{The quote below is from the King James version of the Bible. And even though I came up with the 'human/digimon fusion' many months ago, future readers may belive I got it from the yet-to-be-released Digimon Frontier or from Digimon Tamers. George Lucas owns Star Wars, and some cereal company owns Shredded Wheat. And copy/paste the other disclaimers here.}
[VERSION UP and starting animation plays....]
Backstep 12
By the Waters of Babylon
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not…." Revelation 12: 7-8
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Location - Owsley's room, Steele residence, Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA
Time - seventeen days into the Digital Conundrum
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Owsley's eyes caught notice of the computer screen as he was chatting with Chloe. He plopped down into a chair and turned to face the screen.
"What is it?" Chloe asked, bending over Owsley's shoulders. "Something interesting?"
"It's the streaming feed from Parker's D3," the nerd explained simply. "It's back on normal speed again." He pressed a button, enlarging the video window so it filled the computer screen. "It looks like he's in a garden. And Buck's there, and their partners - hey, what's with those two dots in the sky?"
"Let me see that," Chloe said, pushing Owsley aside. She pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, selecting the two shadows and enlarging them four times their original size.
"Hey, that's enough magnification," Owsley scolded, regaining control of the computer. He pointed a finger at the lighter of the shadows, which now showed clearly as a robed angel with a gleaming sword. "That guy - he's the Guardian," Owsley mused, now drawing his attention to the other shadow. "And this one … oh no…."
"What?" Chloe asked, looking at Owsley, puzzled.
Owsley turned to Chloe, worry etched on his face. "It's Black War Greymon."
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Location - unknown
Time - unknown
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"You've gotta be kidding me, Buck," Parker scoffed, turning back to face the dazed journalist. "You're probably still out of it - those shadows must be dragonflies or something."
"I'm not possessed now!" Buck exclaimed. "I swear, I saw the Guardian and Black War Greymon fighting up there!"
"Yeah, sure," Parker laughed. "Come on, Buck - the pressing matter is that we have to get back to NNL, undo all this, and hope that we lead normal lives after that. Let's go." He and Tentomon walked off into the garden, towards the sound of the bubbling brook.
"You know, Buck," Elecmon said, jumping into Buck's hands, "maybe you were just seeing things. I mean, with everything that's happened to you-"
"Like being attacked by a mummy, being sent to the Digital World, and getting possessed by an angel wasn't enough," Buck grumbled. "Look, Elecmon, I know that I attract a lot of trouble, but that's my line of work." He sighed. "I'm a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, after all."
"Is getting stitches during every major story customary for you?"
Buck chuckled. "Come to think of it, no."
The bubbling brook that Buck heard upon entering the garden turned out to be a wide, running river filled with crystal-blue water. Smooth pebbles could be seen at the bottom of the river, a sign that it was quite shallow. By the edge of the water was a wooden signpost with words in Digital Hieroglyphs.
"Let me guess, Buck," Parker started, "it says 'Keep off the Grass'."
Buck walked to the sign and shook his head. "No, but you're close. It says, 'Let not a body of darkness set foot in the Waters of Life which flow from the Golden Land.'"
"The Golden Land," Parker mused. "You know, if we get back there, we could find our way back home!"
Buck nodded. "Sounds like a good idea." He turned opposite the river's flow, hoping to find its source. Off in the distance was a cloud of mist at the base of a roaring waterfall, almost a mile away. "Maybe it's behind that waterfall over there."
"Yeah, but it's rather far away," Elecmon grumbled. "We need to get there, fast."
"All right." Buck dug in his pockets for his D3 and pointed it at Elecmon; Parker took out his own and shoved it towards Tentomon.
"Digimental Up!" they called out in unison.
"Elecmon, evolve! Mysterious truth, Kyuubimon!"
"Tentomon, evolve! Flying time, Scarabmon!"
The two men jumped onto their respective partners' backs and sped off towards the mist that would hopefully lead them home.
As the two Chosen Children were speeding off towards the waterfall, two digimon enshrouded in auras of either black or white were dueling amongst each other. First seen by Buck upon entering the garden, then by Owsley and Chloe through Parker's D3, the digimon had moved their aerial battle from over the dense garden to the sky above the great river.
