Aethermon and Ceruleamon had already come to replace Mayumi and Hinoka respectively by the time that Rhihimon flew into view. Nyaromon was tucked under one of his arms for safekeeping, and the small Digimon jumped free of the Warrior of Darkness' grasp before landing on the ground safely. Her gaze drifted to the sky where Leopardmon could be seen overhead.
The Royal Knight had been merciful thus far, having not yet done anything to attack the Legendary Warriors. Aethermon assumed that this was because Rhihimon's sudden arrival had offered enough of a distraction to keep her from rushing into the battle prematurely. She silently thanked him for coming when he did before setting her full attention on the Royal Knight in question, thinking about the best method to defeat her.
"I didn't expect any of you to be alive after Alphamon arrived at Abraxas," Leopardmon said simply, her voice as even and monotonous as it could have possibly been. "He's not exactly the same breed as the rest of us. He'll see a battle through no matter what happens, and he can be ruthless as all hell to those who stand in his path. It was coincidence that he met with you there, but he was positive that you were all dead when we spoke a short while ago."
Aethermon began to immediately piece together a timeline of events regarding Leopardmon's words. As far as she could tell, the Royal Knights had divided only for Alphamon and Leopardmon to see each other again shortly before the current fight. If that was true, perhaps the rest of the Royal Knights were still separated. That was certainly going to make it much easier to take out those who were still left.
"If you managed to get through that, maybe you'll be lucky enough to survive what I have coming for you," Leopardmon continued. She slammed into the ground, her foot outstretched as she made contact with the moon. The Fractal Code of Rubrum appeared for a flash of a moment before disappearing, retreating back into the glow of crimson scarlet from whence it came.
"I thought that Fractal Code was supposed to be hidden," Ceruleamon murmured when she saw Leopardmon hit the cratered ground of the moon. "As far as we were made aware, you had to find the key piece in order to take it from a given area."
"There's a key thread to any creation. However, if you do enough pulling, you're bound to make it fall apart regardless of if you find the vital components or not," Leopardmon pointed out. "You never had the power to hit something hard enough to find the Fractal Code by force, but I'm not like you. None of us are. There's a reason that the original Legendary Warriors died in the war while we Royal Knights survived."
"And yet, you lost the fight regardless," Aethermon commented, doing her best to not come off as too snarky. She could tell that Leopardmon was far from being someone that she wanted to poke too much, but part of her still took enjoyment from the Royal Knight being forced to face the truth of her past failures.
However, it was made clear very soon after the words left Aethermon's lips that Leopardmon didn't like the taunting in the slightest. A snarl spread across her features as she slammed her fist into the ground below. The Fractal Code shuddered once more before hiding. "I would suggest keeping your tongue to yourself unless you want to die," she commented with a growl rising in the back of her throat. "I'm a merciful person, but that doesn't mean that I have to be. I won't hesitate to strike any of you down for getting in our way. We spared you before because of our morals as a group, but if you keep stepping in the way of our goals to resurrect Lord Lucemon... Well, let's just say that all of our ethics are up for debate."
Aethermon took a step back when Leopardmon rose to her feet, and the Royal Knight suddenly charged in Ceruleamon's direction. The Warrior of Water was hit by the initial punch from Leopardmon, but she kicked off the ground before a second strike could make contact. As she rose into the air, wings of water appeared behind her, and she held out her staff in a defensive position. Ceruleamon extended the weapon in Leopardmon's direction a moment later, and the air around the sapphire stone atop her staff began to glimmer.
A column of water shot free from the stone, and it threatened to hit Leopardmon directly in the chest. The Royal Knight jumped backwards to avoid it, showing off the full capacity of her speed. Ceruleamon halted the attack before stabbing at the air to the right of Leopardmon. The Royal Knight moved left to put some extra distance between herself and the strike in question, but Ceruleamon proved herself to be smarter than Leopardmon had anticipated.
Ceruleamon summoned another jet of water as soon as she had stopped the attack to Leopardmon's right, and she got the attack to slam directly into the shoulder of the Royal Knight as soon as Leopardmon had stopped moving. Ceruleamon kept up the attack until Leopardmon had stumbled backwards and was out of her range. Leopardmon sent one hand up to nurse her injury, and water began to drip down to the ground of Rubrum as she shook herself free of the liquid.
Aethermon didn't give her much of a chance to recover though. She closed her eyes and focused her attention towards the different elemental trails that followed behind her. Electricity began to crackle upon the tail that was tinted with yellow, and the piercing echo of lightning reverberated through the empty skies before making contact with Leopardmon.
At first, the Royal Knight barely seemed bothered, but her anger most certainly blossomed when the electricity expanded to her shoulder which was still damp and dripping as a result of Ceruleamon's attack. Leopardmon let out a shriek of something that mixed rage and pain before lunging towards Aethermon. Her hands were outstretched as if she was attempting to strangle the Warrior of Energy, but Aethermon was positive that this was nothing more than a feint intended to deceive her before the real attack was unleashed.
Aethermon jumped backwards and to the side before lashing out with a kick, catching Leopardmon square in the chest. The Royal Knight fell backwards, rolling over her shoulders before landing in a crouch. Her breaths were heavy and passionate as she rose to her feet, and she wiped at her shoulder with her other hand.
"Not bad," Leopardmon began, her voice almost lazy in its slow drawl. "I thought that you would all be pathetic when taking to the battlefield, but it seems as if I was a bit too quick to jump to conclusions. You at least sort of know what you're doing... But there's no way that you'll ever stand up to your predecessors. I'm sure that we all know how the story goes regarding the battles between the Legendary Warriors and the Royal Knights though... I'll go on and spoil the ending for you. It doesn't end pretty for you!"
