Chapter 3: Hesitant Step
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"Ahh! Reginleif!"
An iron longsword covered in fiery red Digisoul slashed through two feral looking Garurumon, who both disintegrated into black dust instead of data. The sword's wielder, Ryo Akiyama, took a look back at his forces, noting that they were finishing up their battles in the grassy meadow as well.
"Alright boys, finish off the rest of those Nightmare Soldiers, and we'll head into Nolaan so I can go home for the night!" exclaimed the young brunette wearing fairly normal clothes with his sword resting on his shoulder.
As one Leomon fought off one of the faux Digimon, he said, "But sir, what about the rest of the Luce Plains? Should we abandon our positions so quickly? And I hear that the DigiPort Sphere in Nolaan was destroyed days ago in an attack on…"
"We received word from Tai hours ago that T.K., along with three new Digidestined and their Digimon, entered the cave to neutralize the forces and get Azulongmon to create a new one. Besides, I hear that Kari is in the town with little but a few Numemon as protection," replied Ryo in a clipped tone. While not exactly angry, he knew that his friends were potentially in danger and did not want to waste any time getting to them.
The two other Leomon in Ryo's adventuring party merely went about fighting off the three remaining faux Garurumon, while the young hero merely walked with his longsword into the small tunnel that led to the part of the plains in front of Nolaan.
As they walked in the dark, damp cavern-like structure, they were forced to quickly dodge out of the way of a large grey femur bone. In the now dim light, Ryo could make out the form of his new opponent.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the great Apemon? Digimon Emperor put you on clean-up duties after failing to keep us out of Vesplume?" asked Ryo with a smirk on his face as his opponent emerged into full view.
"What my master commands of me is none of your concern, whelp. And besides, I jumped at the chance to end the lives of you and your friends. So do me a favor and die! Mega Bone Stick!" exclaimed the Champion as he threw his preferred weapon at the Digidestined.
"Shield, Realize!" screamed Ryo as his D-Terminal emitted a bright light that shot through his Digivice and emerged as a shield.
With a deft motion, Ryo blocked the bone attack and charged at the primate, with his lion comrade in tow. Ryo's first attack was dodged, and Leomon's follow up attack was parried then followed with a kick that sent him flying.
"Leomon!"
"I told you that you and your friends' time has come. That includes the Digimon you've managed to sway to your side as their 'Liberator'. Hmph, to think that you believe that you can truly free this world from my master's grasp!" exclaimed Apemon as it's bone finally returned from it's brief flight.
Ryo gritted his teeth and made another attack with his longsword, sweeping in a downward arc, only to get blocked again. He spun away, avoiding a strike from Apemon, and returned with another strike.
Swinging his sword in an upward arc this time, Ryo exclaimed, "Crescendo Spike!" An arc of Digisoul followed his attack and sent the Champion's weapon flying.
"What the…" said Leomon.
"Not done yet! Alfheim!" said Ryo.
The Digital Liberator bashed his opponent with his shield, and followed it with a downward swing of his sword covered in Digisoul. Having seen the attack many times before, Apemon was able to jump backwards to avoid the worst of the slash. He cursed himself for not remembering the technique that well because the following upward slash's energy blast caught him in his right shoulder.
"Only hours removed from a huge battle and you still have enough energy for attacks like that. I'm impressed, brat. Killing you may not be as simple as I once believed," said Apemon while retrieving his weapon.
"Y'know, normally I'd have some witty comeback or a joke about how you smell," said Ryo as he hoisted up his sword and channeled more Digisoul into it, "but I just so happened to be on a tight schedule now so I'll get this over with."
Ryo charged Apemon and swung his sword from the ground and slashed back down with full force. "Levantine Slash!"
The light from the slash shone bright enough to blind the Leomon trailing the enigmatic Digidestined. They quickly rushed as the luminescence began to die down to support their leader, only to find him standing alone.
"Where is Apemon? Is he slain?"
Ryo shook his head with disgust marring his features. "No. He used some sort of mini version of the Transport Station for an egress. In any case, let's make our way to Nolaan. I'm sick of fighting for the week."
(Digimon)
"Fire Rocket!"
Flamedramon slammed into Ogremon, engulfing the virus type in the flames that already surrounded his own body. Ogremon hit the ground near the unconscious bodies of Kuwagamon, Dokugumon and Monochromon. Behind them was the slowly recovering form of Azulongmon, in all of his Sovereign glory.
TK stared at the form of the powerful dragon Digimon still going over the details of the battle they'd just finished. At first things looked troublesome, with Kuwagamon keeping Davis busy and Gatomon being knocked out by Ogremon fairly quickly. Before things could get worse, Yolie had the bright idea of taking on the flying insect and leaving the spider to her less agile ally. A the three new Digidestined broke the Dark Rings on their opponents and turned to Ogremon, who turned out to be tougher than they'd imagined.