"You know this is not your domain, Guardian," the creature in the black aura growled, warding away his opponent's sword thrusts with his metal-encased claws. "The Supreme Deity confined you to the Golden Land - you should not have chased me here to 'edhen, protectorate of one of the Archangels."
"Deus Absconditus gave me leave to the garden, Black War Greymon," the Guardian rasped, signs of his battle in the Digital World in another form showing as vividly as ever. "And the Archangel of this land only protects the Eastern Gate."
Black War Greymon almost smiled from behind his heavy armor. Looking down at the waters below, he could see two humans and their digimon partners running off towards the waterfall that hid the gate he sought.
Scarabmon and Kyuubimon, with Parker and Buck on their backs, balanced themselves on rocks that were situated before the great waterfall at the far end of the garden. Parker slid off Scarabmon's back and pulled out his D3, scanning the map grid.
"It seems there's a secret room behind the waterfall," the chrononaut said after a short while, turning to face Buck. "The D3 senses a digimon behind it."
"I smell it, too," Kyuubimon said, cocking his head towards Parker. "It has the same scent as … the Guardian."
"Could it be the second one?" Buck asked, bending down close to his partner's head. "Tentomon did mention something about another a few days ago."
Kyuubimon sniffed the air again. "No … it's a little stronger, like one of the higher-ranking angels of the Supreme Deity's court, like … one of the Archangels."
"Archangels, like Michael and Gabriel?" Parker asked, feeling smug. Being raised in a church orphanage and memorizing all the saints under threat of being hit by rulers had finally paid off. "Or are they more digimon?"
"The names you mentioned are unfamiliar, with exception of in that poem you got in your e-mail," Kyuubimon replied. "But nobody knows if they're digimon or not. The last time they were seen was sixteen years ago, according to time in your world."
"Everything always seems to happen sixteen years ago," Buck and Parker groaned in unison.
The digimon seemed to ignore the men's complaint. "I suggest we talk to this Archangel," Scarabmon buzzed, "and maybe he'll tell us how to get out of here."
"Or even better yet, where the hell we are," Parker grumbled. He was about to jump back onto his partner's back when his D3 started to beep. "Now what?" he groaned as he pressed one of the device's two buttons.
"FRANK! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"
Parker couldn't believe his ears, or his eyes. Andrew Owsley and a young college student-aged girl were crammed on the small D3 screen.
"Buck, turn on your D3!" Parker hissed to the journalist. "It's Owsley!" Then turning his attention back to the screen he said: "Owls! Why the hell didn't you answer my calls?"
"Time's been thrown out of whack," Owsley stated, though glee could be seen flickering in his eyes. "It seems that only a few hours passed in the Digital World while almost a month passed out here. At least you're safe, but the question is, where were you when the Trumpet sounded?"
Parker was puzzled - a month had passed on Earth? How could that be? Time between his home, the Digital World, and the Dark Ocean had always flowed at the same pace - could the blowing of the Trumpet of Hope have changed it, just like being in the Center suspended individuals in a different time-frame?
"We were sent to the Golden Land," Buck responded while Parker was still in his reverie. "But then the Guardian kicked us out - he said we had to find two other 'Chosen Children': a Tsion Ben-Judah and a Chloe Steele-"
"Me?" the girl behind Owsley exclaimed, shocked. "You two were looking for me?"
Buck and Parker turned their heads at each other, their blank expressions mirror images of each other. "Who's she?" they asked in unison.
"I'm Chloe Steele," the girl said, shoving Owsley roughly out of her way. She pulled out a Tag from beneath her shirt. "I'm a Chosen Child, too. Why would you two need to find me?"
Parker shrugged. "Well, the Guardian told us that us and one other had to get together to fight an old enemy. The problem is, I don't know who."
"Same here," Buck and Chloe responded more or less in unison.
Owsley pushed himself back before the screen, shoving Chloe out of the picture. "I've already got Chloe up to date with what you've been doing," he said. "We just need you to get back home so we could find a way to pull through the next seven years."
Parker was taken aback by the young scientist's words. "What about … you know…." He winked at Owsley - there was no way he was going to mention the Sphere in Chloe's presence.
