A/N: Hey, hey! I come baring another chapter! Thanks to Martiny, Something dictionary related, Asarikou-chan, and madjack89 for reviewing. =) Only two more chapters! They'll be updated tomorrow and I'll also have news for you guys as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier. If I did…well, we all know what would happen if I owned it.
A Changed Destiny
Chapter 28: Koichi's Choice
He had no idea how long he had been in the darkness. The darkness felt as if it compressed down on him, bringing a sense of claustrophobia to the boy. Breathing came hard and only one thought came to him: WhereamI?
He heard footsteps. Panic arose, so the boy ran. How far he ran, he wasn't sure but he knew that he was being followed. Bam, bam, bam, echoed the footsteps as the predator chased its prey. The prey found himself afraid. No matter how far he ran, the predator caught up.
The boy eventually found himself cornered and was forced to turn upon his pursuer. Two gleaming red swords were pointed at him, poised and ready to run him through. The boy gulped and stared at the bloodthirsty red eyes, shivering.
"You got away once, rabbit, but I won't let you get away again."
"No." The boy shrank back against the wall.
The swords plunged forwards but something parried them. He heard a roar and the darkness faded to a lighter gray, almost like shadows. The atmosphere also lightened up until it became comfortable and eased the fear in the boy.
The boy turned his eyes towards hit protector, a large gray and gold figure. "Who are you?"
Dark brown eyes met the blue ones. "Don't be afraid of what you are. Where there is darkness, a guiding light is there."
And that was where Koichi woke up, and just a split second before he rolled off something soft and then onto the ground. Dazed, the dark haired boy pushed himself up and quickly surveyed the area he was in, blinking a few times as he noted the worried gazes of his friends and a rather new Digimon. Quickly, he deduced that they were in a Trailmon and he had fallen off one seats
"You okay?" asked JP's worried voice.
"Yeah," he affirmed, nodding as the boy repositioned himself on the seat he had fallen off of. Koichi noted their cautious looks and became nervous himself. "Um…are you all right?"
Zoe was the first to smile. "Yeah, just a little banged and bruised," she answered, twirling her upper arm in the air for emphasis.
"We're glad to see you're all right, Koichi!" Bokomon said from next to Takuya.
Koichi noted the small Digimon and peered at it curiously. "Who's that?"
"That's Patamon," Tommy said as the small Digimon plopped onto the boy's oversized hat. "He came from Seraphimon's egg and it hatched just before…" The Warrior of Ice quickly fell silent before changing the subject. "Um…is it true that…Strabimon is…gone?"
Koichi closed his eyes and nodded solemnly and he heard the gasps from the others. His mind flew back to that instance when Strabimon had sacrificed himself and it brought an ache to the young Warrior. Shaking the thoughts from his head, the dark haired boy looked at Patamon. The said Digimon stared back at Koichi, rather unsure about the dark haired boy. "He's afraid of me," Koichi noted with a small frown.
Koichi then felt a pair of eyes set on him and turned towards where the stare was coming from and met an identical pair, making his own widen. Koji noted Koichi was looking right back at him and turned his head away rather shamefacedly. The other dark haired boy adverted his own eyes to the ground, feeling rather guilty himself for wanting to kill his own brother, the one he was searching for… Now that Koji was in reach, what would he do? Koichi had thought of several things to say to him if they had met but the circumstances that the Digital World set them up with would seem awkward than the lines Koichi had mentally prepared himself with. The dark haired boy sighed.
"Yeah, Koji joined us in bringing you back," Takuya said in a low voice, sending a glance over at the boy in the bandana.
"I guess I have a bit to catch up on," Koichi laughed with an almost sad tone.
And that was what they did. Being sure to skip over the Velgemon incident, the group explained how they had traveled a short distance in hopes of finding cover and how they had found a scrap yard of run down Trailmon and how they "helped" the one they were now riding (or rather threatened the Trailmon into repaying them after it had tricked them) and that now, they were on their way to the Rose Morning Star with information that their destination also was Cherubimon's castle and that, before the humans had arrived in the Digital World, that the very Trailmon they were on had taken the captive Ophanimon to their very destination.
"You know, Koichi, I have to admit that Koji is a lot better now than when he was on Cherubimon's side," JP said rather loudly, earning an elbow to the gut from the female on the team.
