorned them. Whispering, "The Wind of Love," she slammed her leg into a Garbamon's head so hard he fell back into his trashcan, which she then kicked with all her strength to a figure she knew was Taichi. Taichi, coating his katana with fire, sliced cleanly through the Perfect Digimon and grinned at her.

"A little late to the party, aren't you?" he quipped as he ducked beneath a Banana Slip.

"Not too late, if that's what you mean," she responded as she socked a Blossomon in the face. Shouting, "Hurricane Straight!" she drove her wind-coated fist so hard that it came out the other side, deleting Blossomon. Dodging an Ultimate Stream, she put herself at Taichi's back. "There's still a bunch of Perfects and... Get down!"

Sora shoved Taichi away as lightning soared over their heads.

"Crap, sorry!" Koushiro called out.

Looking at her fellow Chosen, even as she elbowed a LadyDevimon in the gut, she turned worriedly back to Taichi. "How bad is it?"

Blocking a strike from Anomalocarimon, Taichi's voice was subdued. "Koushiro and Takeru are only still moving because of Hikari's power. Jou's fine though."

"We can do this though," Sora said firmly as she punched LadyDevimon again, dodging around her the Darkness Spear of her left hand to kick her once in the side, another to the face, and one last one to blow her back.

She knew they'd be fine, because they were together.

OoOoO

Mimi, contrary to what was expected of her, actually liked getting up in the morning. She loved to see the sunrise, to feel the rays of dawn brush across her face and tease her to the waking world.

Without the bright sun, she was finding it extraordinarily hard to wake. She didn't want to move, just wanted to lay there with Palmon clutched in her grasp.

...Palmon?

With a start, she was on her feet and looking around. She distinctly remembered being blown back by two Mugen Cannons, and...

Did they win?

But if they won... Why was she still alone?

Looking around, she thought she saw something... and then shrieked as cherries flew at her.

"Mimi!" An armored form rained lightning, prematurely detonating the Jyureimon's Cherry Bomb. Coming to a halt in front of her, Koushiro's exhausted voice spoke. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." she said without realizing it. Reaching out to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder both to steady him and marvel at the flickering pink glow, not even wincing at the heat. "How about you? Are you...?"

"Fighting Apocalymon's remnants," he gasped out. "Look, I have to get back in there... Find Yamato and Gabumon and stay out of sight, all right?" With those parting words, he activated his rocket pack and burst off, leading Mimi with her hand outstretched.

"But..."

She let her hand fall silently as a streak of lightning grew dimmer and began to zigzag through the space. Mimi knew what she would have done, once upon a time. She'd have done exactly that, fled the battle, run to Yamato, and hide until things were over.

But... She was sick and tired of running. She'd made the choice to fight, had gathered the allies to do so, and had not backed down.

She cared too much for her friends to do so. She cared too much for the people who were so close to her that they were her brothers and sisters in spirit. She cared so much that it overrode her fear.

"I'm scared," Mimi told herself. "I'm scared because Palmon's not awake. I'm scared Koushiro's so tired. I'm scared because I don't want to get hurt. I'm scared because I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Her voice grew louder with each sentence until it culminated in a shout. "But I don't care about being scared anymore! I just want my friends to be all right!"

And that was it, Mimi realized. That was it—to be true to herself, to be true to all; that was Purity. To see everything, even the flaws in herself, with clarity—and to act as such, that was Purity. To not run and hide from the truth, but to hold it up tall and proud, to face it and begin to change it if it wasn't the truth she wanted it to be.

"Armor of Purity," she whispered, drawing on the energy within her and letting it bloom. Stripping away all which bound her, she felt the lily-themed armor cross her body, protecting her even as she moved free. The seed of magic blossomed across her skin, green gloves and boots appearing over hands and feet, a flower bud, her helmet. Grasping the whip, the teardrop of Purity on its handle, she whispered, "The Blossom of Purity," as she flew forward on her fairy wings to wrap her whip around Piemon's hand, preventing him from throwing his Trump Sword at Jou.

"Purity's Nature!" she called as she brought her other hand up to toss out a handful of seeds. Piemon broke free from her grasp just in time to avoid the thorny vines her attack sprouted, though LadyDevimon wasn't as lucky; Sora punted her into the seeds just as they grew, slicing clean through the Fallen Angel and deleting her.