In the end, it'd taken the full efforts of all the Digimon, TK, and Davis all to both destroy the chains and take down the four Virus types. No one but Davis was injured, and even he'd only suffered a cut on the arm that was relatively shallow.
'At least we finally sent that ogre back to the hole he crawled out of,' thought Davis as he wrapped his arm in some bandages that T.K. had on his person.
Before he could come up with more witty remarks about his opponents, the Azure Dragon of the East began to speak to his group of young rescuers.
"Digidestined, I want to thank you for saving me. You were admirable in your battle with the forces of Darkness, and you came out victorious. You have my eternal gratitude."
Davis raised his hand, a habit from being in school for so long, before saying, "Hey, I have a question! I heard a bunch of stories about the Digital World from Tai, and none of them sound like this! What gives?"
"Ahh, I see. You seem to be aware of our world's existence before the Great Formatting. The actual tale is a long and tedious one, so I'll merely give you the important details," said Azulongmon before clearing his throat.
"The Digital World had fallen into disarray after the defeat of both the Dark Masters and the evil known as Milleniummon. In order to restore it to it's original glory, the power Crests of the eight Digidestined of Japan were used to restore balance, but it was also changed. A Celestial Digimon arose from an unknown area, and reshaped the world to be more like your human world in some ways. He then created what is known as DigiGylphs, allowing the Digidestined to fight the growing forces of evil by giving them direct access to their inner power, known as Digisoul. I believe that should explain the majority of the changes, right, Davis?"
Davis merely nodded, absorbing all of the information presented to him just now. He filed away any further questions he had for later, seeing as how anxious he was to both heal Kari and get back home.
"Thanks for filling these guys in, Azulongmon, but we need a couple things from you. The DigiPort Sphere here in Nolaan was broken by these troublemakers, and Kari needs an amalista to heal from a wound she got at Vesplume Tower. Can ya help us out?" asked TK, interjecting before the dragon could speak again.
"Yes, I imagine you all will want to get back home after spending such a long time here. And besides, I think those copies you left behind are starting to lose charge now aren't they?"
TK nodded with a small chuckle at the joke, before schooling his face to a more serious look. Azulongmon nodded at the Child of Hope, before conjuring up a violet crystal and a blue and white sphere that flew off into the distance.
"I created a new Sphere for you all to use, and here is the amalista for young Kari. I'm sorry I could not help sooner."
"Don't blame yourself, Azulongmon. Besides, Kari's one tough kitty, she's holding up fine," said Gatomon, having woken up from her unintended catnap.
"Indeed. In any case, I'm sure Agumon and Patamon are exhausted from powering the door, you all should make your leave. But before you go, I have one more gift to bestow. Davis, check your left pocket," said Azulongmon.
The Gogglehead followed the command and found a glowing plastic ball with metal rings criss crossing each other with what looked like a bell inside of it.
"What's this?" said Davis.
"It's called the Charity Bell. A very powerful weapon that I think you're the best equipped to wield, Davis. May it assist you well in protecting the Digital World," said Azulongmon.
Davis nodded, while also noting that his original question was never really answered. He pocketed his new trinket and moved to follow his friends who were already making their leave from the temple.
(Digimon)
A soft, almost ethereal pink glow enveloped Kari as TK used the amalista to dispel whatever curse had been placed on her body and her wounds healed almost immediately. One 'whoa' from Davis later, Kari had regained consciousness and surveyed her surroundings with a trained eye.
TK and Davis were the closest to her, while the Numemon living there were delightfully cheering just a little bit farther away. Standing in mixed confusion were two new Digidestined, whose names she had overheard in her drifts between consciousness.
"Kari! You're okay!" said Gatomon, from on top of Kari's chest.
The Child of Light shook her head in disappointment, having not even noticed her partner was perched on her bosom. She wrapped the holy kitten in a hug that warmed the hearts of all those around them, before returning her gaze to her other comrades.
"So, what happened while I was asleep? Anything interesting?" said Kari.
"Nothing at all, just took down an Ogremon, no biggie," said TK with a huge smirk.
"Oh really? Do tell," said Kari.
"You know, as much as I'd love to tell Kari how I totally kicked that guy's butt with no help from TS," said Davis, "I'd love to know how we're getting home. I mean, we've been gone for hours! My mom probably called the cops already!"
Yolie and Cody's heads perked from their observation of Numemon in their natural habitat to the conversation at hand, as they had similar concerns.
"Maybe I can answer that question for them, you guys," said someone from the door.