"Frank," Owsley replied, his face drawn out, "that's one of the things we have to talk to you about - in private, of course."
"Oh." Must be another modification with the Sphere, Parker thought gloomily. "Well, Hooter, could you tell us where the hell we are before we return?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.
Owsley seemed to press a few buttons before he came with his answer. "Frank, Buck, you guys are in … 'edhen." He pronounced 'edhen as Eden.
"'edhen?" Buck scoffed.
"That's what it says here, Buck," Owsley stated. "And according to the map, there's two digimon above you and one straight ahead."
Kyuubimon raised his head to the sky. "It's those two digimon we you saw battling when we got here," he growled.
"What else is in front of us?" Parker asked.
"Well … my computer is picking up … a TV," Owsley replied, seemingly unsure of himself.
"A TV … like those we used to travel to and from the Digital World!" Buck exclaimed. "That sign was right! These waters did come from the Golden Land - if not another world - and we could hopefully take the portal home!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Parker asked excitedly. "Andrew, we're coming home! Parker out." He pressed a button on the D3 and shoved it into his pocket before climbing onto Scarabmon's back. "Let's go!"
Without a second glance back at the beautiful garden, the Chosen Children and their partners sped off towards the waterfall, breaking through the mist….
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Location - unknown
Time - suspended
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… And found themselves at the edge of a gigantic blue expanse.
"Where are we?" Buck asked, jumping off Kyuubimon. The two armored digimon reverted back to Elecmon and Tentomon, the digimental armor streaming back to their respective D3s.
The blue space seemed to be flowing, like water over the stones on a riverbed, cascading down the walls of the place, shining its crystalline aquamarine light upon the two men and their partners. A floating island encircled by arches was in the center, with a bridge of silver extending out towards the men's feet.
Parker took out his D3 and pressed a button. "I hope Owsley has something about this place," he mumbled. Instead, he found Owsley and Chloe's faces staring back at him, frozen in mid-word.
"Oh, shoot," he cursed, shoving the device back into his pants pocket. "This can't be good."
"You can't raise him again, can you?" Buck asked, brushing his hair from his face.
Parker nodded. "Guess the only way out is across the bridge. Come on."
The bridge was little more than a causeway, large enough for the two men to walk single file to the center. Parker went first, Tentomon hovering by his side; Buck and Elecmon followed a little after them.
"Looks like a long drop below us," Elecmon grumbled, looking down at the space that extended beneath the bridge. The blue liquid-like walls of the place even continued down below, seeming to go on to infinity.
"Thanks for telling us," Buck and Parker moaned sarcastically. "We feel much safer now."
Five minutes later, the Chosen Children arrived at the island in the center of the expanse. Once Elecmon had scurried into Buck's arms after jumping off the bridge, the silver causeway retracted into the bowels of the isle, signaling its disappearance with a soft thud.
"Shoot. We're trapped here," Parker cursed, looking around the island. The arches that surrounded the isle on the perimeter were engraved with strange characters, neither in English or Digital Hieroglyphs.
"Well, maybe these arches are portals to other worlds, just like in the Center," Buck mused.
"You have surmised correctly, Cameron Williams."
Buck turned around at the sound. It was a female voice, like something he had heard in the past…. "Who's that?" he asked, taking a glance at Parker.
"I am Ophanimon, the Archangel who presides over the Eastern Gate," the strange voice answered him.
Parker dragged Buck so the journalist could look in the same direction as he. Now they could see the mysterious digimon that had spoken to them.
She was an angel, more flamboyantly decorated than Angemon or even the Guardian. Like the other angel digimon the Chosen Children had encountered, her eyes were shielded by a turquoise helm decorated with gold and precious jewels. Standing at a height of ten feet, she towered like a mountain over the men. Armor of a dark turquoise covered her breast, exposing her chest before tapering down to shield her silk-girt legs. Gold shaped in curled designs embellished her armor and the helm she wore upon her head. Her violet hair clashed with the fiery red mane that budded from the top of her helm. In one gauntleted hand she carried a tall lance, the handgrip shielded by a ring flanked with wings; a winged shield with a unicorn's face was on the other, the deadly horn pointing out towards Buck. Four pairs of stationary golden wings flanked her form, all seemingly made out of sheets of the strongest metal; a fifth pair framed her armor-covered skirt, but this set was of golden feathers.
