Strider, Her Assassin
[A/N: No one flame! I got the idea from Strider 2™! However, Hiryu's costume is just perfect for my story… And his weapon is good too…]
[Disclaimer: I don't own, plus I don't own the Strider™ stuff.]
"It's been four months since the kidnapping of young genius, Tari Ikarin, and the disappearance of computer technician, Shinji Shazaki, has occurred. No clues have been found to either cases, and police are baffled at what to do."
Yolei hugged Poromon a bit tighter at the reporter's words. It HAD been four months since Tari took full control over Shinji, and had been hiding in the Digiworld. Poromon glanced up silently at his partner. He didn't want her to feel sad, but he couldn't dare move or speak in her family's living room.
Later that night, Poromon was trying to comfort Yolei. "I know that none of the other digimon have seen anything, but we're trying our hardest!" he squeaked, "And when we DO find Tari, we'll kick her butt right out of the Digiworld, right?" Yolei giggled a bit and picked up her pink-feathered partner. "Of course we will!" she agreed, hugging him gently. Poromon smiled.
The next day, the first day of the fifth month, Agumon was shopping at a town market. He needed food quite a bit, and the place was one of the best after Ken had gone. Tari hadn't touched it.
"Wow, I bet Gabumon will like this!" the dino-digimon laughed. He carefully picked up a glass figurine of an attacking Garurumon. "Only twenty Digidollars!" the Gotsumon running the stand said. Agumon was about to pay the digimon, when all the noise of the market stopped. The Gotsumon was shaking, staring up to the north part of the street. Agumon glanced that way. All the merchant digimon and the buyer digimon were frozen, shaking and staring at the front of the road.
A tall creature, Agumon unsure if it were human or digimon, dressed in blue and red, was walking from the sandy desert, nearly hidden by flying sand.
As the creature came closer, Agumon could see its clothes better. They had a dark blue, loose jumpsuit and tight cloth boots, with a strip of red cloth around their neck. Part of the red cloth was drawn up and around the lower part of their face, tied behind their head. Their hair was a dark brown, short, and fell in front of their face, but in slight, natural spikes, like Tai's was. And their eyes were blood red. It wasn't their eye color, but their whole eye that was red.
When it came to the first stand, the digimon running it immediately pulled out a bag of Digidollars, and handed it to the creature. The person held the bag for a moment, and then dumped the contents into a larger bag at their side. It did the same for the other stands as well.
Agumon glanced at the Gotsumon, and saw that it was almost in tears. He turned fully to look at the rock digimon, when a shadow fell upon him. He turned slowly and saw the person standing behind him. He stepped backwards, and the person strode before him. The Gotsumon handed the person a bag, and bowed its head.
"This isn't enough." the person spoke for the first time. Their voice was deep, but different than any male voice Agumon had heard. "We-we didn't sell much this month." the Gotsumon whimpered. The person glared, narrowing its red eyes in anger. It glanced down at Agumon, and before the dino-digimon could react, they grabbed the figurine out of his claws.
"You know what happens when you don't make enough to pay the Empress." the person hissed. With a loud crash, they threw the figurine against the stone wall behind the stand. "Hey-" Agumon started. Then, with an even louder crash, the Gotsumon had dove out from behind the stand, and the person drew out some sort of weapon from behind them, and slashed through the stand.
The glass figurines broke instantly, and the wood stand lay in pieces. The whole stand was destroyed beyond repair. The Gotsumon lay on the ground, sobbing. "If you don't want this to happen again, make sure to have enough for the Empress." the person growled. Then, it took the Digidollars the Gotsumon had given them, and walked back into the desert surrounding the market. Agumon dropped to his knees and helped the Gotsumon up.
"Who was that?" he asked. "That-that was Strider, her assassin." the Gotsumon replied. "Whose assassin?" Agumon asked. "The Digimon Empress'." Gotsumon answered, "She makes us pay a tribute to her every month, and if we don't have enough…" He glanced back at his stand. "We don't know where that person came from." he continued, "But one day, five months ago, it all started up. That person came every first of the month, and took our money."