Everyone looked to see Ryo, his sword sheathed and covered in sweat, walking into the abode. His aura almost screamed 'cool', as he walked with an effortless grace and relaxed posture even though he was clearly exhausted.
Yolie fell instantly in 'love' at the sight of the suave young man, Cody felt like he needed to show more respect in the honor of someone so regal, while Davis scoffed at the boy's demeanor in an attempt to deny his feelings of inadequacy in his presence. TK and Kari merely waved, already familiar with Ryo from prior experience.
"Ryo! When did you get here?" said Kari.
"A little while after those guys left Dragonbone. I had to get in contact with my squad and make sure they made it home safely before coming here," said Ryo.
"So, is anyone going to answer my question or not!" said Davis.
"Now now, don't get too riled up. Our parents never noticed we're even gone. When your Digivice brings you into the Digital World, it leaves behind a 'clone' of sorts that takes your place. It follows a preloaded schedule that," said Ryo before trailing off as he realized the implications of Davis's ignorance were.
"Don't worry about that, Ryo. I managed to have my clone take Yolie, Davis, and Cody all into the infirmary and stay with them until Tai and the others could get back and come up with a plan of sorts," said TK.
"Wait, so there's someone just like me running around doing everything I do? How do we know it won't turn evil or something while we're away?" said Davis.
"Haha, that's actually a great question, Davis. Well, you see, the 'clone' isn't complete. It's more of an empty shell that follows a schedule than a copy of you. It actually becomes suspicious if you try to go too many days with a clone in your place, as it can't communicate more than simple phrases without direct control from your Digivice," said Ryo.
The three new Digidestined sighed in relief as they knew their families would not be worried sick over their 'disappearances'.
"Well, I'm pretty sure everybody has a bunch more questions you'll want answers for, but we should all get out of here and get some food in our stomachs," said TK.
All the Digidestined and their respective Digimon responded with a resounding cheer, which caused TK to smile after.
(Digimon)
Looking at his clock to see that it was already 2 A.M., Davis sighed as he felt even more restless than when he first tried to go to sleep. He imagined that DemiVeemon's snoring was not helping, but that was something that could not be helped at the moment.
On the other hand, neither could his constant thoughts about the Digital World and everything he had learned about it in the past couple days since his first foray into the unknown. Tai's stories of a weird mash-up of the Real World's features with weird twists and turns that were only possible in a place like the Digital World no longer fit with the world that was now in place after what everybody had been calling "The Great Formatting".
The complex portions were only truly understood by Yolie, but Davis got the gist that the Digital World now had defined regions with capital cities and villages instead of being more or less a giant enchanted forest before. But even that was not the most interesting, yet confusing part.
Magic, DigiSoul, and things like his new "Charity Bell", were all still a mystery for the most part. The older kids tried to explain it to him but it was even more confusing than algebra had been.
Sighing once again as his thoughts travelled to what would be happening two days from now, Davis reviewed the battle plan laid out to him and the others by Tai.
They would be attacking some place called Castle Prevant, which was a stronghold of the Digimon Emperor and held one of his "Master Spires". They differed in the fact that they had a orb of a certain color on the inside, which is how they were designated, and they were capable of controlling all the other spires as well as spawning false Digimon they called "Nightmare Soldiers".
While not as strong as real Digimon, Nightmare Soldiers were massive in number and more easily created and their data would be continually recycled by the Master Spire until it was destroyed. They almost always fought in groups and were without empathy or mercy. Each of the older kids had a story of a time when they or a Digidestined from somewhere else in the world had been injured or nearly killed by one of those monsters.
Figuring if one ever got too close he could just punch it to next week with his DigiGlyph-enhanced strength, Davis resolved in his mind that he would have to learn all he could about his new friends, the Digital World. and the Digimon that resided there in order for him to protect them all.
Especially Kari.
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A/N: Well, wasn't expecting this to take me a year to complete, but I got caught up in a pretty nasty family situation that just killed my writing vibe. Breaking that cycle of super sporadic updates now, though.
Anyway, as for the story plot, Supernal Epic is probably my most complex and diverse plot in terms of the actual plot itself. It involves so many characters I may need a Google Doc to keep them all straight in my head. Not all of them are major, but they have a place in the plot.
It also involves me trying to make sense of much of canon, including the games and movies, so a few timelines may get mixed up in my attempt to fit everything into this one. It also may move a little fast at times but I assure that we aren't seeing God Mode characters anytime soon.
Also, I know some may have searched for this story expecting to see more Ken, especially since he is a main char, but Ken doesn't take a major part in the story until after this first arc.
So, with that, I say that anybody who can guess the ID of the char in the previous chapter will get a gold star and implore you guys to Read and Review.