She coughed before reiterating what he had said. "What he means is that Koji had come a long way and is rather likeable." The conversation then lapsed into silence as the boy had nothing to say to affirm or deny the given statement and so, the Trailmon chugged away as Koichi just deeper into his thoughts.
Zoe looked between the two brothers, frowning. After all this time, Koichi had finally found his brother and got him back in the right senses but neither seemed like they'd be talking any time soon. Back in Japan, she had normally stayed out of pushing people into other situations but this time, it was rather different as she had changed and Koichi was the blonde's friend. Zoe had to say something but she wasn't quite sure what and so, she turned to Takuya. "You know, Koji looks rather sad. How about you talk with him?" the Warrior of Wind suggested.
Takuya must've been thinking of doing something too and he looked back at her. "I think it would be way easier to talk with Koichi about this entire thing," he admitted. "Besides, why do you want me to talk with Koji and not yourself?"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember me slapping him, do you?" she asked, none too amused.
"Right," Takuya answered, dropping the subject before he would somehow lose the argument.
X::::::::::X
As soon as the Trailmon came to a stop, Takuya did just that. Having stopped for a short break, the Trailmon had been kind enough to come to a small station that had a small accommodation for those who were stuck for a while. Takuya watched Koji go in, most likely to put himself at a distance from the others while he thought. Zoe nudged the Warrior of Fire, signaling that this was his chance.
Takuya narrowed his eyes for a minute. "Then who's going to talk with Koichi?"
"I will," she answered, waving Takuya off. "I'm also taking Patamon with me, so it might ease the tension."
"Good luck with that. Patamon seems to be wary of him."
"Yeah but it'll all the same start up a conversation." With that, the Warrior of Wind went to gather the small Digimon.
Takuya, left alone, looked towards the small building and saw Koji sitting down, staring at the ground through the round window. He willed himself to move forwards. True, he didn't trust the boy with his life yet—that would be rather insane, as Koji had tried to kill him once and most likely tried to kill Koichi twice—but he had forged a small bond with the boy through the work they did on the Trailmon, so that had to count for something. Reflecting on it, the only way he could have made a bond with JP at all was through working with him. Maybe things would be somewhat similar? Well, trial and error!
With that, he opened the door slowly and peeked his head in. Koji had heard the squeaking of the door and looked up to see the rather awkward Warrior of Flame enter the room. Unsure how to begin, the two stood—or in Koji's case, sat—for several minutes in silence.
"Uh, hi," he began. "Hope I'm not being to nosey…" Koji looked at him sideways, as if the brunet was crazy. Well, that's absolutely a great way to start off ac onversation, Takuya thought sarcastically. "Look, if you need to talk to someone, I'm your guy," the Warrior of Flame continued. "It's a rather open policy as we're comrades and stuff." After saying that, he felt more like an idiot and so, to further wound his pride, Takuya decided to go out on a limb and further break the awkwardness. "And…I'm sorry for being rather harsh on you when we were fighting against Koichi." He really wasn't good at this.
"What do brothers even do?" Koji spoke up suddenly, rather surprising Takuya.
Well, at least this was right up his alley. "What do brothers do? Do you not have a brother or something?" Realizing what he had said, Takuya quickly added, "Besides Koichi, I mean."
The dark haired boy nodded. "I was raised as an only child and now…I learn I have a brother…who knows what other lies—," Koji was quick to cut himself off, realizing he was starting to spill his emotional past out and quickly became agitated, glowering at the brunet.
"Not digging or judging here," Takuya said, raising his hands. "Well, brothers do a lot of things, I guess…play together, fight with each other, do stupid things together…man, this is making me miss Shinya a lot." The boy chuckled to himself, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, that sounds great," muttered the dark haired boy.
Takuya frowned, rather annoyed. "Well, having brothers isn't a walk in the daisies. Just like any relationship, it takes work—oh God, I'm starting to sound like my mother…but, what I'm saying is that it takes time to become friends with people. It isn't instant ramen."
"Then what makes you think he wants to be my brother—"
Takuya almost wanted to slap his face. "—after all you did? Yeah, let me tell you, you aren't the only one who's made mistakes. I've done crap I'm not proud of and Koichi also feels like an idiot after all that has happened. Let me tell you, out of all of us, Koichi is the only one that hasn't lost fate in you, despite not knowing you."
This struck a cord with Koji and he looked up, almost guilty. The former evil Warrior wasn't sure how to process this information. How could someone hold onto a faint hope like that?
