The Northern Kingdom

Part Twenty-Five: The Fall of Xiao

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters and merchandise, etc, does not belong to me. This plot, however, does. In short, don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo. Thanks for reading.

At the sight of the twelve serpents, Hikari let the sword she was holding fall to her side as she turned her head upward. A few steps away, Xiao, who had raised his own blade to attack, halted it in midair, distracted by the shadows that crossed the sun.

"Your doing?" Hikari questioned, turning toward the trader. She was surprised to see an expression of fear cross his usually serene face. It was a fleeting moment, soon replaced by a look of anger.

"I suppose you think that's funny, do you?" he muttered in a low voice. He took a step forward and swung his blade downward, finishing the attacking swipe he had begun. Hurriedly, Hikari raised the sword to block it, taking a step backward as she did so.

The mud around them exploded at the same time the weapons clashed together, the result of attacks by the arriving Airdramon. For a moment, Hikari found that she couldn't see, so thick was the goop, and then she saw the flash of light that signaled the blade of Xiao's sword slicing through it.

"If you didn't send them," she shouted over the sound of arrows landing in the mud around her, "then who did?"

"It's better for you if you don't know the answer to that, princess," the tamer replied. His face was halfway between a smirk and a serious frown. Hikari thought that perhaps she could see worry in his eyes.

"I can't see anything!" Takeru shouted in frustration. Mud was flying everywhere, arrows were slicing through the air with great speed. One narrowly missed his arm, slicing through the sleeve of his jacket and landing in the ground beside him with a solid thud.

"To the air!" Li Tan called. His Lopmon partner was grabbing tightly to his shoulders. Within seconds they had crossed the space between himself and his Airdramon, which was obviously eager to join the fight.

"Shall we?" Hawkmon questioned. Miyako had raised a shield around herself, and her partner had wisely moved in as close as possible for safety.

"It's probably safer," she agreed. "I can't see a thing!" The sound of her digivice activating could be heard dimly amidst the chaos, and then came the voice of her partner, shouting.

"Hawkmon evolve! Aquilamon!" Turning back toward his partner, the giant bird urged her onward. "Miyako!"

She hadn't hurried immediately aboard, however, but was looking around in the chaos. "Ken!" she called, but he didn't answer, and was nowhere to be seen. "I can't find him!"

"Maybe we'll see him from the air," Aquilamon proposed. A barrage of arrows chose that moment to rain down in the midst of everything, sending mud flying, and only narrowly missing the young mage. Aquilamon was not so lucky, as a few feathers were dislodged in the attack.

Hurrying back to him, Miyako climbed quickly on to his back. "It's safer than being down here, I suppose," she admitted, and a moment later they were airborne, flying above the mud and into the sight of the Airdramon.

From the ground below, Takeru watched as she took to the air, wondering to himself if the sky really was the safer place to be or if he was better off on the ground. The mud was flying everywhere, but, amidst the chaos of it all, he could see and hear the clashing of swords a short distance away.

"I'd swear," he mumbled quietly to himself, "that it really was Daisuke that was fighting. It would be just like him, too, not to stop fighting even when an army of Airdramon appears."

"Do you suppose…," Patamon began, but was interrupted by another barrage of arrows as the serpentine digimon came around for another pass and their tamers fired their weapons. All philosophical theories were put aside for the moment, as both hurried for the nearest space that offered semblance of shelter – the carriage.

Shijo was already there, having climbed inside almost the moment the arrows had begun to fall. He was peering out through the large window in the door, eyes wide. When he saw that Takeru was hurrying toward him, he opened it in order to provide him entrance. A few steps before the carriage, however, six arrows lodged in the snow and mud mixture that now made up the ground. Takeru halted his steps and, in fact, took a few quick steps backward. A cool breeze rushed past him, and then an Airdramon hovered in the space between him and the carriage.

The tamer, dressed all in black, with a black hat on his head and a black scarf around his face so that only his dark eyes showed, slid down from his mount with practiced ease. A sword was at his waist, and as he stepped forward, his right hand moved to the handle. Behind him, still perched on the edge of the saddle, his partner Terriermon was aiming an arrow in his direction. Takeru had never before seen a Terriermon hold a bow with such ease, nor with such an expression of anger and hatred in its eyes. He took an uneasy step backward, and the Terriermon pulled the bowstring tighter, preparing to fire.

There was a high pitched noise then that interrupted the silence, and a bright light that filled in the space. Over the noise, Patamon shouted: "Patamon evolve! Angemon!"

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Tailmon shouted as they ran, dodging between the arrows and the spaces where the mud exploded with the force of Airdramon attacks.

"Pretty sure," Ken called back, but his words were swallowed with the sound of another explosion of mud that flew up into the sky and splattered even more over the landscape. Wormmon was riding on his head, holding on for dear life, and he was carrying V-mon in his arms as he ran. It was slower going than they would have liked, since feet were prone to slipping and sticking in the fresh mud.

