Chapter 7:
Fallen Angel
Two siblings were having a conversation in a dark room. It was already late and it was about time for both of them to get to bed. The only thing keeping them up were their thoughts about the next day. So many things had happened in the just the span of one day. They both had traveled to other counties to send back digital monsters. The eldest brother had even witnessed one of his friends get in a fight with one. It didn't help that he was told their situation would only be getting worse.
Even then, the boy wasn't given the full explanation. It only gave him more to worry about. Spider women and mummies were enough of a headache for him, now he needed to add demons and dragons onto the list as well. It didn't help that he has sworn not to tell others his friend's secret. It would needlessly worry them. There was almost nothing worse than a problem that you couldn't handle yourself. The wost part was that even if the others knew, there was still nothing that could be done. He was only spurred out of his thoughts when his sister had called out to him.
"Is that the whole story?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Taichi answered. "Can you believe it? Angels fighting off dragons; it almost sound religious." The brunette lent back on his sisters propped bed.
"I can believe it," Hikari looked down to her desk. When it came to the digital world, anything could happen. "I can't believe something even more awful was sealed in that dark world. To think that the imbalance in the digital world could release it."
"…Yeah," Taichi muttered. The boy had only been given permission from Takeru to tell the others about two things. The story of the two dragons, and by extension and urgency, the Demon Lord. Both of them had to be vague, so not to expose his personal connection to both. He had also left out the point of the Harmonious One's being connected to the seal and the fight with SlashAngemon. He would have to figure out a way to talk to the Harmonious by himself. He thought of somehow getting in touch with Gennai tomorrow.
He didn't know how much the digital man could help when even Takeru had been surprised to hear about the seal. It was only after he had taken the digicore of Xuanwumon did the other holy beasts notice the weakening of the seal. It would still be strong enough that if they all were to perish, the dragons would stay locked away. They never thought that the Demon Lord would be able to slip through the cracks.
"It's not Takeru's fault that the seal was weakened, was it?" Hikari asked.
"Nope!" Taichi answered a bit to quickly.
"I know he's connected to the Harmonious Ones now, but he doesn't have to shoulder all that responsibility by himself."
Taichi thought back to the mysterious blond boy. He knew that the boy was hiding something. He had gotten a lot out of him, but not what he was planing to do after defeating all of the Harmonious Ones.
Takeru had only told him that he would change the world himself if others wouldn't. It felt more ominous than trustworthy, but he would buy it for now. He couldn't imagine a boy who was afraid to go back home to his mother's anger and worry as much of a threat. If Takeru hadn't been tired from fighting all day, Yamato might not have been able to drag him back home.
"Brother, what are we going to do?" Hikari took her brother out of his own mind again.
"Well, I know that I'm going to go to bed," Agumon yawned.
"You got the right idea buddy," Taichi chuckled. "We'll rest up, and then hit the streets to find Arukenimon and Mummymon." His tone became more serious. "Besides, I'm more worried about the new kids than what Takeru is doing." The room filled with silence. "Even if they're willing to fight, they've only destroyed evil rings and spirals."
"They've destroyed some dark tower digimon." Hikari somberly added.
"But it was only after they had found that out," Tailmon spoke up. "They'll have to be ready to defeat real digimon, for good. I know their digimon can do it just fine, it's in their nature." The digital feline thought for only a moment, "I honestly don't think the new kids can handle it. If push comes to shove, their digimon will have to be the one's to make the call in the end."
"After hearing about what Takeru has told us, the time for destroying digimon has already passed everyone else by. You all need to be prepared for it." Taichi explained. "You also need to be ready if…" he couldn't seem to get the words out. "Just be prepared for anything, no matter how hard it may seem."
Hikari was willing, but she didn't feel prepared at all. She was willing to destroy her enemies but that meant that their own digimon were in more danger than before. They've had a few fights where, everyone was in danger but their opponents had hardly ever tried to kill them. She could only remember the number of their digimon friends that were lost fighting three years ago.
Tailmon caught the dampened expression on her partner's face. "We can't make that kind of face, Hikari," the white feline advised. "If we hesitate, we'll lose. Not just us, but the others as well."
"I know," the girl sighed. She wanted to keep her feelings to herself, but she took the chance to talk things out. "I just have a bad feeling about all of this. Like, I won't be able to do anything to help anyone."
"What do you mean?'' Agumon asked. "You've been a big help, ever since you've first joined the team."
"Yeah, where is this coming from all of a sudden?" Taichi arced an eyebrow.
"It's always been like this," Hikari poured her heart out to everyone in the room. "I'm able to help out more, but in the end I can't manage to do anything significant. Not like… you. I must be constantly letting you down."
"What!? What would make you think that!?" Taichi was caught off guard. He had seen Hikari depressed before, but it was always subdued. He had never expected this kind of outburst from her.
"I know that I just have to be. I've been doing things so poorly, ever since this second adventure started. We took way to long to defeat Ken when he was the Digimon Kaiser. We constantly hesitated when it came to fighting Arukenimon and Mummymon, even though I should have known better. All of that lead to BlackWarGreymon being created and that caused as mess with the Holy Stones. Now the digital world is almost as ruined as when the Dark Masters made spiral mountain."
Taichi absorbed his sister's rant. He had no idea that she was feeling this way. The pressure must have gotten to her ages ago. He hadn't been there in a while, but was the digital world really doing that bad? Hikari was always the one who was closest to it. He had thought that she was doing better after talking with Miyako but it seems like his sister has reached her limit.
"I know you think that somethings have been out of your control, but it's always been like that," Taichi started. "You've been doing your best, and what you thought was the right thing. I would never be disappointed in that."
The older sibling didn't think he would be having another talk like this twice in one day. The only difference is that his sister was handling the situation much differently than their blond friend. What made these two think that what they've been doing was wrong? Takeru couldn't believe in his actions while Hikari seemed to not believe in herself.