Leopardmon was springing off the ground before any of them had a chance to react, and she hit Rhihimon with a mighty punch. The Warrior of Darkness groaned at the pain, sending one hand up to nurse his injury as Leopardmon followed up with a kick aimed downward. Rhihimon was sent crashing down immediately, and his back hit the moon with a resounding thud that Aethermon absolutely hated it. He looked to be mostly unharmed though, and she chose to count that as a blessing. If he was alive, then everything would be fine. He seemed to be able to fight still as well, and Aethermon thought of that as an added bonus.
Rhihimon's gaze wavered for a moment, making him look oddly shaken despite his clear display of strength to keep from giving in under the weight of Leopardmon's attack. Still, he was able to pull his focus together just in time to avoid another attack from Leopardmon, and he rolled off to the side before her foot could make contact with his head. Rhihimon shot out an arm as soon as Leopardmon touched down on the ground, wrapping his fingers around her ankle.
Rhihimon's assault didn't stop there though, and he raised the staff clutched in his other hand towards Leopardmon. A sphere of darkness was shot forth immediately, and Leopardmon wasn't able to escape his grasp in time to dodge the attack. Instead, she was sent into the air when he let go right as the assault made contact with her body. Leopardmon grunted at the hit, but she didn't give any of them the satisfaction of hearing her scream in pain. She put her attention towards adjusting her trajectory, and she was able to land on her feet, albeit rather shakily.
"I think that you forgot that this iteration of history has quite a few changes compared to what you're used to," Aethermon remarked with a light shrug as a smirk began to play at her lips. "For one, the Warriors of Energy and Cosmos know better than to betray their allies to fight for Lord Lucemon this time around. Second off, you're going to lose this fight the same way that all of the other Royal Knights are going to go down as soon as we get our hands on them. Third, Lord Lucemon isn't around to help you all out, and we're going to make sure that he stays in whatever circle of hell he was sent to in the first place. How's that for rewriting the future?"
Leopardmon scoffed as she rubbed one hand across the front segment of her armor, and she shook her head dismissively. "I don't think that you know what you're talking about," she started. "You know, the Warriors of Energy and Cosmos made the right move by defecting to work with Lord Lucemon. They understood that it was a battle they would never be able to win, and they didn't fight in the war until the bitter end of their lives. Instead, they were defeated by Lord Lucemon, granted swift mercy rather than tragic deaths in the heat of the moment. All of the Legendary Warriors died in some way or another... They were simply smart enough to not make a big deal out of the moments when they had to go."
Aethermon had to resist the urge to lunge at Leopardmon as the Royal Knight continued speaking. She knew that it wouldn't help anything, and they were all going to have to play their cards right if they were going to overcome her incredible speed and accuracy as well as her capabilities in melee combat. It was for the best that she kept talking, giving the three Legendary Warriors a distraction on her end and a chance to work out a plan for them.
"If you think about it, that war did not end favorably for you at all," Leopardmon went on. "Lord Lucemon's greatest soldiers all managed to survive, and the Legendary Warriors were defeated without any concerns. In fact, they remained gone for centuries upon centuries, giving us the chance to get stronger and thrive until the day came that we would be able to bring back our lord."
"But we're here to stop you," Rhihimon told her, raising his staff in her direction once again. An orb of dark energy was fired from the tip, and it spiraled through the air towards its target of the enemy Royal Knight.
Leopardmon stepped to the side effortlessly to keep from getting hit. She scoffed and shook her head. "I don't think that it's as easy as you're making it out to be," she told the Warrior of Darkness. "In fact, I can confirm that you're allowing your confidence to get the better of you. None of you have the full experience in combat that your predecessors did, and they were still defeated. They died, and the Digital World was given the chance to evolve until it had enough energy to fully restore Lord Lucemon to his former glory. There shall be no other ruler of this world aside from our Lord Lucemon, and there is nothing that you can do to stop the hands of fate from bringing this world to its knees in his name."
"There will be others to take over ruling the Digital World without him around. The Digital World managed to survive without him for ages, and I'm sure that it can do it again. He's nothing more than a parasite that sucks the life out of anyone who gets too close," Aethermon said with a snarl. She was starting to absolutely hate Leopardmon's brazen confidence, and she wanted nothing more than to slap the cocky boldness out of the Royal Knight's body in the coming fight.
"The Digital World has always been a place of strife and pain. The only time that it saw true peace was under the influence of Lord Lucemon, but you want to take that away. The Celestial Three were unreliable and couldn't be trusted to not betray each other. Cherubimon lost his trust in the other two, and that was how Lord Lucemon was able to take control of him in the first place. They were only putting up the illusion of peace as a way of hiding the fact that everything was falling apart beneath the surface. The Digital World has never known peace or relaxation without Lord Lucemon's assistance, and I highly doubt that it will ever reach a point where his guidance is fully unnecessary," Leopardmon went on.
"If you won't believe in the future of the Digital World, then we'll simply have to do it instead!" Aethermon cried out. She finally had enough of putting up with Leopardmon and her damn mouth, so she drew a circle in the air before punching through the outlined trail of light that followed her finger. A blast of bright orange energy burst forth, and it moved towards Leopardmon at speeds that Aethermon hadn't ever thought possible. She hadn't been given the chance to fully explore the power that her Hybrid form gave her until that moment, and she found herself impressed when she was able to do things that she had never imagined herself to be capable of.
Leopardmon attempted to get out of the way, but her reaction time was far from being fast enough to keep her from being left in danger. She tried to jump to the side, but Aethermon's energy blast still hit her in the side, and it wound up having a vacuum effect that pulled her in to the center of the attack. Leopardmon's teeth began to grind together as she attempted to hide her pain, but it was still clear as could be that she was struggling to last under the impossible weight of Aethermon's damage output potential.