"And you must be Francis Bartholomew Parker," the Archangel continued, directing herself towards Parker.
"Bartholomew?" Buck, Tentomon, and Elecmon exclaimed, shocked.
"I legally shortened it to 'B'," Parker said, narrowing his eyes. Then, back to Ophanimon, "So, you guard this … Eastern Gate?"
"That is correct, Francis," she replied simply.
"Then you could take us back home again?" Buck asked.
The angel shook her head. "Not until the Guardian returns from 'edhen."
Buck and Parker stared at the digimon, their mouths gaping. "What?" they cried out incredulously.
"You did see him fight the dragon in the garden, did you not?" Ophanimon asked, cocking her head down at the men.
Buck nodded. "Yeah. So, how much longer?"
The Archangel seemed to look out beyond the two men, towards the spot in the fluid walls where they had entered the Eastern Gate. She gnawed at her lip before giving her grave response minutes later.
"They are almost at the Gate, the two of them," she whispered. "The Guardian is loosing his strength again…." A sigh. "I knew Deus should not have allowed him to let him pass through the Gate! I know it is his duty to protect the Golden Land, but that is his domain - 'edhen is mine…."
The Crest of Truth that hung from Buck's neck started to glow, giving a white tinge to the blue-lighted space. Frightened, Buck clasped his arms over the Tag and closed his eyes - I don't want it to happen again, he thought frantically.
Ophanimon knelt down and put a hand gently on Buck's shoulder, looking at the man with a motherly smile upon her face. "What is it, my little explorer?" she cooed, lifting Buck's face up with her free hand.
Buck stared up into the Archangel's shielded face, shocked. He had only been called by such a pet name when he was a child, still in elementary school! His mother had always greeted him as such … before what had happened on his seventh birthday….
"Mommy! I'm back from school!"
"Oh, good afternoon Cameron. How was your day, my little explorer?"
That was how it went every day after school for six-year-old Cameron Williams, a young, fair-haired boy who lived in a small town near Oklahoma City. He had an older sibling, a brother named Jeff, who was in the fifth grade. Despite being the youngest, Cameron was smothered in the love of his mother, a tall, violet-haired woman.
"My day was fine, Mommy," Cameron replied, caught up in his mother's embrace. "Except that Samuel called me Candid Cameron again. Mommy, why do people call me names?"
His mother laughed. "It is because you are so curious, Cam," she answered, tickling her son's arms. Cameron burst into giggles that filled the autumn air with sweet peals like those of bells. "Besides, you are to be called names even when you are older," she continued. "I can see you as an adult, at a very high position in your occupation, and everyone will call you …oh, let me see … oh, yes! They will call you Buck!"
"Buck?" Cameron replied, smirking like the child he was. "What kind of name is that?"
That was the last time Cameron saw his mother.
Mrs. Williams was known to lock herself in her husband's study, reportedly making phone calls to her business partners. Not even Cameron's father knew what kind of business his wife was in, it was so secret. But then, Mr. Williams was out of town often, driving trucks with tanks of propane down to Texas and back.
The day after his mother foretold his future nickname was Cameron's seventh birthday. He had woken up early to strains of 'Happy Birthday' from his father and Jeff, along with barrages of Star Wars action figures - the movie had been released the previous summer.
"Daddy, where's Mommy?" Cameron asked as he poured himself some Shredded Wheat. "She usually wakes me up on my birthday."
"She's in the study again, Cameron," his father grumbled, sipping at his dark coffee. "She'll be out when you get back from school."
Cameron made a face - he hated it when his mother locked herself in.
School was a modest affair that day: more Star Wars action figures, a few cards, some candies from the lunch ladies. The teachers eased off on the homework so that Cameron wouldn't ask why he got so much on so special a day.
The house seemed empty when Cameron returned a few minutes after noon. Jeff was still at school, and his father had already left for Dallas, but his mother never left the house except for shopping.