"But why do you call them Strider?" Agumon asked, "And why an assassin at that?" "It happened two months ago." the Gotsumon explained, "One stand could never make enough money to pay the tribute, and the Digital Empress told Strider to-to…" He broke off, but Agumon knew. The weapon that Strider had was powerful, and he could feel the energy coming off it.
He patted the Gotsumon on the shoulder, and then hurried off. Even though he had a horrible memory, he remembered to alert Tai of the strange occurrence.
"Huh?" Tai asked, "What do you mean?" He was listening to Agumon through his digivice, and Agumon sounded shaky. "Yeah, I got the part about the Empress, and the tax thing, but what about that Strider guy?" Kari and Gatomon were in the room, listening as well. "Well, the thing is, Strider is an assassin for Tari, and destroyed a Gotsumon's stand because he didn't have enough for the tribute." Agumon explained once more.
Kari was hugging Gatomon, shaking a bit. Then, something popped into her mind. "Agumon, hold on for a minute." she said, standing up, "I have to go call Cody." She dashed from the room, grabbed the cordless phone, and ran back to her room.
"Hello?" Cody answered the phone, "Hida residence." "Cody!" Kari said from the other end, "Do you still have that note that you found on Shinji's door?" "Yes." he replied. He didn't say that he had kept it in his pants pocket since he found it. "Great!" Kari said, "Now, I need you to tell Agumon what Shinji warned us about in the note. Who did she say to beware of?"
At the Kamiya apartment, Kari leaned the phone close to the digivice, and Agumon listened close. "Shinji said to beware of the person in blue and red, and the one with pure red eyes." Cody said slowly, reading over the note. Agumon let out a gasp. "That's exactly what Strider was wearing, and his eyes were pure red!" he said in shock.
Everyone let out a gasp. Kari quickly relayed the whole story to Cody, and grabbed the other part of the phone. She put Cody on speakerphone, so everyone could hear everything.
"So Shinji knew about Strider the whole time?" Tai asked. "Yeah, she warned us about it!" Gatomon said sarcastically. Cody was silent, just staring at the note. But something caught his dark green eye.
Something was on the back of the note.
He flipped it over and read it quickly. His eyes opened wide. "Guys, guys!" he said over the phone, "There was more on the note!" Tai, Gatomon, Kari, and Agumon let out a simultaneous "What?!" "The note says: 'I finished the other Warrior Weapons, and something for the younger kids to defend themselves with as well'." Cody read back.
"So how are we supposed to get the Weapons?!" Tai snapped. "Let me finish!" Cody replied, "'I've left the Weapons with Myotismon. Bring this note to him and he will give you the Weapons'." Everyone sweatdropped. "Kari, call the others!" Tai ordered, "Cody, you get over here quick! We're going to get those Warrior Weapons and get Shinji away from Strider and Tari!"
The group found themselves in the same forest as five months ago, but the fog had disappeared. "Myotismon!" Tai called out, "Get out here!" "You called?" Myotismon appeared from nowhere behind Tai.
"Shinji said that you had the other Warrior Weapons." Cody stepped forwards, "She said that she left them with you just before Tari got complete control of her." The vampire digimon blinked a bit before making a somewhat large box appear from nowhere.
"That's what's in this box?" he questioned himself, "That must be why she didn't want me opening it." He knelt and put the box on the ground, everyone kneeling with him. Inside the box, there were five small boxes, with one large box at the bottom. The first was emblazoned with the Crests of Courage and Friendship, and the vampire digimon handed it to Davis. Veemon and Davis opened it slowly, but excitedly.