It wasn't until after the Warrior of Energy had finished her attack that Leopardmon was able to find her sense of balance once again. The Royal Knight glared intensely at Aethermon before lunging forward, but she wasn't fast enough due to the damage she had already sustained. The Energy of Warrior jumped into the air, soaring above Leopardmon's head before kicking downwards with her right leg. She hit the space between Leopardmon's shoulder blades, and The Royal Knight was forced into a rolling motion to keep from completely slamming into the dirt.
Ceruleamon raised her staff, unleashing yet another stream of forceful water. She aimed it straight at the spot that Leopardmon was going to have to pass through if she was going to rise to her feet, and the Royal Knight hit it head on. She was forced sideways as a result of the immense strength behind Ceruleamon's attack. There was no easy way for Leopardmon to recover from such a blow, so she instead slowly rose to her feet despite the clear temptation to stumble to the ground.
Her determination was as solid as steel despite the fact that she had taken too many hits to maintain the advantage. Leopardmon jumped off towards Rhihimon, attempting to take him out after seeing what Ceruleamon and Aethermon were capable of. The Warrior of Darkness raised his staff to block her initial attack, and Leopardmon was forced down to the ground once again.
However, Ceruleamon had kept up the steady stream of liquid from the top of her sapphire staff. The cratered ground of the moon was left covered in a thin layer of water about an inch deep. It wasn't much, but it was still enough to make Leopardmon slip and fall to one knee. The Royal Knight glared intensely when she glanced up, and her eyes were full of a fiery rage that unsettled Aethermon in more ways than she cared to admit. She did her best to shake off her nerves as she focused on the fight once again.
Leopardmon was able to slowly rise back to her full height, but Aethermon was ready for her. She turned her attention to the trails behind her, and all twelve of them began to glow with multicolored light that spread outwards from the center. It made Aethermon look more like a star than a person, and she grinned at the radiant illumination that she was giving off as she pointed towards Leopardmon.
Twelve streams of energy burst forth from the space just behind her, and they sailed like comets through the sky towards Leopardmon. The Royal Knight ducked underneath those that she had the ability to avoid, but she wasn't able to dodge all of them, leaving her disoriented and struggling to keep her balance.
Leopardmon's chances of survival went down drastically as soon as the first few trails began to loop back through the sky. After having missed their target, they turned around and moved in Leopardmon's direction once again, and the Royal Knight was tossed around every which way as the different colored attacks made contact. She attempted to duck beneath the final strike, but it hit her with far more force than she had been anticipating, and the Royal Knight was left to hit the ground roughly. She snarled before attempting to rise to her feet, the anger of a thousand suns boiling behind her eyes.
Aethermon couldn't help but smirk as she realized that Leopardmon was tripping up more and more as time went on. Since the Legendary Warriors were no longer exhausted as they had been during the first encounter with the Royal Knights, they actually stood a chance at fighting back. Leopardmon breaking off from the rest of the Royal Knights only made it easier for the trio to near victory.
Aethermon watched as Rhihimon descended upon Leopardmon from above, and he slammed his staff down in her direction. Leopardmon jumped out of the way, but she was left unprepared when Rhihimon landed and unleashed a kick in her direction. Leopardmon was hit in the thigh, causing her center of gravity to be immediately disturbed. Rhihimon appeared as if he was planning to slash his staff in her direction, causing Leopardmon to raise one hand to block the attack.
However, Rhihimon made it clear a moment later that this was nothing more than a ruse, and he struck downwards before pulling his staff towards her face. Leopardmon was caught completely by surprise, and her head tilted sideways at the sudden contact. She stumbled backwards until there was a safe distance between herself and Rhihimon, and the Warrior of Darkness shot out one final orb of energy to finish off the flurry of attacks. Leopardmon dodged it, but the group could still tell that she was sufficiently rattled.
"It appears that you don't have as much experience in combat as you thought," Aethermon snickered, resisting the urge to continue prodding at Leopardmon for her own amusement. She couldn't help but find it entertaining that the Royal Knight was growing so flustered after claiming that she would win the fight no matter what. Leopardmon had promised death to those who dared to stand in her path, and yet, she was the one who was losing the battle. It was a nice twist of irony that Aethermon found that she welcomed.
"Getting lucky a few times does not mean that you're experienced in battle!" Leopardmon roared, all too eager to correct Aethermon's supposed ego. She looked ready to lunge towards the Warrior of Energy, but she held herself back as she took in a deep breath. She shook her head carefully, trying to ensure that she didn't allow her temper to get the best of her. "It won't matter in the end. The Legendary Warriors thought that they were winning against us Royal Knights at first too, but as soon as we stopped holding back, it was all over for them. I took the lives of multiple Legendary Warriors, you know. I won't hesitate to do that again if you continue to get in my way."
"Oh? So you've been holding back up until this point?" Aethermon questioned innocently as a smirk spread across her features. "Honestly, I didn't think that was the case... It seems to me like you're putting forth your full effort... But I guess it doesn't matter. I mean, you're still losing the fight right now. If you're holding back, then you're making a pretty stupid choice to not unleash your full power. If you're really this strong, then you're far from being as powerful as you claim. Are you all bark? Or is it true that you have some bite in you after all?"
Aethermon's mockery earned a reaction of horror from Ceruleamon, who stared at her with wide, bewildered eyes. Aethermon only continued to grin when Leopardmon jumped in her direction, and the Warrior of Energy flipped backwards, timing it so that her leg kicked directly into Leopardmon's chest to put a bit of extra distance between them. "Bark or bite?" Aethermon repeated, her tone only growing more condescending as the seconds passed by.
Rhihimon seemed to understand what Aethermon was attempting to do, and he raised his staff in preparation to unleash a strike of his own. The plan was to make sure that Leopardmon was sufficiently riled up so that she would think less before following through on her actions. If she was reckless, then it would be easier to catch her with a weakness on full display. It was dangerous to attempt to corner such a powerful beast, but Aethermon believed that they could do it. After all, Leopardmon's signs of distress were already clear as could be, and Aethermon was positive that it wouldn't be long before she completely fell apart between her own rage and the power of the Legendary Warriors.