"Mommy?" he called out, setting down his action figure-laden rucksack on the floor by the door. "Where are you?" Remembering what his father had told him, Cameron padded over to the study down the hall.
Strangely, the door was open a crack, the noon light slanting onto Cameron's face.
"Mommy?" he asked, slipping through the door. He had never been in the study before.
The door opened out to a cozy room, with an armchair, fireplace, and a desk with a telephone and computer. There was no sign of life in the room, save for Cameron.
A note was taped to the chair, at a low enough level for Cameron to reach. He grasped the note and read it out loud.
Cameron -
Seek the truth
- Mommy
Cameron's father had told him in later days that his mother had died of a heart attack, but something in that small note made him doubt that. Yet as the days turned to years, he received no sign of his mother, and he started to believe his father's story. But something always nagged inside him - what truth did his mother want him to find?
Buck closed his eyes again, shoving the memory from his mind. But how could this digimon know his late mother's pet name? Maybe she can read my mind, Buck told himself, or it's just a coincidence - I hope.
"It's nothing," Buck replied at last. "I just want to go home."
The Archangel nodded, then rose to her full height again. "I know that the two of you must return home, but you must wait until the Guardian returns," she answered. Then, looking back at Buck, she said, "You can do me a favor, Cameron."
Great - she knows, the journalist thought in disgust, lowering his hands to his side. "What is it?" he asked, clearly not in the best of moods.
"You and Francis can go fetch the Guardian while I guard the Eastern Gate," she explained. "I do not wish to leave the Gate unattended … and yet I fear that the Guardian is in great danger."
"Isn't he always?" Parker and Buck mumbled.
"I will open the gate to 'edhen," Ophanimon continued. "I cannot leave it open for long - I fear the beast the Guardian faces will find a way to the Golden Land." She turned her back to the Chosen Children and thrust her lance into the space within the arch. A window, much like the ones that surrounded the Center, opened out to the clear sapphire river beyond, where two great creatures - a sword-bearing angel and a black armored dragon - clashed in the water.
"You were right, Buck," Parker gasped in awe as Ophanimon backed away from the gate. "Those two digimon were fighting."
"You do not have much time, Chosen Children," the Archangel urged, herding Parker and the digimon towards the gate. "Go in haste - I will help you return home after your task!"
Parker let Elecmon and Tentomon pass through the gate (which rippled as they traversed it), but strayed behind to wait for Buck. "Come on, you heard her!" he called out. "We've got to go!"
"Go ahead," Buck replied calmly; "wait for me outside."
Parker shrugged and leaped through the gate, leaving the image of 'edhen rippling like the surface of disturbed water.
Ophanimon looked down at Buck, a questioning look upon her lips. "Why do you stay behind, Cameron?" she asked, walking towards the man. "Are you still troubled?"
I hate how she reads my mind, Buck grumbled inwardly. "Ophanimon," he started, "I just have a few questions - they've been bugging me for years."
"I see," the Archangel responded. "Do they concern your mother?"
Buck sighed. "Yeah."
"I can tell you that your mother is alive and well, Cameron," she said, putting a hand on Buck's shoulder. "She did not want you to know, though, where she is."
She's alive? Buck repeated in his head. And Dad had a funeral, and burial, everything … was this the truth I was searching for?
"You still have yet to find what your mother told you to seek," Ophanimon continued - obviously she had read Buck's thoughts again. "In due time you will. But haste is what is important, Cameron - I must close the gate now."
Buck nodded. "Thank you, Archangel," he whispered as he turned and leaped through the gate.
The last words he heard were of the angel: The Crest will show you the way….
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Location: 'edhen
Time: seventeen days into Digital Conundrum
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Buck found himself at the edge of the river, the waterfall to his right. Parker and the digimon - he could tell that Tentomon had evolved to Kabuterimon - were on the other bank, but they were staring back at him with solemn eyes. What had happened while he strayed behind at the Eastern Gate? Where was that battle he had seen between the Guardian and Black War Greymon only seconds ago?
"Cameron…."
