Chapter 23: Victory and Defeat, Hand in Hand!
Legend
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Digital World -Ironfist - Day 15 - 8:30 AM
POV: Kaito Akimoto
Sasuke could normally find words to fit any situation. But today he found his tongue caught and his stomach tied in knots. This situation left him with nothing but the ability to stare. What was needed was something bizarre to force him to snap out of his current frazzled state.
Such event was delivered when Kaito Akimoto walked up from behind him in near mint condition. Sasuke's head snapped to the right and he looked up at the taller, and older, boy. Kaito returned the gaze and they held an awkward silence until Scion uttered a baffled 'how'.
"Kid, I don't even understand totally." Kaito flexed his fingers. "I'm just here to offer some help….and judging by your situation, I think you're going to need all of the help I can give."
Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but Shingen put a hand on the young man. "How about we save the questions for later…Look."
Shingen pointed to the piled high mound of rubble that was caused by the by Dinohumon and Dorugamon's attack, the three boys watched as the rocks began to rumble as those buried underneath struggled to free themselves.
The question was…was it the Dinohumon and Dorugamon, or NeoDevimon? Out of the rubble blundered, much to the relief of those watching, the two hero Digimon. They clamored out of the wreckage and hurried, with battered bodies, over to their respective partner.
Kaito sighed with relief as Sasuke jumped up and grabbed Dorugamon's neck, much to the Dragon's disapproval, and as Shingen gave his partner a warm pat on the shoulder and a nod of satisfaction. Normally it would have made the day brighter…but looking off to the right he saw Ayumi and Riku tending to their partners, who were forced to their rookie stages by the weight of their wounds.
"What should we do now?" Shingen asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "To continue fighting might not be the best option."
Kaito crossed his arms. "Yeah …besides my own partner, our fighting strength is really shot, and let's be honest…We aren't exactly a great team, haha."
"There aren't any options to choose from, other then when. We fight him now, or we fight him later, I say we take our chances and go for now," Sasuke commented, in typical tough guy fashion. "While we are together!"
Heh, kid has spunk. "Alright. Listen up then, and I don't have the time to give you the full low down on this character but I saw him digivolve twice and then change completely, and it all has to do with the Sword."
"Sword?" Sasuke and Shingen simultaneously said.
"Right," Kaito nodded. "I think it's a digi-core in essence but with some kind of special properties. Anyway, if we can somehow extract it from NeoDevimon or destroy it completely, we should, with any luck, reduce him to his original strength."
Sasuke looked a bit confused. "He has a sword in him..? Oof!" The boy's head was pushed down by Shingen, who nodded.
"Right, so finding some way to remove or destroy it should be our focus."
"Exactly."
"Wait a minute!" Freeing himself from Shingen's grasp, Sasuke pointed to the still dormant pile of rocks. "He might be defeated already, and even if he isn't, how are we supposed to take something out of him when we can barely scratch him!?"
The two older boys turned to the rubble and stared with a cruel understanding of what such a thing meant. Sasuke looked up at them both, meeting their eyes separately and only for a few seconds. Shingen turned his head away and Kaito balled his fists.
"No…we can't," Sasuke whispered.
"If it comes to that…" Kaito mumbled, cutting him off.
"If it comes to that I'll do it." Shingen looked to Dinohumon who simply nodded. What could you say when something of this magnitude was decided?
But Sasuke was not pacified. "No…No! We won't do that! We WON'T!"
Sasuke… "I'm sorry kid…" Kaito looked up and his face grew grim. "We don't have time to discuss this anymore.
Whipping around, Sasuke watched NeoDevimon's rocky grave be blown apart by dark energies. The evil digimon stood tall and craned his neck to the left and right, the cacophony of cracking bones echoing faintly. What was instantly notable about the Ultimate was that he had been damaged, but one could only tell by the way he was breathing, as his body seemed no worse for the wear. In fact, the only noticeable change in his appearance was a light pulsating from his chest, a faded light in a very familiar shape.
The Sword!
Kaito made to point at NeoDevimon's chest, but the glowing light faded away before he could do so, and, with the light, so did the fallen angel's fatigue. So the Sword only reveals itself when NeoDevimon is harmed…that'll be tricky.
"Shingen,"
"I saw it. "
"We've got to hurt him again and make it reveal itself. The best choice would be…"
"An all-out attack."
"Dorugamon will lead and," pointing at Kaito with a sharp look Sasuke made his message clear even before he opened his mouth, "no one is dying today!"
I can't guarantee that Sasuke… "Right, no one dies." Kaito put on his most convincing smile. He was sure that Sasuke would fall for it, the boy was far too trusting.
"Can we stop talking and fight already!?" Dorugamon roared impatiently.
"A true warrior does not relish battle, but sees it as a means to an end," Dinohumon rebuked.
"Who cares? We don't have any choice but to fight, that's what matters." Putting his two cents in, Gaogamon crouched low, ready to move at a moment's notice.
With a nod, the Digidestined turned to face NeoDevimon, who awaited their next attack with an icy calm. The towering enemy seemed to care little that the Digidestined were biding there time; in fact, he seemed to be biding his own. Perhaps he was more injured than the trio of children dared to hope for.
