Oh wow. It's been so long. Sorry. Anyways, this takes place during NovelistoftheSky's story Virus of the Shadow. Read that. This is kind of a spoiler chapter, so the identity of the Black Knight has yet to be reveiled.
I stared up at the slowly darkening sky. I knew that he was coming this way and I had little choice but to fight him. Neo stood by my side as I paced around, feeling the corruption approaching. I gripped my digivice in anger. If I had paid the slightest bit of attention to any of the signs, I may have realized to the full extent what was happening. I glared at the Royal Knights who were drawing closer from the other side of the Isle. I was going to prevent them from confronting the black knight, even if it meant the destruction of the Isle… or even myself. Taking a shaky breath, I turned towards Neo as we started sprinting towards the park in the center of the Isle.
"I need you to hold the Royal Knights off for a while. Stall them, fight them, distract them with whatever you need to do, I'm going to find a way to trap HIM here so they can't attack us. Neo nodded his head, gave my hand a quick squeeze for luck, and then flew off to the east, where the Royal Knights were approaching. Turning towards the west, I focused on the route the Black Knight was coming from. Hoping that he wouldn't notice what I was doing, I closed my eyes and reached out with my crest. Bending the powers of the Isle under my control, I forced a makeshift passage between the Isle and the knight. I was trying to shorten up the distance, so Neo would be able to return and help me fight the corrupted knight. Letting out another shaky breath, I released my powers, having established a shortcut in the distance. Realizing that my time had been cut short for preparation, I turned to my digivice. However, a clash from the east drew my attention. Neo must have been unable to stall the Royal Knights with just words, and there was now a giant wall of ice in the distance. I winced, hoping Neo would be alright, and continued what I was doing. I pulled up a map of the Isle using my digivice, looking at the possible things I could do. Pulling up the perimeter of the Isle of Beginnings, I started inscribing runes along the edges on the map in my digivice. With every rune I completed on my digivice, a glow appeared in the distance corresponding to the location on the map before quickly fading. I quickly inscribed several passages into the coding of the Isle, preparing for several possible outcomes to what may happen today. A sudden flapping of wings drew my attention back to the arrival of Neo. He looked a little tired, but no worse for wear.
"How did it go?" I asked him. He leaned up against me, suddenly looking wearier than before. I shot him a worried look, but he just shook his head and straightened up. Stretching a bit, he opened his muzzle to talk.
"I froze them a bit, and hopefully they won't be here any time soon," he responded with a grunt. He turned his head towards the west. "He's almost here, Alex. Are you ready to face him?"
"I don't quite know yet, Neo. I mean… I don't know how this is going to turn out. This is going to be one of our worst fights, mainly because I don't want to hurt him accidentally and -"
"I don't think you could hurt me if you even tried, Child of Life," a husky voice said, with a sneer. Neo and I whipped around, spotting a knight in dark black armor facing us. The armor had lots of plates and joints, and finishing it off was a helmet with two large metal horns adorning it. On his back was a torn up cape, with a dirtied symbol on it, representing what he once stood for. In his hand, he held a long sword, with a slight blue hue to it. It looked large enough that it would require two hands, yet the knight was able to wield it with one. His gave off an aura of evil and corruption, and just looking at him made me shudder at what he was. I gripped my digivice and spoke back.
"You may think that, but it doesn't mean that I won't try. I hope you realize that I don't plan on letting you get out of here. Ever." With that I held up my digivice to the air, and several of the symbols I had etched around the Isle began to glow. A field of white light quickly encompassed the Isle, forming a glowing dome around the area. The knight looked around, seeming somewhat surprised. Taking his sword, he flung an energy slash towards the dome. It landed with a loud crash, but the dome was unscathed. I smirked at him.
"That dome is tied to the energy around the core and from myself. The only way it's coming down is if I take it down, or I die. Now, let's get this started. NEO!" Flinging out my hand, Neo quickly took flight and transformed. Gaining shining armor and a large sword, Paladin Forme quickly charged at the black knight with his sword, only to be parried by the knight. Pushing the swords to the side, Neo landed a shot on the knight's helmet with his fist. The sound reverberated through the field. The knight backed up, and tilted his helmet so it was straight again, and started speaking.