"But I am," Hikari had finally turned around to look her brother in the eyes. "If you were in my shoes, I'm sure things wouldn't be this bad right now." She couldn't hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.
Taichi was taken aback. Would he really have done a better job than his sister? He couldn't really picture it. He did wonder about how different things would be if all of the older kids were able to somehow digivolve their own digimon. What if they had gotten the armors, and were able to go back. Would things have really changed?
Unlike their first adventure, the two world's times were synced. It wasn't even summer, so they would have had to miss school and their other responsibilities. Even so, Taichi thought that all of them would have gone and stayed in the digital world until it was safe. That was at least how he felt about it. But now wasn't the time for, what ifs.
"Hikari, we can't be wishing for things that we can't have," Taichi firmly spoke. He walked up to his sister and wiped her tears away. "I really don't know if me being in the group would have been better or not, but I'm able to fight now, and that's all that matters to me. What matters to you?"
"I just don't want anyone to get hurt," the girl whispered.
Tailmon realized what was bothering your partner, "everyone will be just fine. You'll keep watching over everyone just like you have been doing."
"Yeah… watching…"
"You don't wanna be fighting digimon yourself like Takeru, do you?" Agumon chimed in.
Hikari stiffened, at the thought of fighting herself. She had no idea how Takeru found the courage to do that. "…No, but I want to do more than I have been."
"Then you have to make sure that you keep protecting everyone," Taichi explained. "Fighting is different for everyone. During our first adventure, I thought that if I explored the digital world, everything would sort itself out. Yamato focused more on protecting everyone else. In the end we both realized that we had to do both if we wanted to actually get anywhere. We need to stay together and to keep moving forward."
Taichi looked his sister over. She was hanging on to his every word. "I'm not as great as you think I am. I've only gotten as far as I have with the help of everyone else, including you. You worry about people easily and that's your strength. Just focus on that and you'll find out how you fit into the team and what you can do for them. Just remember why you're fighting and you'll find the strength to keep on fighting."
The boy then went to help his partner get down from his sister's bed. "We'll leave that Demon Lord to Takeru. You just worry about helping everyone find Arukenimon and Mummymon." As he made his way to the door he rested his hand on his sister's head. "You're not the only one worrying about it, so I'm glad you could tell me about your troubles. Try to sleep well, Hikari." Taichi pulled the door shut on his way out.
Hikari turned back to he desks as her brother closed the door. Tailmon landing in front of her and rubbed against her arm. "I can't just keep worrying about every little thing like I've been doing," she thought aloud. "I know that, but I can't seem to help it."
"Could this bad feeling be because of the imbalance between the worlds?" the feline asked.
"Maybe…" She knew better than anyone else about how the darkness affected her. "How did I overcome the darkness before?"
"It was because of everyone else. You've always been at your strongest when you were standing up for someone else."
Hikari felt that something other than the darkness has spurred on these negative feelings. This strong lack of self confidence had always popped up from time to time, but it seemed to hit harder than ever before. Normally, words from others would be enough to blow them away, but now the feelings felt just as close as those words. She could only rest her head in her arms on the desk. It felt like there was an invisible weight on he shoulders.
How could Takeru stay in the darkness? He had changed a bit since then, but his core was still the same. When he was fighting earlier that day, his smile almost never left his face. The only time it did, it managed to come back brighter than ever. If Takeru could fight while smiling like that, then what really was darkness anyway? Taichi had told her about how he shared the emotions of the digicores inside of him, but that smile seemed more genuine than just that.
Who was the blond boy fighting for? He had talked about making a promise to someone, yet it seemed like he was fighting only for himself.
Could she manage to do something like that? For the longest time she had always compared herself to him. They had been the same age after all. It had been a different relationship than the one with her brother, who she had always looked up to.
Truly thinking about it, she could never be like him. She could only do the things she was able to do herself. She would focus on protecting and supporting her friends in her own way. If she was going to support everyone else, she would have to try extra hard if she wanted to support Takeru as well. He had distanced himself from her in many ways.
She may not be able to walk in the darkness like he could, but she could shine a bright light. She didn't want to be left behind, not just by him, but by everyone else as well.
Hikari got up and changed into her pajamas. She pulled out her ladder and got into her bed. Tailmon was already at her pillow trying to get comfortable, as she put the ladder back in place. As she pulled her covers over herself, she swore to herself that she would try harder tomorrow. She would quickly help find Arukenimon and Mummymon so that everyone could help Takeru deal with the Demon Lord. She quickly went to sleep after confirming her resolution.
The next day brought surprises that Hikari couldn't have anticipated. It seems that the world wanted to change the order of her plans. The Demon Lord's henchman had decided to attack the city.
Everyone had ran off in different directions to find that none of their enemies had actually wanted to fight. All except for an abnormally strong skeletal digimon. It was only an Ultimate, but it took out all of their partners and managed to freeze Imperialdramon in place. With the help of everyone giving away the power of Qinglongmon's digicore to Imperialdramon, he was able to change into a stronger from and defeat their foe.
It was the first time that the new kids had destroyed a real digimon and they seemed a bit shook up about it. Hikari could only give a gloomy look in their direction. Even she wasn't thrilled that they had reached this point again.
Everything seemed to have died down, but their main threat was still out there. They may have fought back and even destroyed one of the three Ultimate digimon, but their leader hadn't revealed himself yet. It also didn't help that Takeru hadn't shown up or answered his D-terminal either.
Hikari still had that bad feeling from last night. Even if Imperialdramon had gained a stronger from, they were down five other Ultimate digimon. She didn't know how they could fight against a Mega that Takeru had described as, strong as a Harmonious One.