A strained, familiar voice called out to Buck's left. He turned, finding the flowing river, the verdant tropical vegetation, the fallen angel lying by the rocks lining the river-
"The Guardian?" Buck gasped, shocked, picking his way to the angel's side. The digimon looked much worse than when Buck had last seen him: His robes were torn to mere shreds, exposing the pale, bloodied frame beneath, and his helm was cracked enough to give Buck a view of the shielded face that looked so much like his own. The hand closest to Buck quivered, rising tediously to grasp Buck's own with a strangely firm clasp.
"My host … wants to return to the Golden Land … to his partner," the Guardian moaned, staring into Buck's eyes. "I need you, Cameron … Black War Greymon still lives … I lost him in the garden … help me fight him…."
Buck shook his head in defiant refusal. "I won't do it!" he nearly screeched, looking back at Parker and the others. "Let Frank find him, then finish him off! I'm not going to let you take control of me again!"
"Buck, maybe you should think this over-" Parker called out from the other bank, splashing his way to Buck; but the journalist yelled over him with a furious reply.
"Shut up, Frank! You don't know what it's like! I'm not doing it!"
"- But that dragon's coming down with a glowing claw straight at you!" Parker finished, barely drowned out by the rush of air and Buck's tearful cries.
"I don't care!" Buck roared as Parker climbed up to Buck's side. "I'd rather die than be possessed again by that-"
Before he could finish, Black War Greymon barreled down to the earth, glowing steel claws aimed for Buck's chest. Parker shoved Buck out of the way seconds before the dragon plunged his claws into the wounded Guardian's heart. Light filled the garden, blinding the men momentarily. A harsh wind blew past, and aftereffect of the strike perhaps.
When the light finally died down moments later, Black War Greymon was floating over the river, chuckling evilly at the digimon on the banks fading from existence.
Buck crawled out from under Parker, towards the digimon lying in state. He could tell it wasn't the Guardian - it was Angemon, in a considerably more miserable state than the Guardian had been. His helm did not cover his face - in fact, he still wasn't wearing it … it was like he had been in the Guardian's form since the last Holy Stone had been destroyed. The angel was muttering in English, sometimes switching between Japanese and another language that Buck didn't understand. He turned his face towards Buck, and weakly took the journalist's hands into one of his.
"Takeru … he told me the truth at the ramen place … and he didn't even know," he muttered deliriously, with his blank ivory eyes boring into Buck's very being. "You know what to do … Cameron…."
Cameron? Buck thought, puzzled. None of the Japanese kids' digimon ever called me that!
Those were the last things he thought before the light of the Crest of Truth enveloped him in brightness….
"You are a persistent opponent, aren't you?"
Black War Greymon's croons awoke Buck with a jolt.
The man found himself again in an orb of blue light, the only illumination in a vast space of darkness. He clutched the shining Crest of Truth around his neck - it was all he wore in the expanse. Feeling a chill across his body, Buck brought his arms about himself, a desperate attempt to keep warm.
"Where am I?" Buck whispered, turning his head to left and right frantically. "Why am I here?"
You are one with me, the Guardian's voice echoed through the darkness, flooding warmth through the human. The Crest of Truth gives me the ability to fuse with you, and the Holy Ring allows you to remain aware of yourself while you are in my form … it allows you to do as you wish with my body.
"So now … I can defeat Black War Greymon," Buck mused, unwrapping his arms from his body. "Tell me how."
I will do as you command, Cameron, the Guardian replied, yet his voice had a reluctant undertone. I will move as you move, and say as you say. You are my general, and I am but your army.
Buck nodded. "Alright."
A rush of sensory perception crashed over Buck; he knew he was still confined in that orb of light, yet at the same time he felt himself in 'edhen. An almost translucent vision of Black War Greymon popped up before Buck's eyes; with every movement of his head, he could see the rest of the garden. Buck could feel water flow over his feet, smell the fragrance of the tropical flowers, taste the metallic tinge of darkness upon his tongue.
He turned back towards the bank, seeing Parker gaping up in awe at him. Angemon had vanished - blue glimmers of digital data were streaming out towards the Eastern Gate.
"Buck?" Parker called out, seemingly worried. "Are you okay?"
Do not answer him, the Guardian's voice echoed to Buck; your duty is the dragon.