Takuya examined the look on the boy's face as silence fell. At first, he remained unsure how Koji would be so surprised and so distant in trying to talk with Koichi and then he remembered what Koji had said. The realization dawned on the Warrior of Flame; of course he would be distant and wouldn't know what to do and if Takuya was in his place, the Warrior of Flame, too, wouldn't be sure what to do either when all the truths he was raised with were false.
"Well, maybe this can be a starting point?" he said. "You do want to know more about him, right?"
Koji contemplated this for a minute. "Maybe," he answered. Takuya couldn't help but let a half-smirk come to his face. Koji seemed to be the type that worked in yes or no and the way he said "maybe" sounded a lot like a yes. "First contact is needed to make a bond, remember, Koji," the Warrior of Flame said before dismissing himself.
X::::::::::X
After all the humans were rested and the Trailmon boarded, it took off. Zoe sat next to Takuya and, keeping her eyes glued out the window. "So," she said to Takuya. "How'd it go?"
"I made progress," he answered, a half smirk on his face as he stared out the window as well. "I think Koji's one to search for answers and apparently, he has quite a few questions."
The blonde looked at the boy in goggles and blinked for a second, surprised. "Well, that's surprising," she admitted. "Maybe you're able to do more than fight and make stupid plans."
Takuya chuckled. "Hey, need I remind you that I've accomplished more than that?" he shot back, half-jokingly.
"Right," the Warrior of Wind answered, turning her green eyes back to the window. The Warrior of Flame made an annoyed noise and looked back out the window as well.
"What are they talking about, JP?" Tommy asked, looking up at the boy in blue that stared jealously at the two as if they were a little too quaint. The young brunet noted the look on the elder boy's face and then concernedly asked, "Um, are you okay, JP?"
"Yeah," the Warrior of Thunder frowned before answering the little boy's first question, "They were trying to put the brothers together to talk. If you ask me, they could've worked it out on their own."
"But we're Koichi's friend," The Warrior of Ice pointed out.
"Yes, and as friends, we shouldn't always be butting into what they're doing," JP answered. "Let's just hope it doesn't blow up in their faces."
Tommy smiled. "I'm sure it won't!" His childish optimism had yet been outgrown despite all they had been through and this made the older brunet smile thoughtfully. Maybe few things change.
Meanwhile, Koichi and Koji had found themselves in a rather awkward silence for several minutes as neither had the nerve to say anything. Finally, annoyed by the silence, the two spoke at the same moment. Koichi waved for his twin to go first and Koji nodded, looking down at his hands.
"This is…rather hard for me to process…learning I have a brother and all…" he began.
"You grew up as an only child," Koichi stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah…wait, how did you know?" Koji asked, rather surprised that Koichi knew this information.
Realizing what he had said, the one with the shorter hair turned a bright red. How weird would it be to tell his brother stalked him? "J-just a good guess," he said quickly. Having that out on the table, Koichi ran with it. "You said that you're having a hard time taking in that you have a brother, so I kind of assumed…"
"Well, be careful of that. It can make an ass out of you and me," the new Warrior of Light responded and the other twin cracked a smile.
"It's rather understandable," Koichi continued, looking out the window. "I didn't learn I had a brother either until Grandma told me just before…well, a while ago. I had a rather hard time processing it as well until I dug deeper."
"Well, it makes sense now," Koji mused, looking up. "I now know why my name means 'second light.' You must be 'first light.'" The boy in the bandana looked uncertain for a minute. "Do you…think you can tell me about our biological mother, Koichi?"
Koichi nodded. "She's a hard worker," he began, looking down in guilt. "Mom takes care of me and works two jobs, one is a part time and we just make about what we need and she still manages to put money away for me when I start off on my own, often neglecting her own health…"
The new Warrior of Light's face became sympathetic. "Poor mother…"
"Yeah," the former Warrior of Light agreed. "Me being gone is most likely doing worse to her…"
And the conversation fell into silence again but just as the two brothers were about to start up another, the Trailmon hit the brakes hard, sending the humans falling forwards as their bodies tried resisting the change in movement. Wondering why they had came to a stop all of a sudden, the humans stuck their heads out the window and were met with a rather large black rabbit staring down at them, looking rather displeased and ready to kill someone.
"Cherubimon!" Koji breathed, turning as white as paper and his eyes becoming smaller.