"You would think the Protectors of the Core of the Digital World would pack more of a punch. Heh, that barely even left a scratch." Grabbing his sword with both hands, the knight dashed forward and quickly slashed at Neo. Neo parried the attacks as well as he could, but even I could tell he was being pushed back. I gritted my teeth in anger. This battle was going nowhere, and I could tell that he was toying with us. I was about to spit out a reply, but felt something at the edge of my awareness. I looked to the distance, and noticed several digimon trying to get into the Isle. The Royal Knights had finally arrived. I paid them no mind however, as another attack hit the force field around the Isle in the opposite direction. Whipping around, I noticed that several of the digidestined where present, and were trying to get into the Isle as well. I realized that our time had finally been cut short, and I didn't want either of the groups to witness us fighting. The Royal Knights because I didn't want them to see me fighting and getting an impression that I may be on their side, and the Digidestined because they may not all agree with my methods. My thoughts were once again interrupted as Neo went flying past me, once again in his normal form, as well as panting in exhaustion. I was worried then. I never knew the Black Knight would be able to fight this well. His powers were even greater than I realized.. I gripped my digivice, knowing I had no other choice...
"Neo!" I called out, "We're out of time! We need to lock him away!" Neo nodded his head at me, knowing what I was thinking. I suppose it was fighting fire with fire at this point. I threw my digivice in the air, and watched as it turned into a hovering screen. Slamming down my hand, I cried out. "Unlock! Ruin Forme!" Dark chains, made of my power, circled around Neo. In a flash of dark light, the chains broke them apart. Coming out from beneath the chains was Neo's Ruin Forme. Covered with glowing silver chains, this forme took full advantage of the powers of Darkness and the powers that are granted to Virus types. He gained longer claws, and blood red irises. Knowing time was of the essence, I quickly ran towards the center of the park, Neo dragging the shocked Knight along. Bracing myself, Neo threw the knight into the ground and flew up in the air. Raising a clawed paw, he cried out in a gravelly voice, "Final Chapter!" A red and gold ball of light appeared in his hands, and he threw it down at the knight. While the knight had just enough time to brace himself, he wasn't expecting the sheer force behind the attack, and was pushed down farther into the ground. He let out a brief cry, as the ground underneath and around him suddenly collapsed and he and I both fell down a massive hole. While he had the force of Neo's attack pushing him down, I had Neo himself swoop down to catch me, ending his forme change at the same time. Slowing our decent, he deposited me on the bottom of the core room, and suddenly devolved into NeoVeemon. I looked at him quickly in worry, but a cry of pain and anger drew my attention to the center of the room. A massive ball of what appeared to be light (but even I wasn't sure what the core truly was made of. Liquid metal, glass, stardust perhaps) was hanging over a pit that led to nowhere. On the top of the core, the Black Knight was smashed against in, Final Chapter still attempting to push him down. He looked at me in anger.
"Is this what you wanted to do? Fry me better an attack and the digital world's core? This will never work! Pathetic," he sneered at me. I looked up at him with a look of sorrow.
"I'm really sorry." I muttered back, and let go of a barrier I had been maintaining for a long time. A sudden flash of light occurred around the core, and the knight let out a shriek of horror as he began to sink into the core.
"Alex! What are you doing! The core could burn me up! Do you really want to try and kill me? Argh," he cried out in pain as the core began searing the flesh remaining under his armor. I looked away in agony, using this as a truly last resort. The knight suddenly went silent as he went all the way into the core. I looked at my old friend, watching as his movements ceased, and his eyes went dark.
"It's done," I said, and collapsed to the ground as darkness swallowed my vision.
***7 days later***
I stared despondently as the digidestined stood outside the barrier. I had woken up a day and a half after the attack, to find the Royal Knights gone, and the Digidestined still pounding against the barrier. Leading the 'attack' on the barrier was Sora. Her red hair matched his temper, and she yelled and yelled until even I was surprised she didn't lose her voice. The only person really trying to stop her was Tai, knowing exactly why I had to do what I did. I stared tiredly at her, hating the fact she was so mad at me. Trace was also on the other side of the barrier, pounding on it until it looked like his knuckles would bleed. I almost wished that Will was on either side of the barrier as well, and chuckled at the thought. Tai gave me another sheepish grin (the third one that day), as Sora began yelling at me again. I gave a half smile back.