Buck regretfully faced Black War Greymon again, giving a game smirk as he pulled a feather from one of his wings. A tingling sensation ran over his hands as the unseen feather transformed into the gleaming Omega Blade.
"I will send you to the darkness from which you were born of!" Buck cried out, pointing the tip of the Omega Blade at the dragon.
"Go ahead," Black War Greymon chuckled, leaping into the air in a black flicker. "Try to find me first."
"Shoot - he's flown off," Buck cursed, extending his wings and taking to the sky. He glanced around, finding only Parker, Kabuterimon, Elecmon, and the rest of the garden. Dark flickers of light danced across the sky, showing Black War Greymon's path across the air.
"Dramon Killer!"
A golden flash of light shot out towards Buck, causing him to leap into the air above his path. Black War Greymon halted a few feet from Buck's original position, turning swiftly to face his opponent.
"Gaah! I'll get you!" the dragon roared, pointing his claws out at Buck. He shot into the air, prepared to plunge the cold iron into Buck's chest.
Buck hadn't handled a sword in his college days, when he was a member of Princeton's fencing club. He had joined for only a year - journalistic studies and a lack of skill had forced him to drop. Now he hoped whatever he remembered would help. He swung the Omega Blade in an arc before Black War Greymon, striking his clawed hands and forcing him almost into the river.
He is disoriented, Cameron, the Guardian whispered to Buck; do a special attack and finish him.
"I want to fly down above him immediately before I do that," Buck whispered - how was he going to dive down and attack at the same time? A journalist wasn't expected to do this on the job.
Complying with his request, the Guardian willed Buck into a frenzied dive, halting him thirty feet above Black War Greymon. It was an exhilarating experience for Buck, feeling the air blow about his hair and over his body - but there was little time to enjoy it: the Guardian's voice echoed back to him now.
Raise the Omega Blade over your head, point down, and say 'I shall banish your soul to the Western Gate' as you plunge it downwards.
Buck nodded, effortlessly pulling the gleaming Omega Blade into position. Black War Greymon was still dazed, his back turned to Buck as he struggled to regain himself. The Digital Hieroglyphs on the sword glowed crimson as Buck cried out the words the Guardian had taught him.
"I shall banish your soul … to the Western Gate!"
Buck thrust down the Omega Blade with all his strength, watching the crimson light seem to engulf Black War Greymon's body - no, the entire garden….
And then a strained gasp as he felt three metal blades pierce through his chest.
Buck looked down in the fading, light, and saw Black War Greymon directly below him, one of his claws thrust into Buck's chest. The dragon looked haggard, and Buck could immediately see why.
The Omega Blade had been forced down between Black War Greymon's eyes.
"It's too late … Cameron Williams," Black War Greymon grumbled weakly, disintegrating into digital data with a crackling burst of black light.
Buck could feel the claws remove themselves from the wounds. A cold shock ran through him - the deep lacerations, so close to his heart, had even pierced open his back; he could feel the crimson blood flow over the back of his legs, sticking to his skin. He dropped the Omega Blade, watching it fall to the river below as he clutched his wounds tightly, futilely attempting to stop the bleeding.
He couldn't sense the world outside the orb of light now, with the pain coursing through his body. The view of 'edhen vanished, leaving Buck to see the streaming blood cascade over his bare body. He was growing weak, both from the loss of blood and the sight of it.
Then he was falling, his head pointed downwards towards the river thirty feet below. He could feel the wings upon his back painfully disintegrating, the Guardian releasing his hold as he returned to the Eastern Gate….
Eyes wrenched tight in his torment, Buck wrenched out a scream that echoed across the garden as his bare, now-human form landed with a deep splash into the river. The liquid flowed over his body, entering his mouth, nose, and wounds….
And then darkness.
['Til the End of the World, ending animation, and credits play....]
{HEY! The next Special Issue is coming out after the next chapter! This one will have the lyrics (but not the animation) for 'Til the End of the World and some of the image songs, along with another FAQ session and a complete cast of characters for the entire story - including the future parts! But until then, wait for the next exciting chapter of DIGITAL CONUNDRUM!}