The short haired girl was shocked out of her thoughts by a loud crash that came from the other side of the street. Something had crashed into a building. She couldn't make it out until it pulled itself out of the ruble. It was MagnaAngemon. She watched as he slowly got to his feet.
He was tattered and beaten horribly. It looked as if he had tried to fly too close to the sun. His wings were a little singed. Blotches of red could be made out on his white clothing. He looked as if he had been fighting for hours.
Before anyone could move to help, something else fell from the sky and crashed into the building on the opposite side of the street. It looked as if a shooting star had crashed through one of the windows. Whatever it was, some of it was still on fire. The flames started to flicker more as what seemed like a person in a hood, started to move. It looked as if their lower body had caught aflame. As the hooded figure grabbed the window's frame, the flames started to subside.
All of the chosen could guess at who was in the window. When their hood fell from their head, they all were greeted to their blond friend. If you exclude the fact that his lower body was previously aflame, his upper half looked better off than his partner. He was still bruised, but he hadn't drawn any blood yet.
The same couldn't be said for his shoes. They had turned pure black. They watched as he carefully made his way through the glass. He forced his shoes and socks off with his just his feet and the darkness ran up past his ankles. Looking further up they saw that his legs were burned worst than the rest of his body. The boy just looked thankful that his shorts hadn't burned away.
Once again, before anyone can gather their thoughts, a dark portal appeared in the street. What came from it could only be described as a demon. A figure cloaked in red, with large horns protruding from his hood. He had an inverted star with an eye in it's center on his hood as well. His cloak was littered in even more odd symbols. Large demonic wings rested on his backside.
Taichi was the only other one other than Takeru to know about the digimon that had made his appearance. He hadn't described their other foe to the others because they needed to focus on the their own job. That, and if he did appear before them, it would be obvious that the digimon wasn't anything but evil.
"Demon Lord Daemon, right?" Taichi glared.
"It seems I'm more popular than I thought," the Demon Lord sneered behind his hood. "And here I thought my name was lost to time."
"What do you want?"
"I came here to personally congratulate you on killing one of my men. I should also thank you for playing with my other underlings. But what I'm really here for is, Ken Ichijouji."
"What exactly do you want with Ken?" Daisuke yelled at the demon.
"He has something in his body that I need. It would give me a… power up, as they say."
Ken reflexively touched the back of his neck. He had recently remembered that something from the digital world had flown into his body once. That had to be what he was after.
"To be honest, I don't care for this world at all. If you come with me willingly, I promise that there will be no more casualties.
"I don't want to hear that from someone who hasn't managed to kill anyone yet," Takeru barked from the window. It looked as if he had gotten his second wind.
"Ah, allow me to rephrase myself," he pointed two of his fingers at the cloaked blond with his palm up. He curled to fingers slightly up and a tower of fire erupted from beneath Takeru. The flames rose well over the highrise's roof tops. MagnaAngemon saw this as a time to make his attack. He rushed the demon digimon only to be caught by his neck. "Come with me…"
MagnaAngemon struggled in Daemon's tight grip. He extended his Excalibur to slash at his hand only for the demon to start to throw him to the side. He had only caught a glimpse of Takeru shifting in before colliding with him. The two crashed into each other only to be further forced downward. Their impact cracked the asphalt beneath them. "…and there will only be two casualties."
Daemon laughed as the two struggled beneath him, "I've been watching you fight this whole time boy. You've already showed me everything you've got. I should really thank SlashAngemon sometime." The Demon Lord picked up MagnaAngemon by lightly piercing his claws into his back. "You also have something of mine." Fire erupted from his palm and shot the angel in to the air, sailing behind the other chosen children.
The demon then picked up the boy by the scruff of his cloak's collar. "I should thank you for keeping my data nice and warm for me." He was speaking of the digicore that Takeru had absorbed from IceDevimon. It had originally belonged to him in the first place. It was only right to take it back.
It was at that moment that everyone's blood ran cold. Daemon had stabbed straight through Takeru's mid section. All of the chosen children had lost their breath. No one could say anything even if they had wanted to. There were only different expressions of shock to be shared between the group.
The only one who could get past their shock and noticed that something was off, was Koushiro. "It can't be," he yell in shock. Within Daemon's grasp was a purple core of energy.
"But it is. It's the digital core that this boy had been carrying around since he's defeated IceDevimon," Daemon explained. The purple, digital core started to be absorbed into the Demon Lord's hand. "I'll be taking back what's mine, if you don't mind." Daemon was surprised that getting his core back was this easy. To think, attacks directed at digital cores could also work on humans.
He was also surprised that the boy had absorbed the digicore into himself instead of the cloak, as he had guessed. It seems that the cloak was just a holding point until the data went to his body. Was that the reason why he could bring out their powers so easily? From what he had seen, the boy couldn't use one hundred percent of the power he had gotten but most digimon wouldn't have either. In fact most digimon wouldn't be able to use their stolen digicore's attacks either.
The fact that the boy's human body seemed to not be able to completely keep up with the his power, didn't surprise the demon. What had shocked him was that despite all of that, the boy could keep holding more cores. It made him wonder if the boy was sacrificing their power for their techniques.
Normally digimon would wear the data of others and digivolve along with it, instead of directly absorbing it into themselves. Sure, they could give each other power boots with left over energy and data, but to absorb a full digicore was something else. It was more than just bits of deleted data. You had to be careful or else you could digivolve into something you hadn't expected, or simply just have your mind be stolen from you.
However that didn't matter, there was no point in wondering about that now. That was at least until the demon felt something grip his arm. He refocused his eyesight so that he was staring at the boy who had recently found the power to fight back. It was a shame, but an attack on digital matter wouldn't be enough to kill a human. The boy seemed to be in an extraordinary amount of pain, but there didn't look to be any physical damage done. He had only separated him from the data of the core.