Rhihimon attacked with a mighty barrage of dark orbs that all spread before converging on the single target that was Leopardmon. The Royal Knight was hit square in the back, and since she had been distracted with listening to Aethermon and her blatant disrespect for the authority of the Royal Knights, she didn't have time to react before she was pushed forward and hit the ground roughly. The moon below gave a quick glimmer of its Fractal Code before kicking up a small amount of red dust that swarmed around Leopardmon madly. Aethermon couldn't help but wonder cheekily if Rubrum itself was trying to assist them in the battle. After all, the area was heavily tied to the Legendary Warriors, so it only made sense that the moon would be firm in defending its territory. Then again, the moon couldn't have exactly been alive the way that the Legendary Warriors themselves were, leaving Aethermon's internal comments of snark entirely confined to the limits her imagination provided.
Ceruleamon began to attack with the thin layer of water that she had created earlier, and the liquid began to consolidate into something larger. In fact, it created a large hand that quickly formed around Leopardmon's body, raising her into the air and preventing her from jumping free of the attack. Leopardmon was left to squirm as the arm portion of the false appendage grew larger. With her arms bound to her sides as they were, she had no way of getting away, leaving the Royal Knight to simply glare venomously at anyone who dared to get too close while she tried to kick backwards and dislodge herself from the watery limb that had taken her hostage in the first place.
Rhihimon flew above Leopardmon and raised his staff before slamming it down against her shoulder where Leopardmon had previously suffered due to electrocution thanks to the combined effort of Ceruleamon and Aethermon. Leopardmon's eyes went wide at the sight, and she attempted to escape as the pain from Rhihimon's strike truly set in. She was unable to make her way out no matter how hard she tried though, and Ceruleamon extended one hand before clenching her fingers into a fist. The hand began to hold Leopardmon a bit tighter than before, and if escape had been difficult before, it was downright impossible thanks to Ceruleamon's newly added efforts.
With Leopardmon trapped in place, Aethermon knew that this was their chance to attack with every ounce of strength they could muster. Leopardmon wouldn't be able to get away, so if they wanted to show what they were truly made of, this was the time. She took a step back from the thick of the fight and began to concentrate on gathering her energy. She had shown how much strength she was capable of unveiling before when she used the attack with the twelve trails of energy. However, Aethermon, being the naturally competitive creature that she was, decided to try and defeat her previous record as far as dealing damage to Leopardmon was concerned. There was no easy way to measure it, but that hadn't ever stopped her from showing off her power before, so she decided to continue gathering as much strength as possible.
Ceruleamon's sapphire staff began to glow, and a small amount of water appeared from the top before consolidating into a dagger. The knife multiplied itself in the blink of an eye, creating a vast array of small blades that looked surprisingly sharp despite being made out of water. Ceruleamon slashed her staff through the air, and the daggers took it as their cue to fly forward.
The knives didn't hesitate to embed themselves into Leopardmon's armor, creating deep dents that Aethermon knew would never fade away. The knives didn't have the force needed to fully pierce the metal, but Leopardmon was left snarling and on the verge of screaming regardless, and Aethermon was sure that the Royal Knight would have certainly had some choice words for Ceruleamon had she been able to fully control her actions.
Rhihimon was the next to lash out, and he used the shield that had gone ignored from its place hanging off his arm. He rammed towards Leopardmon, bashing at the segment of her torso that was visible around the watery fingers that kept her in place. This dislodged a few of the daggers, allowing the liquid creations to move towards the large hand and increase its strength. Leopardmon winced but refused to give them the dignity of seeing her upset further.
Aethermon grinned as she recognized that she had hit a boiling point for her contained power. She felt as if there was so much strength buzzing beneath the surface that she was going to burst if she didn't let it out as soon as possible. Her hands clenched into fists before she clapped them together, her fingers grasping at her knuckles with enough force to nearly make them hurt. However, Aethermon didn't seem to notice any of that, and her smile only grew wider as she pointed the attack in Leopardmon's direction.
This time, the strike was different than what Aethermon had unleashed before. Instead, she created a large circle that surrounded the front side of her body, and twelve orbs glowed from within the outline. When her arms were pressed forward an extra bit more, the orbs unleashed columns of energy that hit Leopardmon head on. Ceruleamon's watery hand disappeared, and Leopardmon was left to scream at the center of the attack. The Royal Knight had forgotten about holding back, so all she could do was express her agony before her voice fell silent once and for all.
From there, it didn't take long for Leopardmon's body to grow dark. From the bottoms of her feet to the tips of her wings, she was nothing more than shadow, and Fractal Code appeared around the center of her body. Leopardmon looked as if she was suspended in place with no way of returning to the past, to the ways of motion, no matter how hard she tried. Aethermon would have almost found it eerie had she not known that she had to keep moving if she was going to complete the task placed before her.
"It's not possible to change the past, but you can alter the future," Aethermon said simply, almost as if it was a final jab at the conversation she had shared with Leopardmon before the latter's failures caught up with her. The Warrior of Energy continued to smile as if that was the only thing she knew how to do as she raised her palm in the direction of the fallen Royal Knight. It didn't take long for the Fractal Code to start flowing into her hand, and once the process had been completed, only an egg of writhing white data was left behind in Leopardmon's wake. The darkness of Leopardmon's silhouette began to vanish from the inside before becoming nothing more than a memory.
Aethermon was consumed with a curtain of Fractal Code soon after Leopardmon's data consolidated, and she transformed back to Mayumi in the blink of an eye. With a grand gesture, Mayumi threw her arms into the air, D-Tector still in hand from the battle before. "Voila!" she announced, enjoying the glances of soft admiration that she had earned from both Ceruleamon and Rhihimon.