But the battle had begun and Dorugamon charged without waiting for his partner, forcing Gaogamon and Dinohumon to enter the fray as well. The three Digidestined sent silent prayers after their partners and hoped they would be victorious in a fight that had already nearly cost them three digimon, three comrades…three friends.
Seeing the approaching attackers, NeoDevimon lifted his arm. "Come, and feel deletion!" With a flick of his wrists, his arms stretched out towards the Chosen children's digimon. Dorugamon tried to veer out of the way, but battle fatigue slowed him just enough to allow NeoDevimon to grab one of his legs and slam him into the ground.
The other hand attacked Gaogamon but, being rejuvenated, he was able to dodge the outstretched arm. But NeoDevimon was not deterred and simply changed his focus of attack towards Dinohumon, who had unfortunately positioned himself behind the dog champion. He was struck in the chest so hard he reeled backwards, his head slamming into the ground before his feet did.
Gaogamon unleashed his Spiral Blow special attack, releasing a tornado from his mouth. NeoDevimon could do nothing more than take the blow with both of his arms preoccupied. Following up on his attack, Gaogamon pushed himself to his limits in terms of speed and struck the fazed NeoDevimon with his Dash Double Claw attack. The twin attack forced the fallen angel to released Dorugamon and sent him back into the canyon wall.
But NeoDevimon was not to be outdone and even in his stupor he was able to redirect his retracting arms to latch onto Gaogamon from behind. Smashing the champion into the ground, NeoDevimon retracted his arms and dragged Gaogamon forcibly across the ground until both limbs were returned to their normal length.
The dust cleared and NeoDevimon stepped forward as he lifted Gaogamon into the air, a glower on the Ultimate's face. "You…I disposed of you once already! This time, I will make sure you are gone! Stun-!" Intervening at just the right time Dorugamon appeared and latched down on NeoDevimon's right arm with a powerful bite.
"Argh! Pest, how dare you!" Releasing his left arm, leaving his trapped right to hold Gaogamon, he prepared to attack again, but once more he was interrupted by Dinohumon who rushed forward, grabbing the left arm and pinning it to the canyon wall with his smaller twin blades, which he had retrieved after the rock avalanche incident.
"We won't let you hurt another of our comrades!" Dinohumon protested. Dorugamon also mumbled something but being a bit tied up at the mouth allowed him only a series of grunts and growls.
"Yeah, and you can let go of me! Spiral Blow!" Having regained consciousness Gaogamon attack again, the tornado burrowing into NeoDevimon and causing extensive damage, due to the close range, and prompted from said digimon a shriek of agony. The cry of pain from the Ultimate was the first real sign that they had inflicted damage.
Back at a safer distance, Sasuke, Shingen, and Kaito stood in stunned silence. Hope had returned to their eyes, hope for victory! They looked to each other with small smiles, a few nods, and even a sigh of relief.
"We can do it…we can win!" Shingen put a hand to his head in almost disbelief.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Scion jumped into the air, flailing his arms and allowing himself his traditional grin that reached from ear to ear.
"Just a little more…we just need to attack the Sword and we win!" Kaito beamed at the three valiant digimon as they struggled to hold NeoDevimon in place and keep him from moving as Gaogamon attacked unhindered. In fact the only unpleasant thing was NeoDevimon's cries of pain. "Come on, we need to root them on!" Kaito darted forward, Shingen and Sasuke following in close pursuit.
Just a little more Gaogamon! We'll beat this guy, find the rest of the Prophecy and go home! You'll get to meet my mom and dad. Just a little more! A little more!
Before his eyes the struggle continued, though things had begun to turn against the hero digimon. NeoDevimon lifted both Dorugamon and Gaogamon and was slamming them into the canyon to the Fallen Angel's right. Gaogamon couldn't free himself due to NeoDevimon's grip on his neck and Dorugamon, well, he just simply refused to let go. Only Dinohumon seemed to be holding his own, though the powerful digimon's left arm was noticeably struggling against the two blades pinning it to the wall.
In an instant the tables turned and, in a massive electrical shock, all three digimon were blasted away from NeoDevimon, sparks bouncing across their bodies for several seconds after. Tearing away Dinohumon's blades from his arm the fallen angel inspected the deep cuts and growled sinisterly as bits of data trickled out of the wounds.
The once-triumphant Digidestined came to a skidding halt as their partners struggled to stand, their bodies still reacting violently from the last attack. Only Gaogamon was able to stand quickly enough to avoid the attack to come. In a vicious assault, NeoDevimon lashed out with both claws, intent on Gaogamon.
The dog champion leapt up and onto the first arm to reach it, sprint up the length of the attacking limb to assualt NeoDevimon, but was struck unaware by the second arm as it snaked into the ground and out again just before Gaogamon. The champion howled as the first arm came around and placed its grip on its prisoner.
"Like I promised…YOU WON'T BE COMING BACK!"