Takeru gripped tightly with both hands at the demons forearm. He felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest, but he couldn't let Daemon completely take the digicore. He focused on the energy behind him and with a grunt, the purple orb was absorbed back into him. He had gotten the digicore back, but he was far from finished with Daemon.
Once again, the boy had astounded the demon. To think, he would be able to take the core back, while he was still absorbing it. He caught a glimpse of the boy's eyes. The pupils had slit and shined in a golden color within a red iris. The next thing he knew, he was suddenly struck by lighting. He couldn't help but fling the boy to his friends.
Yamato watched as Takeru landed with a hard thud in front of everyone else. He rushed to his bother's side. He struggled to keep a straight face after seeing his brother get stabbed through and tossed around. He lifted up his brother's head to find that he was heaving and covered in a cold sweat. He helped Takeru up to his feet but his bother was obviously still shaken. Takeru however wasn't shaken enough to not whisper to him and hand him something.
"What a nostalgic attack," Daemon spoke, regaining his bearings. "But you don't seem to have the right form for it." he stared behind the chosen children.
The children turned around to find a golden MagnaAngemon. He glowed in the same way as when Takeru had fought at the Holy Stone. Two transparent, golden wings found their way to his back once again.
"You look ready for another round, but there is no longer a need for me to focus on you right now. I've gotten back my data from within that digicore and you're no longer needed. I will however, deliver you two a painful death later." Daemon faced Ken, "Now, it's time for you to come with me and give me the dark spore. Then I'll kill your friends afterwords."
Before Takeru could retort, a truck carrying a trailer sped between the Demon Lord and the children. Arukenimon was holding on the back doors and jumped of after it had stopped. "Sorry to butt in, but I'll be having the Ichijouji boy come with me," she asserted herself.
"And you are?"
"No one as important as you, Lord Daemon" the spider woman faked respect. "I do however, have my orders, and they need to be completed."
"What do you want with me?" Ken asked. "You said I was worthless to you now."
"We've had a change of plans," Arukenimon explained while getting the trailer opened. "Now, if you don't want anything to happen to these children," she displayed the truck's contents, "you'll come with us."
"You're the kidnappers!?"
"Don't say it like that. They fallowed me all by themselves."
Ken could only grit his teeth. He had planed to give himself to Daemon after he had threw Takeru, but now… He had to help those children who had nothing to do with the digital world. "Okay…" he breathed, as he started moving for the truck. Daisuke and Wormmon told him not to go but he marched on. He only stopped when two other voices yelled at him at well.
"Are you stupid!?" Takeru and Daemon yell together.
"There's noting to gain from going with them!" The boy had no idea of what that woman was planing, but he couldn't let Ken go along with it. He couldn't trust that she wouldn't hurt those kids after getting what she wanted, even if it wasn't directly.
"That's right, child. If they had just wanted a hostage, then taking more than one would be counter intuitive. They obviously have more plans than just taking you away." Daemon made an unbelievable amount of sense. Leave it to a Demon Lord to be able to see through evil.
Takeru moved away from his bother and faced the truck. "The fastest way of dealing with this, is killing those two kidnappers as fast as possible," he rushed at the spider woman.
"Exactly," the Daemon had came along Takeru's side. "Destroy both negotiator and hostage in one strike."
"NOT!" Takeru jerked to his side and stuck the demon across his face. He changed his focus back to the Demon Lord. He fended him off from destroying the truck. "That's not what I meant, at all! MagnaAngemon, take care of those clowns for good."
The now ten winged angel flew in ready to attack, but Arukenimon had already grabbed a child to shield herself with. She had grabbed it in the first rush but it seemed to still be useful. The angel couldn't make a move.
Both Takeru and Daemon saw what had happened and separated from each other. "Cowered," Takeru muttered.
"I can respect that," Daemon added his piece.
"I'm glad," Arukenimon smiled. "Now, as I've said before, if you don't want the children to get hurt, come with me."
"If you don't plan on killing any of them, could you just stop," Takeru spoke up. "Because you felt like barging in on our fight, I'm now forced to protect you. You don't wanna die, do you? That guy is willing to kill you and anything in that truck just to get to Ken. You better not do anything to distract me from defeating him. If you can understand that, then shut up and stay put."
Arukenimon was put on the spot. If Ken decided to go with them, that Demon Lord and blond would hunt them down within seconds. They wouldn't be able to lose those two even if they were fighting each other the whole way. The chances of getting caught in the cross fire was extremely high. The best plan would be to let them tire themselves out before picking up the Ichijouji boy.
"Fine, but if I get one scratch, I'll pay you back one hundred fold.
Takeru tugged at his collar, "As if you could. MagnaAngemon, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." If she had a child that close to her, it would be hard to take her out without hurting, or let alone killing them. He'd find a way to deal with her later.
Yamato couldn't believe that his brother had changed so much since he had last seen him. When he had dragged him back to their mother's last night, he seemed to be the same emotional kid that he had always known. Their mother looked at him with a stern face at first but it melted into relief within seconds. They were hugging in no time at all and eating dinner shortly afterward. Takeru had a smile on his face the whole time as he tiptoed around what he had been up to for the past week.
The boy he was watching now was extremely serious while fighting, but carried a bit of lightness. He had been beaten pretty badly but he didn't seem to lose his heart. That was to be expected, but the way he expressed it was different. How much had his brother truly grown in these pass three years? In the past months, in the past week? He gripped the item that Takeru had given him tighter in his pocket.
Hikari watched as Takeru's back moved up and down. She felt that he was reaching his limits. "Miyako, we need to help as well," she turned to her friend. "Let's DNA digivolve and fight as well."
Miyako was hesitant in looking to her DNA partner. She knew that if she fought right now, she would have to destroy her opponent. She couldn't do that. "I'm… sorry…"
Hikari could believe the words coming from her friend, but couldn't at the same time. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to force anything onto the girl. She wanted to help but she couldn't send Tailmon out by herself.