Suddenly, he stopped short, and Tailmon slid to a halt beside him. A dozen Igamon blocked their path, each holding up a handful of shuriken that glinted in the sunlight, even sunlight blocked by flying mud.

"I don't think so," Tailmon said, shaking her head, and stepped forward. "Neko Punch!" With a flying leap and sharp claws, she easily sliced through the nearest ninja digimon, but a second target slipped out of the way before she could attack clearly.

"Wormmon evolve! Stingmon!" called the tiny caterpillar, transforming into a more formidable opponent. "Spiking Finish!" he shouted, and managed to impale another of the digimon on the first try, deleting it instantly. The rest of the Igamon vanished, moving too quickly for the eye to clearly see.

"Go!" Tailmon called back, already vanishing into the mist and mud, on the heels of an Igamon. "Hurry!"

"Wait!" V-mon shouted after her, but she'd already disappeared from sight. He looked up toward Ken with a rather fearful expression, and Ken instinctively tightened his grip upon the digimon lest he decide to chase after the feline.

"It's not much farther, I'm sure of it," he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice, and dug his feet into the ground once more. They slipped and slid in the mud, but then obliged him by moving. All around, they could hear the sounds of Airdramon screeching; at one point a blast of cool air indicated that one had flown very near indeed. Arrows thudded quietly into the mud around them, missing their intended targets and standing upright in the ground. Ken willed his feet to move faster. Staying in one place for too long might be dangerous.

"I see him!" V-mon cried out then, and, before Ken could react, had leapt out of his arms and was dashing through the mud as quickly as he could, toward his partner.

Instinctively, Ken reached to grab the speeding digimon, but V-mon was gone. He turned in the direction he was heading, and saw that Daisuke was still sitting in the mud, watching the battle between Hikari and Xiao (which was surprisingly visible in the midst of the chaos). Amazingly enough, he was unharmed. A few arrows were lodged in the mud nearby, but none close enough to worry about. The air seemed to shimmer briefly as V-mon hurried toward his partner and climbed into his lap; the result, Ken guessed, of a shield intended to protect him.

"Did you teach her, in secret?" Ken questioned, stepping closer. He wasn't sure if the barrier would admit him, but it shimmered around him and moved quietly aside. It felt as though a gentle breeze had blown past, but nothing more. "She's fighting like you."

Daisuke didn't answer, didn't turn his eyes away from the battle. It was only then that Ken remembered the odd expression that had passed over his face, the way that Xiao had held him, magically, in midair. He sat down in the mud. "I see," he said then with a sigh. "That explains things."

It felt to Hikari as though she had been fighting for days. Her arms, unaccustomed to the weight of even this light sword, were aching, and her legs were tired from fighting the mud and snow beneath her feet. Xiao did not seem to be tiring, but his mind was distracted, and his attention seemed to be partially elsewhere.

Suddenly, she felt a great burst of magic, and then a strong wind separated her from Xiao, throwing both of them backwards. She flew for a short while and then sat down hard in the mud. Shielding her eyes from the wind with one hand, she looked up.

The mud and the air were swirling, as though a whirlpool had formed in the middle of the ground and was trying to suck in the rest of the world as well. From the middle of it, strangely enough, came a dark, shadowy shape.

Hikari had seen this monster before, but it had been quite some time since then. Fear grabbed hold of her for a bit, and got the better of her, for she stumbled backward a short distance before she stopped herself, reasoning that it would not be useful to run.

To her surprise, however, Xiao had dropped to his knees, letting the sword in his hand fall to the ground uselessly beside him. It vanished, half eaten by the thick mud. "Master!" he cried out in a pitiful, wailing sort of voice. "Please! I – it is only – only a little more time, please!"

"I have no patience any longer," replied the dark shape, and with his voice all fighting and battling halted. The Airdramon halted in midair, hovering in suspense. Aquilamon, too, was still, Miyako watching from afar. The tamers and their partners held their weapons still, some of them with arrows poised upon their bows, ready to launch at any moment yet not.

"Master!" Xiao said once more, his voice now sounding as though he might burst into tears. "I have nearly succeeded, do you not see?"

"Do you think I am blind?" came the answer. "Do you call the master of all dark shadows a fool?"

"No!" the tamer said, gasping in horror. "I meant – that is…."

"Enough. Return to whence you came."

The monster raised one arm, a solemn gesture that now sent the tears bursting from the tamer's eyes without hesitation. The mud in which he knelt seemed to become darker then, as though a rain cloud had formed in the small space directly above his head. "No! Please!" he cried, and all the while the mud was rising, or perhaps he was sinking.

And then he was gone.

The Igamon, who had been before standing still, shuriken in hand, now lowered their weapons and vanished as quickly as they had arrived. Nothing else moved.

The whirlpool which had been slowly churning beneath the dark shadow now increased in intensity, spinning and whirling faster and faster. The monster Demon was sinking into the ground once more.

As he sank, he turned, and his eyes, filled with hatred and darkness, caught sight of two humans protected beneath a magical barrier a short distance away. Neither was moving.

"Destroy them," said the master of all dark and shadows, and then he was gone as well.