For What it's Worth
Survival is always the strongest push. Floating timeline, Frontier verse.
Takuya K
Genre/s: Drama/Friendship
Rating: T
The wolf and fox danced, blade clashing with staff as the two twirled together and then sprung apart. From the distant Venus Rose, violet light reflected off the silver weapon Kuzuhamon wielded, no less impressive than the Beo Sabre's golden hue. It was an interesting sort of fight; elementary wise, they were both evenly matched. And neither aimed to kill. But it was still a test of wits and grace and will which only amounted to one thing: pride.
A deity, the fox spirit that ruled over the Light realm and commanded the ties of understanding and wisdom through the Taizoukai Mandala, standing herself in the centre, upon the border between the Eight Petal Hall and the Hall of the Wisdom of the Kings while opening the expanses to the physical world to bestow the subtle wisdom very few noted though all used. A daughter of the light, fighting the inheritor of the spirits of her benefactor, and finding, with each clash they sprung apart from with no grace nor substance lost, that he, AncientGarurumon, could not have chosen a better heir.
Which would have made anyone watching wonder why in the world they were still fighting, although on Kouji's part there was the very real possibility that the goddess would go after his friends, and particularly, his brother, more vulnerable than the others against the light that sourced his spirits, and while it should theoretically have worked both ways, the kitsune had an advantage of being able to heal herself which the other obviously lacked.
Perhaps it was counterintuitive to fight fire with fire, but the threat she presented, even if it wasn't directed specifically at him, was enough to spur it on. It was odd, as both combatants knew the fight wasn't specifically aimed at them, but more so the principle. One could even go as so far to call it a sparring match, on the grounds of training, learning and growing as a martial artist.
But who was the teacher, and who was the student?
The distance suddenly descended upon them, the momentum of the spring enough to allow them to retaliate at each other with metaphysical attacks. A Licht Angriff shot forward, the laser aspect being halted by the Ura Inuza, but the bullets effortlessly shot through the light and hit their target.
The silver staff whirled in the air seconds before, too little to block the deadly projectiles but enough to summon something of a retaliation. Her own Setsuna no Ichigeki erupted, thundering down like a God's retribution on their kind.
Chapter 2
Thunder
Ardhamon skidded to a halt in midair. No-one needed to ask why either; the large explosion that had literally shaken the ground beneath them was enough of a reason...at the exact place they had left their friend still fighting beyond his years. He felt someone's fists dig into the sensitive skin on his back, though he couldn't be sure who. The sudden stiffness though, as if he was suddenly carrying a box of lead, told him that Kouichi had at least seen it too, and assumed the worst.
'Kou-' he began, not even knowing what he had meant to say, but being spared the trouble as the other cut him off.
'Go down.'
'Now?'
He craned his neck to look up at the warrior of darkness, now turned away from the scene with darkened eyes and looking below them. 'Hai.'
'Um…okay.'
Ardhamon landed smoothly, and the others climbed quietly off his back as he devolved. Takuya turned back to the four, all looking in the same direction, before Kouichi turned away to look at the barren landscape before them, D-scanner clenched tightly in one fist and beeping faintly.
Silence prolonged, until the warrior of thunder, finding the lack of sound deafening, broke it awkwardly.
'What are we doing?'
'Waiting,' Kouichi said quietly.
'For-?'
His question was cut off by a sudden burst of lightning.
'That.'
The blast had left a temporary crater in the soil, shallow and easily covered by an hour's slow wind. Nothing seemed significant about it at all, except the thunder, every time, hit the exact same place.
The place where the soil balanced all but thunder.
'Um…' Takuya stared blankly at the spot, already beginning to fade. He let the thought trail off, but no-one offered any sort of an explanation at all, all somewhat scattered by the loss of a link in that chain.
'Kouji-ni's okay, right?' Tomoki asked, staring at him. 'Right Takuya-ni?'
The brunette said nothing immediately, giving the elder twin a half-long glance with one eye. Said twin was staring now at his D-scanner, or more specifically, a blinking blue dot.
'Kouichi?'
