The Northern Kingdom

Part Twenty Six: Evolution2

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters and merchandise (and money) do not belong to me. This was written for fun and not profit. Plot, however, is mine. So there. In short, don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.

Hikari let the sword she had been holding drop to her side, though she did not release her hold upon it. She stretched out her free hand, releasing the magic with more intensity than before. The barrier she had erected grew stronger - but would it be enough to keep out an attacking army?

The skies were filled with Airdramon and tamers, with Lopmon and Terriermon, with a hundred bows and arrows aimed toward the ground. The twelve serpents blocked the morning sunlight. Tailmon, who had been battling with Igamon, was suddenly alone in the empty space.

Stingmon, Angemon, and Aquilamon were already in the air, along with Li Tan and his Airdramon. They had been fighting since the serpents' arrival. All activity had momentarily paused with Demon's arrival, and, on his orders, the tamers had abandoned these opponents to focus entirely upon the appointed target.

"Blast Laser!" shouted Aquilamon, and lunged for the nearest serpent. The tamer upon him, however, was quick to react, and immediately shifted focus toward the attacker. The serpent evaded the attack with only a short distance to spare, and the tamer himself shifted his position and aimed his arrow toward Miyako and her partner.

Aquilamon was not prepared for the arrow, and nor was Miyako. Quickly, they dodged, and almost immediately a second tamer aimed an arrow toward the mage.

"It might be safer on the ground!" Aquilamon shouted, but Miyako only gripped his feathers tighter and urged him onward. Li Tan, quick with an arrow of his own, fired a shot toward the Airdramon tamer who had fired upon Miyako, thus beginning the battle of arrows.

The Airdramon who were not engaged in air combat were free to pursue their intended goal. Their riders notched their arrows and fired. Thankfully, the missiles bounced off the invisible barrier shield.

Angemon, who had not previously been engaged in combat, dove into the fray, whole-heartedly swinging his rod and injuring a few of the Airdramon. One tamer received a blow to the stomach and fell from his mount to land upon the ground with a sickening sort of thud. Before long, all of the serpents and their riders were involved in defending themselves from attack and none of them were firing arrows nor attacks toward the ground at all.

Hikari relaxed visibly, and breathed a heavy sigh. She did not lower the shield she had raised around Daisuke (and Ken) but she did lower the arm that had been reinforcing it. She took a few steps toward the barrier herself, but was interrupted by a shout from Takeru, who had only recently left the safety of the carriage.

"Hikari! Something is coming! Something else!"

The tone of his voice suggested that he was very concerned about whatever this something might be, but before he could clarify or she could ask him to explain himself, a cold chill gripped the air. From above, if Miyako had been paying attention, she would have seen a dozen dark holes appear in the ground, similar to the holes that Demon had risen from and Xiao had sunk into. She was busy with other matters at the moment, however, and these holes were only visible to magical sight.

Instead, what Takeru and Hikari saw at that moment was only about two dozen odd-shaped greenish mounds rising from the earth like bubbles on the surface of a lake. Slowly, they rose higher, and higher, and then they could see that they were not simply green bubbles, but Ogremon. Large, ugly green digimon, covered with warts and boils, with grotesque, sadistic grins upon their faces, now filled the once empty plains.

Takeru muttered a curse under his breath and pulled a sword from somewhere within the carriage (he had been searching for one while taking shelter) and then lunged toward the nearest ogre with a shout. The ogre in question turned quickly to face his attacker and easily blocked the sword with his massive club. It then stretched one arm over its head and brought down his weapon in a wide swing that Takeru quickly and narrowly managed to dodge. Another Ogremon a few steps behind him swung his own club, and once more Takeru only narrowly avoided the attack.

"Agumon!" Shijo called out, obviously quite distressed by these tight escapes, and his partner nodded. From the doorway of the carriage, the small dinosaur opened his mouth and breathed fire toward the Ogremon, injuring it slightly.

"Stay back!" Takeru urged, knowing that Agumon would be almost useless against the larger, stronger Ogremon. Frustrated both with himself for his own uselessness and the situation around him, he forced his mind to try to remember a never completely learned skill. His feet moved quickly away from the ogre who was attacking him, but the ogre that Agumon had injured swung his own club wide. It smashed into the side of the carriage, causing a great dent to appear. Shijo, frantic now for safety, climbed out of the vehicle and ran to the far side of it, hoping to avoid any further attacks.