"You all right, Jou?" she asked as she fluttered around him, noting the fading pink glow around him.

"Better than before," Jou admitted as he caught his breath. "Hikari's almost out of power; Takeru and Koushiro are exhausted."

Mimi looked around. "Most of the Perfects are gone. Just..."

"...the Ultimates," Jou groused as he released a wave of water to ward off the cloth from Piemon's Clown Trick. "But there aren't too many."

"So, how you think this is going to go?" she asked as she snapped a Trump Sword out of the air and pushed Jou away before the follow-up could arrive.

She didn't need his answer... It was evident.

OoOoO

Yamato heard the sound of battle long before he was conscious. Sonic booms, miniature explosions, and whistling air went backseat to trying to stay in the comforting haze of sleep, with soft fur beneath his fingers. Moaning lightly, he rubbed his eye as he cracked the other open... and froze.

"Crap," he murmured under his breath as he looked around, Patamon and Gabumon clutched in his arms. He thought...

Yamato nearly screeched and backpedalled when MetalEtemon fired a dark orb of energy in his general direction. Diving to the right, he was on his feet in an instant to move again if necessary, only to see an angelic figure dive down and smack away the next blast with his staff.

Another figure rushed to him. "You all right, Yamato?" An armored face looked down at him, and it took a moment for Yamato to recognize the voice as Jou's.

"Ye-yeah," Yamato managed to stutter out, shaking his head. "What?"

"Apocalymon's remnants," Jou grumbled. "There's only the Ultimates left." Casting an eye over Yamato, he seemed to frown and then said, "Get the rest of the digimon and keep them safe."

He left Yamato standing there, charging forward to back up the angel, who was getting hammered by MetalEtemon.

Yamato knew what he should have done. He should have gone back, run to the rest of the digimon, tried to find what other Chosen Children were still unconscious, and then safely waited out the rest of the battle. He should've kept his head down, out of the way. He should've done what Jou'd asked.

But he wouldn't.

Because, he knew he needed to be out there.

With his friends.

He knew that being friends meant that, sometimes, they'd clash and yell at each other. That they'd hurt and rip open wounds. That bleak truths could be opened.

But that was fine.

Because sometimes cold truths needed to be said, harsh things needed to be done. Being a friend meant helping each other, in spite of the pain doing so would inflict.

Beneath it all, friendship, true friendship, would remain, weathering the storm and coming out ahead. It might crack and splinter, but it would never break as long as no one let it. It might return to a tiny little seed, a mere slither of ice, but it could also grow again, gathering strength with time.

Yamato knew that truth, knew it and lived it. Knew how much his own betrayal had caused, but it hurt because they were friends.

So he took a deep breath, whispered, "Armor of Friendship," and coated himself in that power. Felt the chill of ice through his veins, reminding him of the dark side of Friendship, but there was a strange comfort to it as well. As mechanical blue armor formed on his growing body, he realized that the ice wasn't cold enough to freeze, but rather like shade on a hot day. He encased himself deeper in the protective shell, feeling the jet pack on his back, a sleek machine, form from his power, a wolf's mask covering his eyes. Reaching into the air, he drew out the long nodachi sword, the Crest of Friendship on its handle, and called out, "The Ice of Friendship!"

Diving into MetalSeadramon, he parried the tail before it could smack Taichi in the back.

"Nice to see you here," Taichi called as he darted around Yamato, scoring a couple of nicks in MetalSeadramon's skin.

Yamato grinned fiercely. "You know you're hopeless without me!" he called back as his blade shined blue. "Frozen Slice!" His sword left ice wherever it cut; parts of the Ultimate digimon froze together under his onslaught.

Fresh, he danced back into battle, using his superior speed to get in close to MetalSeadramon.

Things would be all right.

OoOoO

With exhausted arms, Takeru slammed his staff against MetalEtemon's head, knocking him senseless. Even without the original personalities, the digimon retained enough intelligence to be a formidable threat in battle. It hadn't mattered as much with the weaker foes, who could be dispatched easily. With the Ultimates however, it was another story altogether.

MetalEtemon took attacks which had felled lesser digimon as if they were nothing. And Takeru didn't have the strength for more.