'I-' he started, before faltering. 'My heart's telling me that…he's okay, he's fine…but…'
'Hey,' the warrior of flame grinned, relieved. 'If that's what your heart thinks, then he's fine. You'd know best, especially since you're getting a signal from his D-scanner.'
He nodded as the others voiced their agreement, giving the signal one last look, as if completely reassuring himself of its existence and banishing lingering fear, before slipping the device into his pocket.
'Now, about that thunder thing…'
'The Dark Continent is unique in that it contains areas where one particular element is strongest, or weakest, dominating or being dominated by the others. When it is dominating, the opposing element appears most prominent. When it is dominated, it itself appears so. The darkness over the spot we were earlier signified that light was most powerful there. Here, where the lighting repeatedly strikes in the same place, is where thunder is weakest. In other areas, there is a balance between the ten elements, collecting residue from the imbalances of the other continents and stabilising the life force.'
'Like discharging?' Junpei asked.
'I guess so.'
'I still don't get it,' Takuya mumbled, scratching the back of his head. 'Okay, some elements strong, some are weak. What's that got to do with where we're going?'
'The imbalances are weak spots in the Digital World's framework,' Kouichi continued to explain. 'We should be able to slip part the defence between the underground network and the overlayer we're on. A weak spot in the firewall essentially.'
'And we do that…how? Step through it?'
'Jump actually.'
He gaped. 'Seriously? I was kidding.'
'Hey,' Izumi said suddenly. 'How many digimon know about this?'
'Not too many,' Kouichi replied. 'Just the higher order. Cherubimon, his warriors, the other celestial digimon, and some of the other ultimate level digimon like the Olympus Twelve and the Royal Knights.'
'So…if it's so secretive, why isn't someone guarding it?'
The raven's head snapped up, before glancing around in a slight panic. 'I forgot,' he whispered. 'There should be someone here…last I heard in any case.'
Tomoki, Junpei and Izumi looked around as well, but it was the blonde, her eyesight keener than the others due to her bird datalines, who spotted him first.
'Does that "guardian" happen to be a giant eagle with chains of thunder wrapped around him?'
'What?' Kouichi, Takuya and Tomoki, who had all been facing the other direction at that point, turned in shock, before all five of them ducked as a chain flew over their heads.
'The heck?' the brunette spluttered, spitting out a mouthful of dust. 'Where'd that come from?'
The others scrutinised the sky above them carefully, just being able to see the slight hue of golden wings and silver chains through the veiling blanket of darkness, stifling in a foggy mist.
'Now what?' Tomoki yelled, rolling away from another chain. 'Izumi-nee, you jinxed us!'
'I did not,' the blonde shrieked, pulling out her D-scanner to evolve directly into JetSilphymon, only to be stopped by Junpei. 'Wind and lightning are a very bad combination,' he pointed out. 'And ice and fire are rather useless as well.'
'I can fight,' Kouichi said quietly. 'Darkness is a good matchup.'
'Yes,' the other replied. 'But then who's going to save them from walking blind?'
Not 'us', he noted, but 'them'.
The younger boy bit his lip lightly.
'Besides,' the elder pointed out. 'A tank can't move very well in an underground labyrinth, and we can't spare any more than one person. Who knows what else is waiting, and we need to get Takuya to whoever wanted to see him, wherever they wanted to see him.'
'And what's the good if we keep losing friends!' Takuya yelled.
'We're not,' Junpei yelled back, whipping out his own D-scanner and evolving to RhinoKabuterimon in a single, fluid motion, his large body saving them from taking a very nasty shock. 'Those last two digimon didn't seem evil, and neither does this one.'
'I agree,' Tomoki said softly, and Izumi and Kouichi both nodded.
'Well, I'd have to admit that too,' the brunette said impatiently, but that's not the-'
'That's exactly the point Takuya,' the half-metalloid yelled, firing a thunder laser at the streak of thunder that came lashing at him. 'You need to be somewhere, and we're helping you get there. Simple as that.'
He would have hesitated further, but he could see the sense, and he believed, just like the fox lady from before, that these two would not fight to kill.
'Good luck Junpei,' he said softly, before walking over to where the others are standing.