Inside, two sword hilts lay softly, cushioned with a deep maroon cloth. By the first sword hilt lay a small ring, with a half-red, half-blue gem embedded in the golden band. "Look TS!" Davis flaunted, "I got a cool ring and Veemon got a better sword!" Frowning rather angrily, Myotismon took the next box, marked with the Crest of Hope, and handed it to TK. The blond human opened it and took a grand-looking sword hilt from the gold-cloth-cushioned, along with a jeweled headband. He silently tied the gold band about his forehead, and tied it behind his head.
Smiling at Davis' crestfallen expression, the Virus digimon removed the next case, emblazoned with the Crests of Love and Sincerity, and handed it to Yolei. Yolei opened it eagerly, but sweatdropped when she saw it was only a piece of wood, rounded like a cylinder resting in light purple-blue cloth. She hardly noticed the elegant necklace with a maroon pendant and Hawkmon's Weapon. Hawkmon glanced over the stick, and pressed a small button at the bottom. With a flash, the wood extended a good bit, and an energy-made spearhead appeared. The energy point cut into Myotismon's cheek as the wood staff grew.
A small trickle of blood slid down her face and dripped onto his awaiting palm. Yolei gasped, and her eyes filled with frightened tears. Without a word, Myotismon pulled out the next box, which had the Crest of Light on it, and handed it to Kari. Inside were four halves of twin bows, and a beautiful necklace with a gleaming pink pendant. Kari took her box, and put the ends together. They fused together to form a perfectly normal bow. "But where are the arrows?" she asked.
"You make them out of energy, just like the string." Gatomon explained as Kari put on the necklace. Her normal Ultimate form had such an attack, and she was used to it. The final small box was emblazoned with the Crest of Kindness, but…
"Come out." Myotismon ordered, "I know you and Wormmon are here, Ichijouji." Everyone looked around, but they saw no one. That is, until Ken, holding Wormmon, stepped out from behind a tree, behind Myotismon. The digimon handed Ken his Weapon over his shoulder, and Ken opened it silently. It was like Kari, bows, but with a wristband, a red ruby crusted in it.
Finally, the cut still bleeding, Myotismon ripped apart the larger box and slid the last box to Cody. The Crests of Knowledge and Reliability were emblazoned on the box, and the cloth inside was dark purple. Also, a small note lay on top of a lightweight golden wristband, so much like Shinji's. The note read:
"I've seen you practice your Kendo, my dear friend. Please be careful with this."
He looked up from the note to see two blades, each inside a sheath. But when Cody slid the blade upwards, expecting it to be wooden, he saw only the bright gleam of sharp silver. "A katana…" Ken said slowly. Armadillomon took his sword, and it was a true blade as well. Cody held the sword delicately, not believing that he held a katana in his hands.
"Such powerful Weapons for such weak children." a voice hissed. Everyone looked around, but no one could see anything. Myotismon, however, stood with a strange gleam in his eyes, and fired a blast of energy into the thick bamboo. The wood burst into flames, and he started to grin.
But a shadow appeared in the blazing fire and with a burst of flames, Strider appeared. Myotismon cured under his breath as Strider strode close, if not next to the group.
"So I finally found the rebellion against the Empress, did I?" Strider joked. The kids knew he was smiling under that red cloth. "What are you going to do with them?" Myotismon asked calmly, stepping before the Digi-destined.
"If the powerful Myotismon would move aside, I have orders to destroy them from my Empress." Strider replied, bowing. "I will not let someone as cruel as you harm them." the vampire growled.
Strider slowly pulled out a weapon from behind him, attached to his waist and merely tied to him. When he held it, in one hand, before himself, it appeared to be what looked like a toy sword. But with his eyes narrowing, Strider's weapon flashed with energy, and dark light flooded around it.
"My Empress made this for me." Strider chuckled, "I personally call it Cypher." His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he said, "And it'll destroy you upstart fools."