"Takeru!" came the voice of his partner, but Angemon was otherwise occupied with his own problems and would be unable to assist. "Trust yourself!"

Takeru mumbled a few not so pleasant words to himself, for so often had both his partner and Hikari uttered these words, and so rarely had he completely understood what they meant. It had somethingto do with magic, but trust and belief were completely different from practical knowledge, and he didn't understand how he was supposed to use magic when he'd never been trained to do so. He shut his eyes momentarily, trying to remember what it had felt like when last he'd managed to raise a shield, but that had been two years ago, and he'd had a crystal to assist him. On his own, he couldn't do any such thing.

He stumbled backward, trying to avoid the club of the Ogremon, and sat down hard in the mud. Mind whirling, head spinning, he raised his sword to block the attack, and the blade of it sank deep into the wood of the ogre's weapon. Undaunted, the ogre roared its frustration and swung his large free arm toward his opponent.

No choice, no chance, Takeru thought to himself, Is this what it is to die?

The shield held. Four Ogremon in unison slammed their fists and feet and clubs into the invisible wall, but it did not break. With each impact, Ken instinctively flinched, waiting for the one that would find a weakness and break through, but none did. Still, they continued their pursuit, undaunted.

He could see nothing beyond the wall, could see nothing at all but the green of Ogremon skin and the wood of their clubs. He could hear nothing but roars and thuds as they continued their task with single minded purpose and determination.

In the sky, the battle continued as before, as though the Ogremon had never appeared. Arrows were flying everywhere, Aquilamon was forced to evade like never before, and it was all Miyako could do to hold on to his feathers tightly and not fall to the ground. She was not aware of the Ogremon, nor was she much aware of what was occurring in the battle she was involved in.

From nowhere, or so it seemed to her, an arrow flew closely near her head. She did not remember afterwards having released her hold upon her partner's body, but she must have done so, because then she was falling through the air. Aquilamon, quite concerned with a serpent that was flying very closely near his head, was not even immediately aware of her departure. Thankfully, she reacted quickly, hurriedly using her magic to slow her fall so that she landed gently upon the ground. She glanced upward to see an Airdramon and her partner very narrowly avoid collision.

The ground, she saw, was filled with Ogremon. Almost immediately, one of the monsters, noticing her arrival, began to move toward her, and Miyako instinctively took a few steps backward, only to realize that she was actually moving a bit closer toward another group of them heading in the same direction.

"Get…back," she heard a voice mutter in frustration and anger, and she heard the unmistakable sound of a sword's metal as it clanked against the thick skin of an ogre's back.

Miyako shut her eyes briefly, remembering a long-ago seen page in a magical textbook. She curved both of her hands into cups, facing palm up. A flash of magical spark ignited in the air above each hand, and then shortly afterward exploded into a ball of flame. She lifted her right arm and pulled back, tossing the first ball toward the Ogremon directly in front of her. Upon contact with the ogre's skin, it spread out and then quickly engulfed the creature fully. At first, it seemed merely confused, and then it began to bat at the flames as though they were a minor annoyance. Before long, however, it was completely aflame, and the stupid digimon deleted with a shout of frustrated anger.

As she was not so skilled with throwing while using her left arm, Miyako lowered the second fireball to the ground and allowed it to spread toward the group of Ogremon that were nearby. These flames did not immediately engulf any of the monsters, but spread out in a wide circle so that they surrounded the small group.

The sound of a sword clanking could be heard, and Miyako followed the sound to see that Hikari was still swinging the weapon at the Ogremon, trying to hack through the crowd of them. As the magical fire spread, surrounding the group of them, Hikari stepped back instinctively to avoid the flames. A brief look of confusion passed over her face, and then she turned toward Miyako.

"No!" she shouted across the distance. "They're inside – the Ogremon have surrounded them!"

Miyako frowned briefly – this ruined her plans to destroy a large group of the digimon – and then modified the magic. The line of fire now spread between the monsters and, forcing them aside, cleared a path through the crowd.

The Ogremon brought down its massive arm, and its palm smashed into nothingness with such force that the shockwave briefly reverberated through its bones and caused it some minor discomfort. Groaning with pain, it dropped the club and the sword imbedded within it to the ground, giving Takeru barely enough time to remove the blade of his weapon from the club.

Some sort of strange sensation was pulsing through his right arm – he could feel it even as he gripped the sword once more. Is this magic? he wondered to himself. Is this what it feels like?