"Don't worry about trying to help me or anything," Takeru spoke up. "If you tried, he would just call for help. His little helpers are around somewhere. You should just focus on Arukenimon in case something stupid happens."
"Don't be so selfish Takeru," Sora rebuked. "You're already hurt pretty badly, aren't you? She knew how brave the boy could be but this was too much of just him to handle. Even with MagnaAngemon, she still thought it would be an uphill battle so fight alone seemed even more foolish.
"Sora… Right now I'm the only one who can protect everyone with out things getting even more out of hand." Takeru looked back at the red head, "do you understand?" He couldn't keep the smirk off of his faced, "don't worry about me."
Sora was silenced by the boy's words. They had been the same words she had given him when running from Piemon. At that time she didn't think of the boy actually saving them. She had just wanted him and Hikari to get away safely. Yet, that little boy managed digivolve Angemon to rescue everyone. She would just have to put faith in the boy to be able to save himself, now.
"Are you done talking, child?" Daemon asked. "I would like to hurry things along."
"Right," Takeru around to crouch into a sprinter's stance. His cloak turned a deep gray. The space around him started to distort. The feeling slowly spread to the entire intersection around him. Everyone could fill a chill run through the air. The gate to the dark ocean had been cracked open.
"Fighting me with darkness? With those burnt legs no less."
"I'm just making things easier on myself," Takeru explained as the whites of his eyes turned black. His iris still glowed red and his pupils still shined with gold. "If you're only moving with your legs then you can't hope to keep up with me."
"Big talk from someone who can't fly. It's such a waste that the power of those dragons reside in a human body. I have noting against you personally, but you don't seem to have the correct constitution to bring out all of their power. It's a shame that you weren't born a digimon."
"You shouldn't under estimate your enemies." With a strong kick to the ground, Takeru shot towards the Demon Lord's front. Just before impact, he shifted out of sight and world. Just as quickly as he had disappeared, his hand pierced through the back of Daemon's cloak. His main target however, was gone. Only his clothes were left behind. Takeru skid across the ground to stop.
Takeru tightly gripped the cloak in his hands and thought to where the demon could have disappeared to. He got his answer as the sky lit up with a bright orange. He looked up to find a true monstrosity.
Daemon's true from was much more beast like than his hidden, monk like form. His fangs protruded out of his mouth almost as much as his horns. Fur covered most of his body. His left arm was an elongated claw. Not only his wings, but even his general size seemed larger. Takeru thought back to IceDevimon and wondered if the Daemon could become just as large.
Other than the monster in the sky, the large flame that he was holding up, also caught everyone's attention. Everyone watched as the flame started to grow smaller, but shine brighter. With a shout of, "Flame Inferno," the demonic beast threw the fireball down to the Earth. It zeroed in on only Takeru's location, ready to burn him to ash.
The chosen had all been amazed at how well Takeru had been able to take care of himself when fighting digimon. Yet, during this fight, all they could do was wonder how he would be able to win. In all of his other fights, he had shown that he could at least be able to keep up with his enemy. However, even if they hadn't seen when the two first met, they've only seen the blond be out matched by the Demon Lord. He had only been able to get off one surprise attack, but now the demon's attention was focused completely on killing the boy.
Arukenimon was surprised at how careless the Demon Lord could be. The fireball he had just sent down would be able to spread to everyone within the intersection. If that happened, it would kill the very boy he was after. Could he still extract a dark spore from a dead body? He couldn't be expecting the boy to take the attack on directly, could he? Even if the boy could, he'd still be risking the spillage of the flames. What was Daemon up to?
Everyone watched as the flame fell closer to the blond. It sped closer but the boy wasn't trying to get out of the way. He looked as if he was steadying himself in place. He looked up into the fireball that descended onto his location. He spread his legs apart and thrust his palms upward. As he made contact with the ball of fire, its color started to fade away. The bright orange flame turned a dull gray as flames flew all over the intersection.
Jou reflexively closed his eyes and brought his arms up as the flames flew towards him. He expected to catch on fire but the gray flame simply passed through him. A shiver ran down his spine that caused him to open his eyes and realize that he wasn't aflame.
Everyone else had done the same and quickly gathered themselves after realizing that they were alright. They all watched the gray flames flickered around them. They gave off an uncharacteristic chill. Even thought they all were dressed for the cold, they couldn't control their shivering.
Only Ken and Hikari could form an idea of what had just happened. Takeru was once again able to remind them of a lingering darkness. Yet this time, it clearly had been to save them. They both couldn't shake their conflicting feelings on the matter. Ever since he brought about the distortion in space, they felt the unease of being closer to the dark ocean. To them, the coldness of the flame was almost as bad as the heat it would normally give.
The Demon Lord looked down with interest. He hadn't thought of the boy phasing attacks to the dark ocean had never crossed his mind. It wasn't a full transfer but it was good enough to neutralize his attack. He wondered if phasing like that was less stressful than shifting is entire body into the dark ocean like he had been doing before. Was he really running out of power, or…?
His mind flashed back to when he had gained his digicore back. There might be something extra to gain from this battle than just the dark spore.
He'd have to use his ability to fly to keep the boy in his place. The boy's arms may now be as burnt as his feet but he was still a minor annoyance. He would use his elevation to his advantage and continue to attack from the air. He wasn't completely safe because the boy could just shift to his location, but he would be better off in the air.
As soon as everyone had managed to calm down, another pillar of flame erupted for where Takeru was standing. Everyone there was looking for where the boy would appear from next. However what caught everyone's attention for a shrieking Ken and Hikari. The girl had clamped onto her brother's arm as if her life depended on it. Ken fell backwards and looked terrified of the ground. Hikari had shut her eyes as Ken looked around in shock. Daisuke quickly ran up and grabbed on to the boy's shoulder.