He let out a cry, and dashed forwards towards Davis. He slashed, and everything disappeared in a quick flash. But when Davis looked up, his head wasn't split in two. Myotismon had kept his word. He wouldn't let Strider hurt the Digi-destined. Cypher was embedded deep in the crook of Myotismon's elbow, bleeding slightly.
"I'd sooner die than live under that little witch's rule." he growled, one of his blue eyes bent deeply in pain.
Strider jerked, his hold over Cypher loosening. His red eyes widened at the short remembering of a forgotten memory…
"The wound will feel better in a few days if you don't move it much." Myotismon murmured, tying a bandage around their arm, "That means, no fighting when you get back home!"
Strider's eyes slightly watered, but no one saw. He closed his eyes solemnly and yanked Cypher from Myotismon's elbow. Blood spurted from the deep wound, and the vampire fell back, holding the wound.
"Since you won't relinquish your foolish protection, I'll destroy the brats another day." Strider said calmly. He turned and walked away. "Beware, honorable Myotismon, the next time we meet, I might have orders to kill you." He walked through the flames, and disappeared without a trace as the flames were blown apart by a cold wind.
"I'm sorry." Kari apologized, "I don't know much about cleaning wounds or anything like that." She pulled the knot of a makeshift bandage tight around Myotismon's bleeding arm and sat back. "It's perfect." the vampire digimon praised, "Thank you." He stood up somewhat shakily, and started to walk away.
"Hey wait!" Davis called after him, "How are we supposed to use these things?!" "Whenever you need me, I'll be there." Myotismon replied, "My domain is the shadows, so anywhere there isn't light, just look for me." He grinned over his shoulder and said, "That's most everywhere." He walked away a little more, than disappeared in a flash of black energy. Bats flew from nowhere and swarmed around the group for a minute.
Yolei shivered and bent her knees a bit. "This is getting royally weird." TK muttered.
Tari slammed her foot into Strider's stomach, making him collapse to the floor. "YOU IDIOT!" Tari screamed, "I TOLD YOU TO KILL THE DIGI-DESTINED, NO MATTER WHAT!!" Strider did not speak, and took the beating, punches, kicks, and any other strikes Tari gave. "If you screw up this next mission, I'll kill you, you incompetent fool!"
It was late that night, the moon hanging high in the Digiworld. Agumon and Biyomon were sitting at a secluded lake. "How many times do I have to tell you, I don't want to go out for dinner!" Agumon insisted. Biyomon sighed.
Suddenly, there was a ripple on the pond.
Agumon looked up and choked. Standing on the water itself, was Strider.
"I have new orders." Strider said in a whisper. His words caught a wind, and managed to reach Agumon and Biyomon's ears. His red eyes were narrow as a pencil line as he said his next words.
"I'm to destroy the Digimon of Courage, Taichi's partner, Agumon."
Everything next happened in slow motion. Strider began to run across the surface of the water, towards the two digimon. Biyomon leapt in front of Agumon, hoping to save him. Agumon couldn't move from fear and shock. Then, with a horrid 'SPLECH' sound, Strider had drawn Cypher and sliced through Biyomon's head in a diagonal slash.
The pink bird's head turned to two pieces for a few seconds, then she disappeared in a burst of data. Agumon, enraged at Biyomon's death, flung his claw out, trying to claw off Strider's face. He ducked back, but Agumon's claw caught the red cloth hiding his face, and the white claw pulled away the red cloth.
"N-no…" Agumon breathed, "It-it can't be y-you…" Strider landed from his jump slash and looked at Agumon. Then, he cut through Agumon, cutting the dino-digimon into pieces. Every part of Agumon turned to data, but Strider grabbed one hand that didn't delete itself quick enough. He lifted Cypher and cut his cheek, letting a drop of his red blood drip onto Agumon's hand, keeping it somewhat alive.
Looking up to the moon, holding Agumon's clawed hand, Strider's body turned numb, and he started slowly back to Tari Ikarin's, the Digital Empress' base.