Thankfully, Jou did, as he threw out his Aquatic Toss again, Takeru pulled some of the last of his strength and charged his staff with energy again. He performed his Glowing Staff technique, smashing his staff into Jou's hammer and infusing it with his power. Jou's weapon glowed with iridescent light, as if the sun shined through water. The attack smashed through MetalEtemon, shattering Chrome Digizoid, one of the strongest metals in the Digital World, and deleting him for good.

Nearly limp with relief, Takeru met Jou's eyes across the field of data. Muscles burning and pushing outright exhaustion, Takeru moved to join him when a voice echoed his mind, sending shivers up his back.

"So be it. We cannot find our rest even in death." Darkness curled around the words' edges and left taint in their wake. Takeru froze when he recognized Apocalymon's calm voice, tinged with regret. "If we cannot rest in death, then we will destroy everything. Once everything is gone, there will be nothing to bother us."

"Don't," whispered Takeru.

"Gran Death Big Bang."

For a moment, silence. And then all of the sparkling data, all of the little bits and pieces, every shining shred which had been a part of Apocalymon gathered together. Slowly but steadily, it was growing. Pulsating. Waiting to unleash. Takeru felt the energy compress, and his body tensed in reaction to the power he could not only feel but see warping the very fabric of space.

And Takeru knew what Apocalymon was about to do.

The raw fury of hundreds of digimon, all of their energy concentrated into a single spot? It would explode.

Explode with enough power to destroy both worlds.

Breaking his bond with Hikari, he poured his energy into his wings and burst forward. Though his limbs ached and his chest felt tight... He knew what he needed to do. He could see the point, see where the data gathered. Takeru drug up every last bit of piercing light in his body and soul.

He was Hope, defiant in the face of despair. Hope was always there if you looked for it. So he called up his hope and created even more energy, pulling it from places he hadn't known existed.

But it still wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to contain the raw energy, to contain the explosion which threatened to annihilate the two worlds. Even when he poured his power into it, even when his armor burned away to leave him covered in yellow light... It just wasn't enough.

He struggled with the pain, with the wildly undulating power. Apocalymon's voice whispered in his head, silky, oily, trying to distract him. It coiled around his mind. It wrapped him in toxic promises. It never left him alone, even as he pulled and pushed, fought until he thought that his veins would burst from the pure light he poured through them.

Until he felt a warm, comforting hand on his shoulder and looked up to see HolyAngemon's face, stern yet kind, smile down at him.

"Together now," he heard HolyAngemon's echoing voice whisper as his aura flared brightly once more.

Takeru looked around, looked at the others and saw them.

Bright lights surrounding the point—the rainbow of colors shining and pulsing with lines connecting all of them. Each line, a pair of friends working together—eight points to enclose it all.

Taichi and WarGreymon's Courage lighting their path.

Yamato and MetalGarurumon's Friendship forming their base.

Sora and Garudamon's Love gathering their hearts.

Mimi and Lilymon's Purity growing their bonds.

Koushiro and AtlurKabuterimon's Knowledge controlling their power.

Jou and Zudomon's Sincerity guiding their efforts.

Hikari and Angewomon's Light supporting their convictions.

And his and HolyAngemon's Hope piercing their futures.

Eight lights, sixteen souls—all that stood between the worlds and utter annihilation.

They would not fail.

And so, with the last of his strength, Takeru pulled.

OoOoO

Tickling at chin was what woke him. Takeru let out a small, incoherent groan as his eyes began to feed him information once more—in the form of sharp pinpricks of light. He turned over and pulled an arm over his eyes to block out the light but realized it was futile. He then acknowledged the soft fur at his face and, with momentous effort, opened his eyes.

"Patamon," Takeru whispered, finding his voice uncomfortably dry and hoarse. His body... hurt. Ached in places that he never knew he had—more so than those very first days when their endless walking left even the best of them with sore legs at night. But, in the end, he felt safe. Alive. With Patamon in his arms as a comforting warmth.

He sat up with a groan, still cradling Patamon against his chest. Where...?

"Takeru!" came the shout, and Takeru snapped his head around fast enough for his neck to protest. He saw someone nearly fly toward him, and when he blinked, it too him a while to realize that it was Yamato.

Except the body was too tall, too strong for a Yamato, with hair that was longer than it should have been. And the body that hugged him had too much muscle to be Yamato.

But it was him. It definitely was him. He reached around and returned the hug, simply savoring his brother's warm embrace.

"Onii-chan!" Takeru looked up and further confirmed that Yamato looked... older. "How is...?"