"What is it?" Taichi grabbed his sister back.
Hikari managed to open her eyes as she tried to stop herself from gasping. "It's the sky… The sky is beneath us."
"What?" Taichi looked down to see nothing but the street. "Only the road is beneath us."
Ken gripped the Earth beneath him with a mystified expression. Looked to the buildings around him to make sure of what he had just realized, "I see." He looked up only to glare at the sky. "I don't believe it. Yagami, look up."
Everyone looked up to find the same sky that had been their the whole day. The only one to understand what Ken had meant was Hikari.
"I don't get it, what are you guys seeing?" Jou questioned.
"The dark ocean…" Hikari breathed.
"But I don't see anything," Iori stated.
They were all suddenly distracted from their friends by a cry of pain. Takeru had managed to gain a direct hit on the Demon Lord. His foot pressed into the demons abdomen but that wasn't what was shocking. The blond boy was kicking the monster upward into the sky. How could he gain that much momentum.
"I didn't know he could fly," wondered Koushiro.
"He's not," Hikari corrected. "He's falling."
Ken fallowed up, "falling into the dark ocean."
Everyone was confused at the two's words. Only Koushiro could wrap his mind around what the two were saying. His eyes widened in realization at what Takeru was doing. "I don't believe it."
"What, Koushiro?" Yamato asked. "You figured out what's going on?"
"I have a guess." He looked up to find Takeru kicking Daemon form a multitude of angles. The monster's sudden disorientation confirmed his thoughts. "Takeru is shifting the orientation of the dark world in relation to our own world.
Everyone gave him a unified, "what?"
"Remember how the digital world appeared in the sky three years ago? We flew up into the sky, but fell into the digital world."
"You mean it's like Myotismon's weird castle," Sora tried to simplify.
"Basically, but this is on a completely different level of playing with gravity. Because Takeru can change the orientation of the dark ocean, he can willingly change the direction of the gravity pulling him." He looked to both Hikari and Ken to find them still fidgeting and lightly gasping at the world around them. He also looked up to find Takeru flying every which of way around Daemon. "He can fall up and down, as well as left or right. Just thinking about how he's fighting is starting to make my head spin."
"It's not just that either," Ken rose to his feet. "Daemon seems be seeing the same thing as Yagami and I. Maybe being sealed there is the reason why. If that's the case, then he has no idea what's going on. Even if he does, it's almost impossible to deal with." He watched as the demon spun around to try and gain his bearings."
"Exactly. It also doesn't help that Takeru is still phasing between both worlds. He can't match Daemon in power so he's out maneuverings him instead."
Daemon was having a hard time dealing with the situation. Within the span of only a few seconds the entire world would shift orientation. Even if his own direction wasn't messed with, the sight alone was enough to hinder him.
The demon was like a planet with a meteors in it's orbit. It was as if falling stars constantly struck the surface one after another. He couldn't keep track on his much smaller opponent. He hadn't gown anywhere near to his full size but he was at a disadvantage like this. It didn't help that the boy kept phasing through him as well. Every time he and the phantom child made contact, the feeling of being in the dark ocean became more real.
He only had one choice, as risky as it would be. He didn't care from where it came but he ignited a pillar of fire onto himself. Before the boy made contact, he became as gray and transparent as his Flame Inferno. The boy went right through the fire unharmed. So that was how he had escaped his pillars of fire, his Chaos Flare.
Not only could the boy phase his attacks between both worlds, but he could also phase himself in and out of them as well. An act of straddling the line between the two. He was neither here nor there. Seeing how he could shift himself and others between the two it should have been a surprise. However, that didn't bother the demon as much as it excited him.
His attack was enough of a distraction for him to break away and head straight for the truck. He just needed enough time for one attack. If he could pull this off correctly, then it would pay off much more than just getting the dark spore.
The demon focused solely on his target. No matter how much the world around him shifted, he wouldn't be become disorientated. Just like the two children on the ground, only his sight had been affected by the boy's trick. Because of his closeness to the dark ocean, his sight had been completely compromised. He couldn't even see the buildings around him. However, there were no effects on seeing anyone still standing in the intersection. He could see his target just fine, even if the world rotated around him.
Takeru kept a sharp eye on Daemon. He couldn't fire off an attack from behind, as the demon was already in front of the truck. He saw MagnaAngemon move to intercept the Demon Lord. He watched as the demon rose a wall of fire between his partner and the truck. What was he planing?
Takeru shifted to the top of the trailer and noticed that it was fine. Why didn't Daemon attack the trailer? He could barely make out sounds from behind the flames. It sounded like someone was yelling. He couldn't have attacked the others, could he? Ken was still with them so that didn't make any sense.
Takeru was given his answer when the flames spread apart. What he witnessed caused his heart to stop for only a moment. Daemon stood in front of him with the tip of his wings stabbing through MagnaAngemon's sides. He watched as the wings exited his partner only for the demon to deliver an upward slash with his left claw. Takeru's eyes watched as his partner's blood sprayed everywhere.
MagnaAngemon's data started to break apart. The only way he could stabilize it was to dedigivolve. Angemon didn't have enough strength to move away, so he was grabbed by the demon once more. His neck was squeezed between the Demon Lord's hands.
Daemon looked Takeru directly in his red eyes. "I did say that there would be at least two, casualties," the demon sneered. "You should have been more diligent, boy." A dark portal appeared beneath his feet.
The ground where Damon stood suddenly exploded. The ground shook along with the explosion. As the dust settled, it was revealed that Takeru was the cause of the damage. He had kicked off of the trailer with enough force to shatter the ground beneath him.