"ALEX DOWSKI! YOU HAD BETTER LET ME IN THERE!" she screamed at me through the barrier. Biyomon was right beside her, pecking away at the barrier as well. I slouched down my shoulders, and inhaled a deep breath. Several of the digidestined had wanted entrance to 'talk' to me about my methods, as well as demanding to see the Knight. I had told them time and time again that I was not about to lower this barrier until I was sure the threat has passed, not to mention I wasn't positive if I would maintain the barrier around the core if I disturbed any of the barriers. As I exhaled, Neo strode up beside me, putting a supporting hand on my shoulder. He gave me a smile as I turned back towards Sora.
"Sora, I'm really sorry. But you know that I can't let you in here. I know that you're pissed about my actions, but I can at least tell you he is alive. The corruption has to stay contained though, so I cannot let anyone near the core. It took most of my energy to do this; I don't want to fight you guys now too." I had hoped this that little speech might work this time, but no such luck was coming my way. Sora opened her mouth to respond, but an ominous 'CRACK' rang through the air.
Widening my eyes, I whipped around, seeing a crack appearing in the outer barrier of the Isle, with several more appearing throughout the architecture and ground of the Isle as well. Falling to my knees in horror, I gasped as my powers rushed out of me. The barrier around the Isle shattered with a loud crash, and several smaller building came down as an earthquake shook the area. With a sudden realization, I had enough foresight to place a barrier around the digidestined and push it back, as a giant flash of light came from underground and a figure shot into the air, several shining shards coming up behind him. A shaking under the ground occurred right after, and I could literally FEEL as the core ripped apart beneath the Isle. An explosion of power caused it to fly out in multiple shards, and I gasped as one struck me through the chest. Neo cried out as well, but he dissolved into digital particle before he reached me, the power of our bond fading before he could help me. Feeling the cold smirk on the knight's face, I had enough time to see the look of horror in the eyes of the digidestined behind me. I gave them a small smile, and closed my eyes one last time, darkness engulfing me, feeling my last contingency plan coming into action. A breath left me, and I knew nothing.
Tai
I couldn't believe it. Alex was gone. Truly gone. I knew this because Neo had disappeared. Not that he was deleted; he just fell apart once that shard of glowing stone ripped through his chest. I was glad that there was no blood at least, but his body was still there. That also surprised me, as before, Alex dissolved as well. I clenched my teeth, and glared at my former friend, the now evil Black Knight. The barrier around us faded from view, and he just laughed as he touched down. The second his foot touched the ground of the Isle, it began to dissolve in a blur of lights. Spreading out from the center, the buildings and other featured of Alex's Isle of Beginnings disappeared. I heard gasps from the others as they watched, and the knight just began to laugh.
"How could you? He was one of your friends!" I shouted at the Knight, watching as he turning his gaze towards me. He just grinned. I made a first in anger, and was about to run up to punch him, when another person beat me to it. Sora was standing in front of the knight, having smacked him in the face. A brief look of shock crossed his face, until he smirked at her too.
"Oh, that was kind of kinky, Sora. Want to hit me again?" He laughed as she blushed, and she quickly retreated back to us. He continued to laugh, until a distinct ringing sound filled the air. The knight buckled over in pain, having been kicked in the one place no man wanted to get hit. Even I winced at that, knowing the feeling from several years of playing sports and not always wearing protection. I stared at who was brave enough to come up behind him, seeing three figure I did not recognize with their digimon as well. The middle figure, and the only female in the group, was the one who kicked the knight. Trace gasped in recognition besides me.
"That's impossible! I thought that they were trapped in different dimensions!" Trace turned towards me, and saw my confusion. "It's Alex's old team, Shelby, Logan and Ryan!" He cried out. I remembered Alex once telling me about them, and his previous adventures as well. His friends, who were each stuck in a different world, unable to interact with other. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Shelby gave a nasty glare at the Knight, and moved over to Alex's body. She knelt down, and the three of them closed their eyes briefly. Opening them again, Shelby quickly grabbed the shard and pulled in from his chest. As soon as it was removed, Alex dissolved into digital particles. She turned back towards the Knight.
"You just pissed off the wrong girl."