"Everyone's fine, squirt." Yamato ran a hand through his hair, and Takeru was suddenly aware of how much longer it was, reaching almost down to his shoulders. "It's you we were worried about! What were you thinking, rushing in alone like that?"

"That I needed to do something, onii-chan." He met Yamato's clear blue eyes with all of the resolve he felt back then. "Apocalymon wouldn't rest, so I had to move."

"Not without us, you dummy." Yamato dragged his knuckles over his head, causing him to squawk indignantly but submitting to the brotherly affection. Shaking himself free, Takeru looked around, finally realizing that he was in the Village of Beginnings.

"How did we...?"

"When you all defeated Apocalymon, the Digital World became able to reformat itself from the corruption the Dark Masters brought." Gennai's aged voice passed over them, and the two brothers turned to one who had helped them so much on their journey. "It started with File Island and is spreading out throughout the entire world."

"Can we help?" Takeru asked, eager to see the world they had fought to protect.

Gennai's gaze held sadness, though they could not see his eyes. "There is something you should know. Though you have protected this world, you are still human. The Digital World, as it reformats, will see you as foreign entities." He turned to the sky, where Takeru could now see black beginning to edge over the sky. "When the eclipse ends, the Digital World might attempt to remove you."

Takeru looked down at Patamon, the words numbing his emotions. He tried to come up with the words but failed.

Yamato's eyes narrowed into a glare. "The Crests and the Crest Armors. Could they...?"

Gennai regretfully shook his head. "When you held back Apocalymon's Gran Death Big Bang, your bodies released a large amount of energy—and the Crests haven't recovered. Neither have you for that matter." At this point, Gennai's face turned stern, sterner than it had ever before. "Do not try to access the Crest Armors; you could cause irreparable damage to your bodies. What you did to stop the attack burned you out badly." Gennai's gaze softened. "I'll tell you if you're needed."

Takeru looked back up. "Thank you."

As Gennai walked off, Yamato looked down at Takeru. "I'm going to..."

"Go," Takeru whispered. As his brother left, Takeru back down on the Village of Beginning's soft ground and waited for Patamon to wake.

They had much to discuss.

OoOoO

The mood was subdued as they stood in front of the trolley that would take them home. Battle-scarred and bruised, the Chosen Children barely managed to muster a smile for Andromon as he took a picture of them all for posterity. There was no telling when the Digital World would let them back in, and it was a peace that they'd had to make with their partners.

At least, most of them did.

Koushiro held Mimi as she cried into his shoulder. Palmon hadn't wanted to see Mimi, and the Chosen of Purity couldn't bear to be without her partner. None of the Chosen could figure out how to make things better, but Gennai looked toward the sun.

"I'm sorry, Children, but the eclipse is almost over." Slowly, despondently, they entered the trolley one final time. "But remember this, Chosen. For all you and your partners have done for this world, we will never forget."

The amassed Digimon nodded, waving and cheering their tearful farewells.

"And we will never forget this world... This world that is as much a home as our own." Taichi replied in as strong a voice as he could muster. They boarded the trolley slowly, helping each other move tired limbs.

Even in their triumph, the bitter loss of their partners was almost too much to bear. As the trolley took to the air, they were unwilling to look at each other, much less outside.

But then Mimi's head rose. The rest of the Chosen looked at her as she stepped to the side of the trolley and poked her head out the window.

Mimi began to smile and laugh, even as her friends gathered around her.

"I'm sorry, Mimi! I'm going to miss you! I won't forget about you! Come back soon!"

Palmon's frantically waving arms in the distance as she too was surrounded by the rest of the digimon... It eased her heart.

This was the farewell she was looking for.

Never once taking her eyes off of those fading in the distance, Mimi said, "Guys? I think we did good."

Koushiro smiled at her and said, "Yes."

"We're definitely going to see them again," Takeru spoke.

"We will," Yamato agreed.

"Because we love both of these worlds," Sora began.

"And we're always connected to our partners, through thick and thin," Jou finished.

"This isn't an end." Hikari spread her arms wide with bright eyes.

"This is just the beginning of another adventure!"

Taichi had probably never spoken truer words.

As the portal closed behind them, the eight Chosen Children, a family by bond, smiled at each other.

It wasn't the end of their story.

It was just the beginning of a new chapter.