As the Warriors of Water and Darkness touched back on the ground and shifted into their human forms, Nyaromon hopped out from her hiding place. Hinoka took the small Digimon into her arms before turning her gaze towards Leopardmon's egg. A frown festered on her features as she watched the egg shoot off in the direction of the Digital World. The mass of data vanished on the horizon, seeming to disappear into the darkened chasms where Fractal Code had been stolen from the main planet.
Mayumi watched the data vanish as well, but she didn't linger on it for any longer than she had to. She shook off her concerns and turned her focus towards the other members of her team. "Well, it seems to me like we're ready to go back to our original goal..." she murmured. A sigh left her lips as she shook her head. "I guess that we're right back to square one. There's not a way for us to get back on our own as far as we can tell... Not unless another one of the Royal Knights wants to come along and smack us back to the main planet, but I'm not exactly holding my breath."
"I know!" Nyaromon suddenly exclaimed. "We could go to the tomb of the Warrior of Darkness! Koichi was planning on making contact with him, and I think that it would be our perfect chance to find a way back. Maybe Koichi can hear about what we need to do in order to go back. After all, the souls of the Legendary Warriors didn't completely fade away after they were defeated. The Spirits are manifestations of their souls, and they were simply without bodies until you all came along. If anybody is going to know about how to get out of here, it would be one of them. They're the only ones that we can ask, and Koichi was planning on talking to his previous incarnation out of curiosity anyways, so it all works out perfectly."
Mayumi looked to the other members of the group before shrugging and stuffing her hands into the space at the base of her high ponytail. "Sounds like a plan to me," she declared. "Why don't you go on and lead the way for us, Koichi? We can count on you."
Koichi's features paled, taking on the look of a deer caught in headlights, before he managed to soothe himself and nod. "Of course," he said, trying to hide the way that his voice wavered. He gestured for the rest of the group to follow him, his steps unsteady at first but gaining certainty as the minutes began to pass by.
Mayumi gave a glance back to the main planet of the Digital World, frowning to herself. She couldn't help but wonder what could have been happening back there, but she figured that there wasn't much of a point focusing on it. After all, she was going to have to find a way back there before the answers could possibly come out, and that was much easier said than done. All she could do for the time being was hope that Koichi knew what he was doing the way that Nyaromon had claimed. He was their only hope for the time being, and Mayumi prayed that he would be able to figure out a way to get them away from Rubrum as soon as possible.
Koichi had to actively persuade himself to not back away as he took his place in front of the statue of his previous incarnation. He brushed one hand against the surface of the marble, feeling its cold smoothness beneath his fingertips. He swallowed dryly, and the nerves from before Leopardmon had appeared returned full force.
He would be able to take his time, at least to an extent. He had asked Mayumi, Hinoka, and Nyaromon to wait outside under the excuse that he wanted to ensure that his focus was sufficient to make the contact needed to bridge the gap. In all honesty, he also wanted them as far away as possible in case he did get the answers that he was searching for. Koichi hadn't even openly expressed that he found anything to be wrong, and as far as he could tell, nobody had even noticed that there was something off about him. Koichi himself was the only one that had come to such a conclusion with all others simply waving it off as luck. He wished that he had such blissful ignorance, but Koichi knew better than that, and he was positive that he was going to need answers one way or another.
"I..." Koichi began to whisper something, but he wasn't sure of how he was even meant to phrase all of this. The thought died before it could truly form, and he was left staring at his feet with helplessness rising in his chest. He shook his head, trying to keep himself from losing his nerve, but that was far easier said than done. His eyes threatened to shut completely, but he knew that it wouldn't help matters in the slightest. In fact, it would only allow him to procrastinate on what he knew was both essential and inevitable.
Koichi raised his hand to stroke at the sphinx statue's forehead, and his fingers brushed downwards across the bridge of the marble's carved nose. "I want to know how to get off Rubrum," he began, his voice trembling enough to make it seem more like an earthquake than a request. His words felt distant and faraway, almost as if he was hearing them from the other end of a glass echo chamber.
For a long moment, Koichi waited, and yet, nothing happened. All he did was stare at the statue, waiting for something, anything, to change, but he was left staring as nothing shifted. Koichi let out a sigh, hopelessness beginning to sink its sharpened fangs into his heart. He shook his head to try and eliminate the threats to his resolve before speaking once again. "I don't understand what makes me so different from everyone else," he continued after a moment of hesitation. "I can tell that something is wrong, but I don't know what it could be. Why am I not like them? What is it that sets me apart by so much?"
Koichi's mind was cast back to the day that he left the Digital World, and foggy images began to rise against the back of his eyelids. He had been trying to find Koji and talk to him about everything that he had discovered, but he was interrupted by the mass phone calls from Ophanimon. Koichi had continued to chase Koji in an attempt to flag him down, but he was cut off by the closing of elevator doors after Takuya slammed between them. Koichi had nearly collided with the steel before shifting his attention to the stairs. After that, he could remember desperation, hot and scathing, seeping into every part of his being. From there, Koichi could recall pain, panic, and then silence. The Digital World appeared from there, but he didn't understand how that had happened without the influence of a Trailmon.
Koichi's agonizing reminiscence was cut off by the soft sound of whirring energy. He glanced up to the statue once again and saw that an outline of darkened fog was making its way towards him from the marble carving. Koichi took a step back, managing to step between the statues of Lowemon and Umbramon without colliding with either of them. He watched as the fog began to shift shape, leaving the outline of the sphinx from before standing in front of him.
Unlike the statue though, the creature of fog seemed to be very much alive. Its eyes moved around the area carefully, and its armor shifted as it took a step forward, and the fog moved to cover its path. Koichi retreated by another few steps, and his jaw dropped in stunned awe. He would have certainly cried out in shock if he had the energy, but he instead found himself completely silenced.