The ogre recovered quickly from the minor setback it had experienced. More enraged than before, it took its club from the ground and swung it in a wide arc toward Takeru, who instinctively took a step back and, switching the sword to his left hand, raised his right.

Once more, the ogre's attack slammed into nothing. It pulled back its club and brought it down once more, and then once more after that. Almost dumbfounded, Takeru stared at the space where the club was hitting, waiting, expecting to see something, anything there. His mind whirled, trying to remember when he had seen Miyako raise shields. Always, there had been some hint that there wassomething, but this? This was completely invisible! Why was that?

Before he could completely wrap his mind around the possibilities or further explore the situation he was in and its implications, Takeru's attention was drawn to the sound of splintering wood, as the other ogre's club had once more done great damage to the carriage. Shijo and his partner Agumon were dodging the blows with only inches to spare.

Realizing that he must shift his focus from his own defense to either offense or defense of others, Takeru shifted his feet, slowly circling the Ogremon before him, which was even now relentlessly and uselessly pounding his club into the solid wall of nothingness which prevented the successful elimination of his opponent. Undaunted, the ogre continued to swing its club, and the shield continued to hold.

The odd tingling sensation in Takeru's right arm briefly grew stronger. Only now did he briefly see some flash of light, and then the Ogremon took a step backward, as though questioning what it saw.

Maybe, Takeru thought, if I could expand this shield – if that's what it is – is that what it is?

Thinking about it, trying to explain the situation to himself in a way that made sense, seemed impossible. "How can I do something if I don't know what I'm doing?" he questioned allowed, directing the question half toward himself and half toward his partner.

"Trust yourself!" Angemon called back unhelpfully. "You have to do it without thinking about it!"

"That's completely false!" Takeru retorted. "Koushiro does nothing but think about things, and he's a great wizard!"

Angemon had no response to this, perhaps because he was otherwise engaged in battling the Airdramon. In any case, Takeru decided it wouldn't hurt to at least try to follow his partner's advice. He focused his mind and his energy upon his right hand, which was now tingling so much it felt as though it had fallen asleep and was only now trying to regain feeling.

The Ogremon had raised its club for attack once more, but now, with its arms still positioned almost comically above its head, its feet began to slowly slide backwards, digging into the mud and dirt as the magical field expanded and pushed against the weight of the ogre. Roaring out his displeasure, the Ogremon struggled against the force of the magic, but didn't seem strong enough to break through it. Takeru took note of this, but, rather than dwelling upon it, pushed into the back of his mind and focused his attention even stronger upon the strange sensation in his right hand.

The field of magic expanded farther, spreading out across the open space. When it reached the half-destroyed carriage, it encountered another ogre, which it continued to push back, away from the boy and his Agumon who were taking shelter behind and beneath it. Taking note of the situation, Shijo poked his head out from under the vehicle and watched with wide eyes as both the ogres were pushed back through the mud and dirt.

"Shijo!" Takeru shouted. "Get over here!"

Immediately, Shijo picked up his partner in his arms and hurried through the mud and half-melted snow to Takeru, until he was standing beside him. The Ogremon, who had been fighting against the magic for some time now, finally were forced to give in, and both sat down hard in the mud. Feeling suddenly drained and exhausted, Takeru released his focus and the strange feeling in his hand faded away completely.

Before anything else could happen, a line of fire spread across the open space, fueled by nothing and yet extending outward. It halted only a short distance before the carriage, and created a barrier between Takeru, Shijo, Agumon, and the Ogremon, which were already getting to their feet. The flames leapt higher into the air, effectively dissuading the ogres from attacking once more.

Takeru turned his head the direction that the flames had come from, and was not surprised to see Miyako in that location. She was crouched low to the ground, her left hand placed, palm down, on the ground. The fire was spreading not only toward Takeru and Shijo, but in the opposite direction as well, and in two other directions at the same time, so that the flames were forming a giant X-shape in the ground. He turned to walk toward her, and was surprised to find that his vision momentarily became blurry and the strength in his legs faltered. Shijo, who had been staring wide-eyed at him for the past few moments, reached out and took his arm before he could fall into the mud.

"Careful," he said. "I guess that must have taken a lot of energy, right?"

"I guess," Takeru admitted, straightening up. He looked at his right hand for a few moments until it was no longer blurry-looking.