Now knowing the name of their foe, four of the six humans were quick to Spirit Evolve into three Beast Spirits and a Fusion Evolution and all stood ready for action. Cherubimon noted them for a second but his attention was turned to the twin brothers that hung back, his former lackey holding back shivers of fears for what may come. Koji knew that his former master was there for him.
"Koji, it seems that I may not have known everything," the fallen angel's voice boomed. "If you had told me of what you had learned, you would not be in this powerless state."
Koji remained silent but Koichi stepped forwards. "My brother is not powerless! He's able to use his Spirits far better than I could!" he shouted with a boldness fueled by anger that his comrades had never seen or his twin thought possible.
"And you cannot?" Cherubimon asked, bemused. This quieted Koichi right away as the large rabbit continued, "You know that you can use your Spirits, Koichi, but I sense fear in controlling that power…Fear of the darkness that consumed your brother and nearly you." The fallen angel narrowed his eyes at the boys that couldn't talk back.
Having forgotten about the other four humans who were annoyed by being ignored, the four Warriors simultaneously shot him with their best elemental attacks. Cherubimon, unfazed by the attacks, turned his attention to the horrified Hybrids. "Impatient, are we?" he inquired.
Aldamon was the first to get over his shock and formed a small sun in his hands and stated, "We aren't going to let you take either of them Cherubimon. You're our opponent and this is where you're going down! Solar Wind Destroyer!" It was rather desperate attempt from Aldamon but it did get his point across as the miniature sun hit their enemy in the face.
"You do not have the power to fight me. I shall show you humans real power." Cherubimon raised his hands into the air and the clouds above began forming darker than those above that blocked out the light of the sun. As it expanded, blue lightning began striking randomly from the newly formed clouds. Alarmed, Zephyrmon was quick to descend to the ground as to not become an easy target to the electricity. All had little reaction time to dodge and so, they were struck quickly and, from the damage, they were forced to de-evolve. Aldamon was quick to shield the two brothers from the lightning and fell, just like his comrades.
Koji stared, disbelieving at the effects that his former master was able to do. If he had such power, why couldn't he simply snatch the two? Koichi, on the other hand, checked to be sure that Takuya was alive. Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon, who had somehow managed to not get hit by the lightning, made sure to check on the others humans as well.
Fortunately, they were all alive but injured. Another attack and they could be…
"Koichi, you fear the lose of your comrades, correct? Koji, you wish to know about your mother?" Cherubimon asked, his tone almost sickly-sweet. "Come with me, and I shall give you what you want."
Koichi remained stubborn, and to prove the great angel's point, Cherubimon called for a spear of black lightning into his hands and poised to drop it where the majority of the fallen Warriors lay.
Koji stood still, looking out at the fallen humans; they had kept fighting. He looked over at his conflicted brother and saw that he wanted to continue to fight but was held back by fear. Cherubimon had nothing more for Koji and acting on his decision, Koji Beast Spirit Evolved into KendoGarurumon and sped to stand in between his former master and his new companions. This mildly surprised the fallen angel.
"Cherubimon, I refuse to go back!" he growled. "You have no answers for me! If I listen to you again, I will lose all I've gained in the last hours I've spent with these humans. You lied and I won't be fooled again!"
Cherubimon lowered the spear, partially disappointed, but repositioned the spear of lightning. "If that is your wish, then you shall die with them." Those words struck no fear in KendoGarurumon.
Just before Cherubimon unleashed the spear, Koichi ran forwards, screaming, "No!" He approached Cherubimon and stopped several yards away from him, staring up at him pleadingly. "Leave them and take me!"
The spear vanished and the fallen angel looked down at the desperate boy. He allowed a grin to stretch upon his face as he heard the boy's friends shout for him to think sensibly think. "You are willing to give in?"
Koichi nodded, pained by the decision he was making. "What do I have to do?"
"Release the those dark emotions in your heart. Just accept the darkness of who you are."
The dark haired boy closed his eyes and pulled out his black D-tector, Spirit Evolving into the Human Spirit. As the data began building the Human Warrior's armor, Koichi struggled to hold back the screams of pain. Behind closed eyes, a gray mass formed in front of him and repeated words that he remembered from the dream he had: "Don't be afraid of what you are. Where there is darkness, a guiding light is there." He was darkness. What was good about darkness? Darkness hid the evils of the world and brought fear to a sleeping child. He stopped there, suddenly remembering the times when he had seen his mother. During the day, Koichi was always lonely but it was always eased at night, when it brought him his mother. Back in the pit of darkness he was in, the darkness had scared him but the light too had hurt. The shadows, a form of darkness, had only felt right. Koichi remembered when they had first arrived in the Terminal of Darkness and the harmless native Digimon. No natives had tried to hurt them; it was all Cherubimon's goons.