"Koichi..."
The voice rang in Koichi's mind, and he knew that it had to belong to the sphinx standing before him. Part of him longed to reach out and touch the partially solid manifestation of the original Warrior of Darkness, but he was still as could be and couldn't bring himself to move a muscle. All he could do was stare, and even as his mind put the pieces together that what he was witnessing was real, Koichi found himself at a loss for belief.
"I am AncientSphinxmon," the voice continued, and the Digimon took another step towards Koichi. He was large, and Koichi felt almost pathetically short by comparison. He had to arch his neck backwards in order to get a somewhat decent view of the Warrior's gaze. "I understand that you have many questions for me."
Koichi nodded, and he opened his mouth to repeat what he had prompted before. However, he was cut off when AncientSphinxmon spoke in his stead. "I heard you already, and... I am ready to offer the answers that you seek. You must ask yourself first though... Are you prepared for what I am about to say? I am afraid that the news I come with is far from being what you desire."
Koichi hesitated at first, but he told himself that this was for the best. He deserved to know, and some deeper part of him was desperate for the knowledge that AncientSphinxmon had access to. He nodded after brief hesitation. "I am," he replied.
AncientSphinxmon nodded in response. "I understand... I will be able to offer you and your companions a way off Rubrum after our conversation has finished. I can also restore your energy from the previous battle, but I am afraid that I cannot do much more than that. It takes quite a lot of power for a soul to manifest physically, and I do not have much time... But I will do what I can to answer the questions that you have posed."
AncientSphinxmon was quiet for a moment, almost as if he was preparing himself for the dreadful news that he was destined to share with his successor. Koichi's stomach twisted into a brutal knot. "You came to the Digital World under Cherubimon's influence rather than of your own free will. Your soul was severed from your body, and he was able to draw it into the Digital World from there. Others enter the Digital World by passing through the barrier on a Trailmon, but you did not follow their example. Instead, your soul was pulled through the gate on its own, and your body was left behind on Earth."
Koichi felt as if he was going to be sick. He had heard about the potential dangers of souls and bodies losing their synchronization. Bokomon had explained to him that Takuya's body was left in the Continent of Darkness while his soul was left as prey for the Dark Trailmon, a shadowy Digimon whose origins were shrouded in mystery. Takuya's trip to the illusion of Earth had completely changed him, and he had been left as a haunted echo of his true forms while living within this imitation of existence. Something similar had happened when Izumi first crossed paths with the Spirit of Zephyrmon, and the Warrior of Wind nearly died under the stress that came from Zephyrmon's power taking control of her body as her mind fell to rest. The separation being across different worlds was undoubtedly far more severe than either one of those cases, and Koichi was positive that the ramifications of such were far from pleasant.
"You have no physical form in this world. The body that you have now is a result of my influence along with mistranslated data. I gave you a physical form to ensure that you would be able to thrive in the Digital World, but it took much of my strength at the time, and it was far from being perfect. You are only a soul here, and a soul is far easier to corrupt than a heart bound to its true body. You fell victim to Cherubimon's manipulations, transforming you into Duskmon, because your body was not present to defend you from the evil that Cherubimon visited upon you," AncientSphinxmon continued, his words echoing solemnly in Koichi's mind.
The pieces suddenly seemed to click into place, and Koichi's mouth felt unnaturally dry all of a sudden. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew that AncientSphinxmon was right. His body being pulled away from his soul would certainly explain why Koichi was so different. Cherubimon had transformed him into the perfect soldier because he was so vulnerable to outside influences. His soul was left to grow sick under the power of shadow because there was no physical form to deflect such agony away from the heart that rested inside.
"Duskmon possessed Fractal Code, but you do not. When your soul was purified by your fellow Legendary Warriors, Duskmon's Fractal Code was returned to Cherubimon. That was how he was able to bring back Duskmon after your defeat. He simply reused the Fractal Code that had temporarily been yours. You have none in the first place, and you have no body to take damage either. You have been left unharmed in the aftermath of previous combat because there is no way for you to be hurt in the first place," AncientSphinxmon continued. His voice, deep and smooth, droned in the back of Koichi's mind, a distant whisper in comparison to the crashing waves of revelation that threatened to stifle Koichi's every motivation to press on.
Koichi raised his hand to do something to reach out to AncientSphinxmon, the first action that he had taken deliberately since the original Warrior of Darkness first manifested. In the end, his fingers retreated back to his side, and Koichi swallowed dryly once again, longing to feel whole, to feel unafraid, once again. "What happened to my body?" Koichi asked. The words were hollow and detached just as he was.
AncientSphinxmon was quiet for a long moment, and Koichi could feel the uncertainty in the air. The tension was thick enough that he could feel it attempting to suffocate him, and all he could bring himself to do was watch as AncientSphinxmon attempted to formulate a response. The longer that the silence dragged on, the worse that Koichi felt, and he was positive that his body, or at least the cheap imitation of a body that his predecessor had granted him, was going to give out on him in his shock.
"I am afraid that I do not know," AncientSphinxmon finally answered. "If I was aware of what had happened to it, I would tell you now, but... The truth still eludes me, and I am unsure of how to fully uncover what could have happened to you. Forgive me, Koichi... I wish that there was more I could do for you."
Koichi wasn't sure of how to respond to AncientSphinxmon's words. If his previous incarnation didn't know what had happened to his body, then how was Koichi supposed to know? The only vague memories he had of his time just before arriving in the Digital World were of chasing after Koji, but everything abruptly stopped as panic began to sink in. He didn't understand what that could have meant, but the idea made him feel as if he was going to be sick. Everything seemed to be spinning around Koichi, but he knew the sensation was all in his head. His body was going through no such dizzying experience, as it was impossible for his false physical form to experience true exhaustion. Only emotional anxiety could have an impact on him, but it was truly starting to sting regardless.