The ultimate-hybrid stared at the giant eagle. 'I'll need it.'
Funny, how much he had grown in a short time. Less than a month ago, he had been scared out of his wits at breaking out a bunch of slave workers. Now, he was more than willing to fight for his friends…even with the small doubt that accompanied certainty.
'Let's do this,' he growled, readying his laser again as he noted Takuya jumped through the soil, Tomoki right behind him. With a yell of 'Thunder Laser', he shot another streak of condensed thunder, causing the bird to arch his body away from the strike to save his feathers.
'Warrior of Thunder,' the ultimate digimon thundered, lowering and projecting more of his form as the darkness parted under his weight. 'You think you can defeat me?'
'No,' Junpei replied honestly. 'But that doesn't mean I can't fight a good fight.'
There was a rumbling sound, like large bounders rolling atop each other. It took a while for the hybrid to realise the other was laughing.
'What's so funny?' he asked uncertainly, noticing Izumi had gone as well. 'And who are you anyway?'
'Jupitermon,' the digimon replied, voice booming across the empty plains, as the last human faded from sight. 'I rule the skies and thunder and guard my weakness. If you can truly fight me to the end, then I will take pride in knowing I have not overestimated you in my desire for order in a chaotic world.'
The golden wings spread again, catching the purple tint from the Venus Rose. RhinoKaburiterimon tensed, readying himself for an attack, as the other roared, chains lashing with a cry of Mokuyōbi no handan.
The half rhino, half tank revved back, tires squealing to avoid the deadly projectiles, using the few openings he seized to fire lasers back. The eagle dodged them with some effort, and it soon became apparent that due to the sheer size of both combatants, speed was essentially useless.
It was a clash of the titans; power against power.
'Ran-ryū no sora!'
The sky twisted, for lack of a better turn, throwing out wind, rain and hail in hazardous combinations. The tires skidded in the suddenly slick ground, and static sparked as some of the elemental power was automatically discharged into the atmosphere.
Growling softly, RhinoKabuterimon gathered the power inward, charging up his batteries instead of wasting power to the outer world, watching the eagle bring his wings together, chains wrapping around them in a cocoon, but leaving a gap about his crest, just enough of a gap that a good shot could fire through.
'Yakan no raiu!'
Thunder descended…but he was the warrior of thunder. He could withstand that. He shouted out the name of his own attack at that point, molding and twisting the storm to turn it into a deadly canon to crash into the other's head.
'Condenser storm!'
The strike hit, but not before a retaliation echoed about the empty plain.
'Kyōkai!'
A moment of complete stillness, then trace lines suddenly drew themselves on the ground beneath him. A moment more, they did nothing, before the circle shown bright…
…and then nothing, save the thunder striking upon the spot where its power lacked.
Author's Notes
Jupitermon isn't technically an OC; he's listed as one of the Olympus Twelve. Only problem is, no description, no attacks. No nothing. So, following the same theme as the others, I looked up the Roman God Jupiter, piggybacked a little of Sailor Moon's relations to the Roman Gods as well, and built up an appearance and attack list of my own.
Attacks:
Yakan no raiu (夜間の雷雨): nocturnal thunderstorm
Ran-ryū no sora (乱流の空): turbulent skies
Mokuyōbi no handan (木曜日の判断): Thursday's decision
Kyōkai (境界): boundary
Kuzukamon's attack translations:
Setsuna no Ichigeki: breaking the moment
Taizoukai Mandala: womb realm Mandela
Also, since this is floating timeline, I'm introducing the fusion forms of all the warriors, otherwise they're no match for mega level digimon in theory. I can do that because in the movie Supreme Evolution: The Golden Digimentals, Hikari's and Takeru's digimon digivolve into mega forms not shown in the continuum of the anime.
And seriously, they only give RhinoKabuterimon two attacks, and no explanation. And he doesn't look like he inherited Blitzmon's wings either.
Well, that's two down. You've probably figured out the chapter naming conventions by now.
And note I never specified what happened to Kouji or Junpei. So don't jump to conclusions.
Hope you enjoyed.