Maybe darkness isn't so bad, the boy said to himself, thoughtfully. Maybe it isn't all evil…
At that moment, the pain stopped and the evolution ceased, leaving the dark haired boy standing strong, the demon Human Spirit and the avian Beast Spirit floating before him. "Cherubimon, you are right. I need to accept what I am: I am darkness. Darkness, however, that you seek is the darkness I won't become! I'll use my darkness to shield them from the likes of you!"
Again, he Spirit Evolved and become a large seven-eyed demon-knight like that from his dreams. "Koji, let's finish this!"
KendoGarurumon howled in agreement and Slide Evolved into the white futuristic knight. The two opposing elemental Digimon combined long-range attacks, which held a harming impact on the great rabbit Digimon. The humans all rose and came back together and watched as the twin Warriors fought Cherubimon and Bokomon watched in awe.
"Bokomon, what are those Digimon?" inquired Tommy.
Bokomon was brought back to the earth and was quick to fish for his book and flip through it for information. "The black one is the Warrior of Darkness Duskmon and the white one is the Warrior of Light Lobomon."
JP whistled as he watched the two dodge lightning strikes that rained from the sky. "Duskmon's quick," he commented, noting that Duskmon had dodged while Lobomon had to Slide Evolve into KendoGarurumon to keep up.
"Fast or not, we can help," Zoe said, rising slowly and Beast Spirit Evolving into Zephyrmon. Takuya, JP, and Tommy were quick to follow suit, each becoming Aldamon, Beetlemon, and Korikakumon respectively.
Just as Cherubimon was about to call forth more lightning spears, he was hit by a blast of fireballs fed by the raging winds and electrically charged axes. This provided enough of a distraction for Duskmon to Slide Evolve into Velgemon. The hellbird and the mechanical wolf fired their laser attacks, which weakened the giant Digimon enough for Velgemon to dive right into its stomach and pass through it, finishing the Digimon off.
Surprisingly, the body began to dissolve without producing a Fractal Code to be scanned. De-evolving, JP noted how odd it was before they joined the brothers.
"Great job, you guys!" Takuya said, putting up a hand to receive a high five.
"Cherubimon's alive," the Warrior of Darkness proclaimed solemnly, breaking the semi-joyful atmosphere. "I can feel it." Hearing that, Takuya put his hand down.
"That explains why there wasn't a Fractal Code," JP noted.
Koji looked over at the other humans. "That was just a projection. It's best for you all to leave as none of you could face Cherubimon. You'll only get hurt or worse."
Takuya shook his head. "I'm not leaving. I nearly did that once but I was an idiot to do it."
Tommy went to stand by the Warrior of Flame. "We're stronger if we fight together!" he called in a defiant tone.
"Someone needs to keep you guys in line," JP said.
"In all honesty, I can't let you boys have all the fun," Zoe smiled.
"But this—!"
"—isn't a game?" Koichi interrupted, looking over at his brother. "We all know that but we have gotten this far by fighting together. It might be smart of us to run away but we have more things to fight for than you think."
"But—!"
Again, Koji was interrupted. "Koji, you think you and Koichi alone can stand against Cherubimon?" the Warrior of Wind asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Cherubimon might be far stronger than that projection and what makes you think that just you and Koichi can face him on your own?"
Koji didn't answer, though he remained unmoving in his opinion.
"We're all in this together," Takuya said. "We're the Legendary Warriors and its our duty to protect the Digital World, so buddy, we aren't going anywhere."
The Warrior of Light attempted to make an argument but quickly saw the futility of it all and gave in. They're like a bunch of mountains, he thought. At least I'm not in this endeavor alone. "All right," Koji said.
Without any more arguments, the children and their companion Digimon boarded the frightened Trailmon and continued towards the Rose Morning Star and their final battle.
Chapter 28: End.
And so, we've come to the end of another chapter.
Well, the reason why I didn't have the Spirits change was namely because Koichi's mindset didn't. The Spirits reflect things of who the characters are, what they wish to be, or their mindset and the Spirits of Darkness aren't corrupted. Once Koichi changes his mindset, his Spirits will change with him. I also did this because I wanted to write Duskmon in action for a change. XD'