Kaito's entire body tensed and he could only look away as the familiar sound of electricity filled the air. Once he had been unable to do anything to help his partner; he would not allow it to happen again. But Sasuke had read his mind and tackled him to the ground before he got one foot off the ground and instantly the two were wrestling for control, with Kaito screaming to be let free.
"No, no! Let Dorugamon and Dinohumon help him! Argh…Shingen, where are you?! Help meeee--Ack! Hey, that hurt!"
The sounds of attack stopped and all looked to see NeoDevimon holding not Gaogamon, but Gaomon. Another Digidestined had fallen. For Dorugamon, however, it only fueled his bestial rage as he charged savagely towards NeoDevimon. But rage blinded Dorugamon and instead he was slammed hard with the body of Gaomon. The champion grabbed his comrade and put him to the ground, and in that moment he too lost.
"Stun Claw!"
The striking blow snaked forward, striking Dorugamon at the chest and sending a shock through his body. Pulling back his left arm NeoDevimon prepared for the finishing attack. "Be gone, Guilty Claw!" The Fallen Angel's claws morphed into a singular blade. Sasuke, along with Kaito, watched in utter horror as the fallen angel pulled back his attack…and thrust.
The sound of tearing flesh echoed ominously, hanging in the air.
…What? Kaito's look of shock was replaced with a gasp, following by tears and grinding teeth.
"No…Why did you do that! WHY?!" Sasuke roared, tears already profusely pouring. The little boy, so courageous normally, couldn't even pick himself up off the ground.
All he could do was reach out…as if he could stop time.
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Digital World -Ironfist - Day 15 - 9:00 AM
POV: None
NeoDevimon looked to his left, where Dinohumon was holding his arm with both hands. He had tried to come over and stop the blow from ever reaching Dorugamon and Gaomon. NeoDevimon, with glassy eyes, then looked to his front.
"Ironic."
Shingen's sword was plunged deep into NeoDevimon, striking just where the Sword had shown itself. But unfortunately…Shingen, in doing so, had taken the full brunt of NeoDevimon's attack.
"Shingen…Shingen, say something!" Dinohumon roared.
But the boy was still, standing with his hand gripping his sword. Like a statue. NeoDevimon's attack had punctured his stomach and if not for Dinohumon holding the attack back…he would have been skewered. The Champion's face refused to show weakness; he pulled NeoDevimon's arm free and rushed to his partner before he collapsed to the ground.
As for NeoDevimon, all he could feel was the unhinging. Looking down at his stomach a faint glow began to shine through. The Ultimate looked up at the sky, coughed, and said, "To think…to be defeated by a human child…oh, the irony." NeoDevimon coughed one last time before the light of the Sword engulfed him, Shingen, and Dinohumon, completely. The light turned into an orb and then shot into the sky.
Like a pillar, the light rose and then vanished from the bottom up….No sign of Shingen or Dinohumon was left in its wake…
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POV: Shingen Takeda
Huh!?
He awoke, sitting up, and looked around him. Darkness, nothing but faint light around him, like candlelight. Feeling something at his leg, Shingen jumped away. It appeared be a round ball with horns and a tail. He crept forward and touched it.
"I don't want to wake up yet!"
Shingen could have cried! It was Kapurimon, Kotemon's In-training form. He petted his partner softly and turned his head to get a better view of his surrounding. With his sight adjusted, he could clearly see he was in what appeared to be a traditional Japanese room, complete with shoto - Japanese sliding doors - and even a large banner at the back of the room with a clan's symbol. Walking over to the banner, Shingen could clearly see what the symbol was.
The realization made his stomach lurch.
That's...impossible.
"Who's there…?"
That voice… Shingen spun around on his heels as the shoto slid open and a figure walked in with a lit candle holder. The person was female, dressed in a traditional night gown, and had black hair down to her waist. He'd recognize that person anywhere in the world.
That person also recognized Shingen, and with that revelation she dropped the candle holder and rushed both hands to her mouth out of habit.
She always did try to hide her mouth when she was afraid …never worked though.
"…Is….Is it really you?"
He didn't understand. Why was he here? Why now? HOW?! But all of those questions melted away when he looked at her. Even in shock she seemed to calm him.
"Yes, it's me. How are you…Mother?"
Author's Notes: Alright, so yes, I seem to be taking longer and longer to update these days, I know. I've just been taking longer and thinking more, and with college starting that always cuts into your time. But, I am here and shall continue to return as often as time permits.
First off, let me assure you all, this is much more logical than it may seem. This isn't like how Tai and Agumon went to the real world after they fought Etemon, it has a bit more depth to it. In fact, the pillar of light was already revealed to you readers (and if you forgot, well, shame on you!). So fear not, things will make sense, though I can't promise they will right away! But I am fairly excited about the next chapter, I get to introduce a parent! I bet some of you were wondering if I was going to leave the adults out of the story, well I am NOT! Hah!
Well, I hope I haven't lost all of my readers with my rather random updating system. You'll have to stick with me on this one guys, I really am thankful for those of you that have stayed with me on this somewhat darker digimon adventure story, I know for some it is a big break from the usual. I hope everyone enjoys this latest, and rather intense, chapter. I look forward to your reviews!
-Arc