They reached Miyako a few moments later, at the same moment that she was rising once more to a standing position. A number of the Ogremon had been deleted, though not all, and a number of others were injured, some badly. The mage turned her gaze skyward in time to see her partner fly overhead at a considerable speed, his attacks burning damage into the Airdramon he was pursuing.

Hikari was enjoying no such respite, but was pummeling the nearest Ogremon with the blade of her sword. As it was already damaged badly by the fire, a few quick swipes were all that was needed to delete the ogre.

"Baby Flame!" called Agumon, eager to assist, and managed to delete an Ogremon of his own. Only a few of the ogres remained now, and they were all in no condition to cause trouble. A few had actually sat down on the ground, too weak or badly injured to stand any longer.

"Somehow," Takeru said, surprising himself with how tired he sounded, "I don't think it's over."

Hikari had lowered her weapon and was frowning at the nearest Ogremon with an unusually intense stare of displeasure. "No," she mumbled, deepening her frown, "not yet." She sighed deeply, and then turned her head toward the others. "Miyako," she said, "do you think you could…."

Before she could finish the sentence however, an icy cold chill seemed to fill the air. A shadow passed over the sun, though it was not possible to determine what caused it. Then, the sound of an Airdramon screeching pierced the eardrums of everyone present.

"What - ?" Takeru questioned, and in the din of noise his voice sounded no louder than a whisper. He dropped the sword he'd been holding and put both his hands over his ears.

The tamer and the Lopmon which had been riding one of the Airdramon went flying, landing with a terrible thud in the mud below. A darkness seemed to be engulfing the serpentine digimon, and it seemed to be causing it some pain, if the noise it was emitting was any clue as to its state of mind.

"I think it's evolving," Miyako shouted as the high pitched screeches grew slowly deeper in pitch and the shape of the digimon seemed to be changing somewhat.

The darkness suddenly vanished, replaced with an odd, dark sort of bright flash that temporarily blinded all present. When he could see again, Takeru saw that the Airdramon had indeed evolved, replaced with a different sort of serpentine digimon. This one appeared more powerful than its previous form, and its wings appeared to be formed of metal rather than skin. Now, instead of a bone casing protecting its face, a fierce metallic mask of armor shielded it. It had arms now, as well, and odd, metallic hands at the end of them.

"What is that?" Miyako questioned in the stunned silence.

"Giga Dramon!" shouted the digimon, as though in response to the question. Its voice was deep and powerful. As though in approval, or perhaps respect, the remaining Airdramon screeched out an answer to this, a cacophony of noise that filled the open plains.

The mouth of the Giga Dramon curved into a smile, and its yellow eyes almost glowed in the morning sunlight.

The metallic points upon the ends of its hands were actually formed from three separate points which had come together. Now, these sections separated, revealing a space between them, and the digimon moved both his massive arms in front of him. A glowing ball of energy formed at the end of each of his arms, and slowly grew larger.

"Uh-oh," Agumon said, eyes growing wide.

"Reinforce that shield!" Miyako shouted, raising both her own arms. "We won't get there in time, we can't stop it, so shield against it!"

Hikari had been staring at the newly-evolved digimon with a similar shocked expression as Agumon, and now she turned that same face toward Miyako. "You think that will stand a chance?"

"We don't have a choice," she replied, gritting her teeth. "We have to try."

"But…," Hikari began, and looked up at the glowing energy in the sky.

"It's the only possible chance!" Miyako said, and now turned toward Hikari, revealing a bit of desperation in her eyes. "We have to try."

"Genocide Gear," stated the Giga Dramon in a calm, slightly amused voice, and fired its attack.

Takeru could hear the sound of the digimon's attack, a loud whooshing noise as it gathered the necessary energy into a single stream of deadly power. He could see Hikari and Miyako, both struggling to reinforce the shield around Daisuke and Ken, quite some distance away.

He could hear a high pitched beeping noise.

The stream of power crossed the sky and crashed into the magical shield with a loud explosion of light.

"Tailmon evolve!" called a voice above the cacophony.

More distantly, another, deeper voice was calling, "Aquilamon evolve!"

A third voice then shouted, "Silphymon!"

An interesting fact that I learned while writing this: it is possible for Silphymon to evolve from Airdramon. I did not know that when I was planning this section in my head.

Computer problems continue to slow my progress. Also, I am a master at procrastination. I would like to say I am back on track now, but I can make no guarantees.

I estimate 4-5 more chapters. Perhaps less. Perhaps more. Thanks for your patience.