The chosen children watched as their friend desperately tried to find where Daemon had disappeared to. The look of rage in his eyes was something that most of them had never seen. It reminded Iori of the first time he had seen Takeru fight with those powers. The time he had just gotten up, before his final attack on BlackWarGreymon.
Hikari also watched the boy's eyes. They weren't just full of anger, but also fear and sadness. She had heard about what had happened to Angemon during their first adventure. She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose your partner. He was extremely desperate right now and she couldn't blame him.
Yamato seemed like the only one to notice that his brother's last attack did more harm than good. The younger boy's left hand was covered in blood. He remembered that Takeru had said that his body was a lot more sturdier than normal and nothing else. He could still die and hurt himself like a normal person if he tired too hard. Right now, Takeru was fighting like someone who wasn't think at all about themselves. If he kept this up, his body would break along with his already cracking heart.
Daemon appeared once again at a corner of the intersection. He walked out of a dark portal that manifested on the side of a building. "Don't think your the only one who-" Takeru's right fist quickly came into contact with the buildings edge. The Demon Lord had already retreated back into his portal.
"Up here," the same demonic voice called.
Takeru looked up to find Angemon falling to the ground. He was about to rush to him when he felt a sharp pain run through his chest. A black orb floated before his eyes. "So that's Dagomon's digital core," said a voice from behind the blond.
"It's as bland as I thought it would be," Daemon spoke from behind Takeru. He noticed the boy trying to move and stabbed into his back once again with his other hand. He slashed both arms outward and sent the boy flying forward into the ground. His other hand once again held a purple orb. The two digital cores quickly circled around the demon's right wrist.
Takeru strained to pick himself up. The blood leaking from his nose made it hard to catch his breath. It went unnoticed to him, but two pieces of his cloak started to disintegrate. Even if he had noticed it, it didn't matter to him. His eyes stayed locked onto Angemon as he was getting closer to the ground. He tried dashing once more only to trip. Something had gabbed onto his ankle. Before he could even hit the Earth, he was once again stabbed through.
A dark portal had manifested beneath the boy and Daemon's wings had found their target. This time a white and a green orb were forced out.
"I may not be able to teleport as quickly as you can, but this is more than enough for your deteriorating state." The demon flicked his wings and the boy went sailing into his partner just before he hit the asphalt.
The two bindings on the Takeru's ankles stared to fade. Their golden color almost became a dingy brown. His cloak had reverted back to only having a single piece of cloth. The boy didn't move an inch as his partner struggled to stand up. Angemon urged him to do the same.
"I… can't move," Takeru strained. "Angemon, you and the others need to get out of here."
Angemon couldn't believe what he was hearing from Takeru. "You want me to just leave you behind?"
"You saw how he ripped the digicores out of me. Something like that didn't even cross my mind. If I lose the last one, you all will be in trouble."
The angel couldn't swallow what he was being told. Takeru had just said that he'd be the distraction so that he and the others could get away.
"You're the only one who can move now so you'll have to go. I won't ask you to do everything I had planed, but if those cores truly get stolen, you need to get them back, no matter what."
The conversation was cut short as Daemon landed his foot atop Angemon's helmet. As his foot held the angel down, he gripped into Takeru's shoulder, lifting him to eye level. He enjoyed the anguished look on the boys face as his nails gripped into his flesh. The left side of the blond's cloak became soaked in blood.
"I was thinking to myself, 'for all the pain afflicted on this child, there wasn't much to show for it,'" the demon chuckled. His grip grew tighter, "I know I'm being unnecessarily sadistic, but I'm just to livid not to be.
The smile never left Daemon's face. "Being held up gave me time to think about why I'm here. I came here to power myself with the power of the dark spore, yet here you are. You're like a walking power plant. I was planing to kill you in the first place, so why not take your powers along with your life." He felt something crunch in his grip. Takeru couldn't help but release a stained cry. "I've been waiting for that."
Daemon used his other hand to get the final digital core within Takeru. The on that was the deepest within him. The Demon Lord rammed his free hand into the boy's chest and started tugging at the last core. Slowly but surly a golden orb with a red center was being clawed out. It was a tough fight just getting a grip on it, let alone pulling it out, but Daemon persevered. This was his true prize for stripping the boy of all of his powers.
"You should be thankful to your friend, Ken Ichijouji," Daemon looked to he dark haired boy. "He may not have been able to stop me, but at least he could save you."
Takeru's cloak itself, finally started to break down. As he collar turned to bits of data, it revealed a holy binding around his neck. It had been the original one that he had gotten from the Holy Stone. It too started to lose it's shine as the digicore was being taken away.
The blond himself hadn't truly given up just yet. He did however, understand the likelihood of him surviving this encounter. That however, wasn't enough to keep him from fighting back. It was hard, but he gripped Daemon's claw and tried to stop it the best he could. He racked his brain for an idea to at the very least, buy him more time.
As he watched the digicore leave his body, he eyes were drawn to the demon's right hand. They fallowed it's grip until they reached the digicores resting on it's wrist. The demon hadn't absorbed them yet. He struggled, but he managed to lift his left hand onto one.
Daemon watched as the boy palmed at the digital cores on his arm. He couldn't still be thinking of fighting, could he? Unlike before, the boy was in no state to be fighting back. His body moved, but there was no power behind it's movements. It amused him to see the boy fighting back so hard. What happened next however, ripped the smirk from the Demon Lord's face.
For only a second, the boy's eyes shined white. His right hand also glowed with the same brightness. The fingers that had only gripped at the Demon Lord's arm quickly ate into his skin. With one swift motion, Daemon lost his left hand. As the demon watched his blood gush from his forearm, he could only curse to air. He staggered back and gripped his arm in pain. How could the boy draw out a core's power by just touching it?
Takeru landed on the ground with a dull thud as the hand that had just been inside of him burst to bits. His holy binding around his neck shined once more and his cloak reappeared. The boy could only gasp for air as he rolled onto his hands.