Koichi glanced down to his hip where his D-Tector was resting, its clip keeping it attached to his clothing. He looked back up to AncientSphinxmon, trying to hide the grief that was manifesting despite his efforts to evade it. "I remember everyone saying that their phones transformed into D-Tectors after they were brought into the Digital World," he said nervously, feeling as if he was only a moment's notice away from falling apart. "I never owned something like that on Earth... It was simply there when I arrived here."
"That was also my influence. A human becoming a Digimon was unheard of up until recently, and such a process would not be possible without a conduit. If not for the D-Tectors, the intensity of the Spirits could have overwhelmed you enough to end your lives," AncientSphinxmon explained. "I believed that it would be for the best if you had the aid of such an important device, and I think that I made the right decision. Unfortunately, that does not mean that I can restore your body to you... I do not know what happened to it, and there is no way for us to be sure until after you return to Earth."
Koichi couldn't bring himself to respond. He wanted to say something to fill the silence, but nothing was coming out. He felt as if he was drowning, as if the air surrounding him was attempting to choke the air from his lungs. Of course, this was yet another phantom sensation that he would never be able to truly experience. His body wasn't there, and he was left empty and hollow without it. He was simply a wandering soul, no more real than the Spirits that he and the rest of the Legendary Warriors had used to save the Digital World.
In the case of the Spirits, their issue was that they lacked a physical form. They held fragments of the souls of the original Legendary Warriors, but they had no vessels prior to the arrival of the new generation of Legendary Warriors. The original fighters were able to remain somewhat cohesive as souls thanks to the raw strength they had possessed in life in tandem with the Spirits that they left behind. However, the soul fragments themselves were still not enough to find a physical form in the Digital World, and Koichi, lacking a true body, was just the same as they were. It was only thanks to the mercies of AncientSphinxmon that he was able to stand there at all, but he knew that such a beauty was not destined to last.
The question of what could have happened to his body hit Koichi with immense force, and he glanced back up to AncientSphinxmon with morbid curiosity in his eyes. "Am I..." He couldn't bring himself to finish the question, and the word 'dead' was left unspoken. Koichi couldn't think of any other explanation for a soul to be pulled free of its vessel of a body. Koichi had been alive as far as he could tell, but was there any way to say for sure what had happened after pain and fear appeared to him? He couldn't recall what had happened in full, only that he had been left in panic and agony after he began to give in under the influences of some outside force. His mind went dark there, and no amount of pulling was able to remove the memories from the rubble that they had been trapped beneath.
AncientSphinxmon's silence told Koichi all that he needed to know. "I do not know," the ancient fighter finally answered, and Koichi could sense honesty from him. AncientSphinxmon wasn't sure himself, but the possibility was most certainly present, and it was painstaking that neither one of them had a true answer to fall back on. There was no way for Koichi to find out the truth of what had happened to his body until he returned to Earth, and for all he knew, there was no way that he would be able to find out for sure.
He was positive that AncientSphinxmon's blessing of a temporary body was merely that; brief and fleeting. As soon as he left the Digital World, as soon as flesh and blood replaced the data imitations, Koichi would be left with uncertainty. If he was truly dead, there would be no way for him to return to his body. As far as he could tell, he had been away from his body for far too long. Too many days and nights had passed for the connection to be forged once again. For all Koichi knew, he was already dead and buried back on Earth, and his soul would be left to either roam the Digital World forever or return to the dark void of death that he should have never left behind in the first place.
"Time moves much faster in the Digital World than it does on Earth," AncientSphinxmon suddenly said, easily changing the subject when he noticed Koichi's discomfort. "Even though you have all been gone for quite some time, two minutes on Earth equate to a day in the Digital World, so you have not been missing from home for too long. If something has happened to your body, then there is a way for you to create this connection since your physical form is running under the rhythm of Earth's clock. The link could still be present, and you could still return even though you have been here for a great many days and nights on the Digital World's flow of time."
Koichi nodded in response, and he tried to console himself under AncientSphinxmon's words. Still, there was part of him that remained doubtful. Would he truly be able to recreate such a connection without any way of knowing how to do it? There were no guarantees to what AncientSphinxmon had said, and Koichi was sure of it. There was a great difference between the theories that AncientSphinxmon had crafted and what could end up as truth, and Koichi was fully aware of such. He couldn't be caught up in hopeful ideals when there was a small part of him that realized that, for all he knew, there was no life after the Digital World, and there was nothing that he would be able to do to either change such a fact or know for sure until it was too late for him to go back. Suddenly, he understood why AncientSphinxmon had asked so solemnly if Koichi was ready to hear the truth, and the young Warrior of Darkness realized that nothing could have possibly prepared him for this.
Koichi had been longing to get to know everyone in an environment where harm was not regular. He wanted to understand who they were when stress didn't live over their shoulders with each and every passing moment, and Koichi longed to construct the family that he had lost when Koji was pulled away from both himself and his mother. However, if AncientSphinxmon's words were to be believed, Koichi would never have the chance to reach out and create such a bond.
There was no way to say for sure that he was dead on Earth, but Koichi couldn't shake the fear that was sitting uncomfortably in his chest. Koichi would never be able to see his mother again if that was the case, and his family would once again be left incomplete, but in a completely different way. Grief would be left in his wake, and Koichi would be able to do nothing to ease the pain of his mother, having already lost everything else, as she mourned the loss of a son whose death she would never be able to comprehend.
"My time here has drawn to a close," AncientSphinxmon told Koichi, and the successor of Darkness was torn from his thoughts as he glanced up to his previous incarnation. Koichi attempted to stifle the tears in his eyes as AncientSphinxmon continued. "I will create a portal for you and your companions to pass through. It will take you back to the main planet of the Digital World, and your strength will be recovered as well. I cannot do anything else, but... I have full confidence that you will be able to find victory and save the Digital World once again. May we meet again one day, Koichi... You are a worthy heir to the Spirits of Darkness, and I look forward to seeing you in the future."