He watched the look in Daemon's eyes change. They became even more intense than his flames. Daemon normally carried a superior demeanor, but it seemed to crack under his rage. When angry, the Demon Lord displayed a power Takeru had never seen before. Daemon was truly a demon of wrath.
A great ball of fire erupted from the Demon Lord's hand, "I'll burn you and your friends to nothing but ash." The blond looked back to find that his friends were right in the line of fire. "These cores are more than enough to take over the digital world. I'll just do the same as you and pay the last two Harmonious Ones a little visit." He launched the fireball at the boy.
Everyone watched as Takeru fought to try to stand up to the pillar of fire. The digimon quickly moved their partners out of the way of the attack. Everyone else with out one also scattered as the ball of flame drew closer to their friend.
Takeru had made it to his knees but he still could hardly move. He could only bring his arms up in defense as the flames rushed closer. He closed his eyes and braced for the impact. However, it didn't come. He uncovered his eyes to see Angemon shielding him. The angel held his rod up in defense
Takeru watched as his partner's from started to falter to the flames. He rose to his feet and placed his arms against his partners back. He could hardly reach his middle but he held up Angemon as best as he could. Once more, golden wings rested on Angemon's back to bring their total back to ten.
Angemon could feel Takeru helping him. It gave him the strength to keep standing. As the flame raged on, Angemon felt that something was off. The last time Daemon had gotten truly angry at them, he had burnt down a whole forest. If the Demon Lord was truly unleashing his true power, the whole intersection would have erupted in flames. A chill ran down the angel's spine. He shifted his weight to his back and pushed Takeru to the ground.
As Takeru hit the asphalt, he wondered why Angemon had bumped him. As he looked up, the hand running through his partner answered him. The fiery hand had burned through the angel's rod and had kept on going. He could only stare in horror as his partner coughed blood. His white skin burnt black with the demon's hot touch. His eyes were so glued on to his partner that he hadn't noticed the flame withing the demon's outstretched hand.
"No matter how hot my rage burns, I'll never be lost to it," Daemon blazed. "You two however, are a different matter. Evil In-" The demon abruptly halted his attack. Two sides of a melted rod implanted themselves into his arm. "You worthless angel. Unlike the boy, you're just a waste to space," the flame in his hand turned backwards and burned the angel. However, it wasn't enough for Angemon to let go.
"Takeru!" The boy in question perked at his name being called. He watched his partner turn his head back towards him. "You can't just go dumping your duties onto others. You decided to do those things all by yourself. I only said that I would support you, and that's all I plan on doing." What was he getting at?
"My duty is to protect you no matter what. The only reasons I protect the worlds is just to keep you safe." the boy listened to his partner. "Not just you, but the others as well. Out of the two of us, who do you think has the best chance of doing that? If I can at least manage to keep you safe, then I've done a good job, right?" The bracelet on Angemon's wrist started to shine brightly.
Angemon grabbed at the cores that rested in front of him. "You have more things to do, don't you? I won't let you die here! Not you, the others, or any of the promises you've made up until now." The digicores started to shine as well.
Angemon managed to shine brighter than the flames surrounding him. The look of shock on Daemon's face was new to everyone watching. Daemon was the only one to know what the angel doing.
"You wouldn't dare?" Daemon hissed.
"As you've said, alone I'm just a waste a space," Angemon spoke softly. "Takeru is the only reason I'm as strong as I am now. It's his feelings, along with the ones in these digital cores that will allow me to deliver my final attack. My own core might not be enough to kill you… but what about five?"
"Don't do it…" The Demon Lord strained.
"Sorry, but this is my… Testament."
A blinding light engulfed the entire intersection. No one could see how it shot upwards or how it spilled out onto the crossing streets. Random people who had fled to their homes in fear of monsters, could also see it from their windows. The light beamed it's way into the sky like some sort of homing beacon. Most would think that the light was trying to call down the divine. However, it had been a light only to silence a demon.
The beam started to dissipate into the air. It pulled back onto it self and broke apart piece by piece. Only bits of white littered their way up into the sunset sky.
AN: So this took some time. If you're wondering why this story has slowed down when coming out, it's because I had stockpiled about three full chapters before uploading. It's not that I had planed to keep up that pace but that was a good idea for a story first starting out. Hook people in with a strong start and when the chapters do slow down, they are hopefully already invested in the story.
I've constantly talked about writing on the fly for this story but this and the last chapter were points that I've always had in mind for happening. It's just that the things within them changed drastically. In this chapter I've completely winged the scene between Taichi and Hikari. I don't know why I've suddenly felt the need to delve into Hikari's character, yet here I am once again. It's not like it just started this chapter but I didn't even think about it at all starting out.
I did however, think about how Takeru would fight Daemon and that went through constant changes. I could never decide on one thing and kept on thinking up other ways to do it. I just had to be firm and stick what I wrote… and then rewrote. I told you that this story was mostly just to clear my mind, but I have to be careful not to clear it too much. I need to save some stuff for other stories in the future. However, to be honest I hadn't thought it would be his long. I guess when I write out fighting chapters, I now know how long they can take.
Daemon however was an odd character to write. I feel like I based him more on the American version than the Japanese one. I also wanted someone who would play around with Takeru in a fight. He was filled with such mystery in the show that I found it easy to take a large liberty with him.
But with out a doubt is setting the terms, "shifting," and "phasing." Two normal words than can be easily interchanged with how I'm using them. The main problem is that I wasn't thinking about that with the earlier chapters so it might be a little hard to fallow. When using similar terms to do almost the same thing, you need a solid explanation and consistency. That's something I need to work on in the future.
As always, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and will leave any sort of comment for it. Leave what every you like. Next time, what will happen after Angemon's Testament?