AncientSphinxmon's words were twisted with a twinge of guilt when Koichi heard them. For all they knew, there wouldn't be a next time. There was the possibility that Koichi's body was dead, and if his soul attempted to return to it, nothing would be able to save him. There was the chance that this was the last time they saw one another, and yet, AncientSphinxmon was still able to remain optimistic with a hope that Koichi couldn't even begin to understand.
The fog around AncientSphinxmon's feet began to stretch out, and it wove through to the door of the temple before the figure of the original Warrior of Darkness faded from view completely. Koichi watched as the mist vanished like ash on the wind, and he did his best to not start to cry, knowing that he would have to face the rest of his companions when he stepped outside.
Koichi had already made up his mind when it came to telling the truth of what he had learned. He couldn't dash their spirits and ruin morale by saying that he could have been dead back on Earth. It would be too much, and they didn't deserve that weight. The fight against the Royal Knights had to be their first priority. Koichi would take that time to figure out what he was meant to do to potentially remedy such an issue, though he knew that it was likely a factor that had been out of his control the instant that it became a problem in the first place.
Koichi walked out of the temple just in time to see Nyaromon begin to glow and change shape. She was replaced by a small Digimon that looked like a cream dog. A large ring of yellow was wrapped around her neck, and she had a bright smile on her face. A few pointed fangs stuck out in her teeth when she grinned at Koichi. Her ears were large and flopped every which way, and her eyes glowed bright blue.
"Look! I evolved!" the small Digimon exclaimed from her place in Hinoka's arms. "My name is Salamon now." Her tail wagged as she repositioned herself to be more comfortable within Hinoka's grasp, but her smile never faded even as she shifted.
"How did that even happen?" Mayumi questioned. She gave a glance to Koichi before looking at the ground beside her feet. A circle of darkened mist had been formed from AncientSphinxmon's magic, and Koichi assumed that it was the portal that he had mentioned just before he disappeared.
"The original Warrior of Darkness gave us a way back to the Digital World," Koichi explained, doing his best to keep his voice even. It was far harder than he expected, especially when all he wanted to do was curl into a corner and cry about how there was an all too real possibility that he had died at only sixteen years of age. "He also said that he was going to restore our energy, and I suppose that the boost in power was enough to make Nyaromon evolve to Salamon."
"That's great to hear," Salamon continued to grin. She glanced down to the portal before looking at the three humans around her. "I guess that there's no other reason for us to stay here then. We should go on and head back to the main planet so that we can meet up with the others. They're pretty clearly not on Rubrum, so we're going to have to scout them out ourselves."
Mayumi nodded her agreement and moved towards the portal. She waved for the others to follow her as she stepped into it, and her figure disappeared into the black fog that spawned from the base ring of the rift. Koichi could see no traces of her, so he assumed that the teleportation had been carried out correctly.
Hinoka was the next to move to the portal, and Salamon remained perched in her arms as the two were transported back to the main area of the Digital World. Once again, they vanished without leaving behind signs that they had been there at all, and Koichi was left to stand alone on the surface of Rubrum.
Koichi gave one final glance towards the temple, trying to keep from crying as soon as he was alone. He couldn't lose his nerve after having come so far. He had to find the rest of the group and work to stop the Royal Knights. Plus, he didn't know how long AncientSphinxmon would be able to maintain the portal, especially after having spent so much of his time and energy talking to Koichi.
The Warrior of Darkness let out a measured sigh and willed himself to prevent the sobs that threatened to rise in his throat. He would work this out as soon as he was able to, assuming that he even had that sort of influence. Koichi couldn't help but wonder if even the power of a god would have been able to restore his body and soul to their original form, and he wished for a miracle that would allow him to return to life on Earth after all had been said and done.
I'm only sixteen, Koichi thought, a tear in his heart from silent grief. He stepped onto the portal and watched as Rubrum faded away, and he wondered if he would ever see his predecessor again the way that AncientSphinxmon had implied. He somehow doubted it, so he allowed himself to bid his previous incarnation one final farewell in preparation of the death that he feared was coming after his digital journey drew to a close.
I'm sorry.
Well, that one made me sad.
This chapter is one that I've been looking forward to for quite a while. I've been wanting to explain Koichi's whole thing, and I thought this would be the perfect way to do it. This is a different way of looking at it than canon, and I honestly prefer this way. I was also able to get one of the Royal Knights out of the way, and I'm glad that I did. Go Mayumi!
The fight scene pretty much speaks for itself, so let's just jump right into the Koichi thing since there's a lot to talk about there. I can't remember if I said it back then or not, but the change of Takuya's trip to Earth being real versus false was made primarily to back up this point. The same applies to Zephyrmon taking over Izumi's body when she was first discovered. I wanted to have a few examples of the negative consequences of spirits and bodies being torn apart, and that all came to a head here. Poor Koichi puts up with so much.
The conversation with AncientSphinxmon was my preferred way of exposing what Koichi's whole thing is. It's meant to be exposition, so there's not much to say about it that hasn't already been said. However, I do want to say that I did it this way as opposed to having Crusadermon say it since I never thought that made much sense in canon. I don't know how Crusadermon was able to figure it out in the show, so I instead made it so that AncientSphinxmon explained it. Either way, it's still a lot on Koichi's end, and the influx of information in this version understandably overwhelmed him. Koichi's discovery is most certainly going to have consequences throughout the rest of the story, but you'll have to wait and see specifically what they are. Oops.
Next week, the final chapter of act four will be coming out, and then we'll be onto the finale with act five. The end is in our sights now, and six chapters remain! Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is always appreciated, and I hope you all have a nice day!
-Digital