MAGIC CHAPTER: a digimon parody… in a fantasy world… oh brother…
By Angel, Ucchan, & Tora
Warnings/Disclaimer: If you've made it this far, you should know by now…
40. ^_~ KOUSHIROU
The azure-haired alchemist clipped my arm as I stood shocked from his sudden appearance. I felt the warm blood from the miniscule cut dribble slowly down my arm, and I recoiled, pushing the queen as far away as my unhurt arm could force.
I cried out instinctively, baring my teeth as I stared hard into Joe's unfeeling eyes. The backstabbing rogue had sliced me with a short dagger as I had been turned.
The alchemist smirked, "It seems I missed… I had meant to cripple it permanently." He said this calmly, but a wild gaze was flickering across his eyes.
"DIAMOND SHIELD!" I shouted, a magical echo rang a clear tone as I lanced out an open palm with my good arm. A quick spiral of clear light entwined about my arm and wound forward with increasing swiftness. The light was imperceptible except as it flashed white at certain angles. As it reached its twining apex at the center of my palm, it broke apart, and the whole room glinted as if a large pane of glass had been installed through the center of the stone-walled space.
Joe rapped his fist against the magical force lightly, as if knocking at a friend's door, "Oh, Izumi-san!" he called with a crazed kind of cheerfulness, "Your little invisible force field is a cheap trick, you KNOW it won't hold up against anything more powerful than a short-range arrow." The alchemist sneered.
I cursed, and quickly ripped a small piece of cloth from my cape and tied it as tight as I could around the bleeding cut in my upper arm. At least the Queen was behind my magic wall… not that it would be helpful for long.
The regal woman straightened herself from the awkward position into which she had been tossed. "It's YOU!" Her majesty growled in recognition of the alchemist, "You're the cause of all this madness, why are you doing this?"
From the other side of the magical barrier, Joe replied, "It's every evil genius' dream to rule a kingdom, the world, etc… Isn't that reason enough?" his joking manner was beginning to be annoying, "Besides, I have to make the wizard here's life a living hell…" His deep blue eyes penetrated into my own scowling black ones.
The Queen blinked in confusion and turned to me for confirmation, "Wizard Izumi, what exactly is this raving lunatic spouting? He knows you?"
I sighed. "Yes, Your Majesty. In fact he does. We attended classes at Unseen University together under Master Wizard Mon."
"And He was the Bane of my Existence!", Joe screamed in accusation. I could hear the capitalization.
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"You ruined my LIFE with all of your 'Natural Magic Talent'!" he said that last with obvious disdain. "You were ALWAYS the top of the class and the Master gave you ALL of the praise and attention! No matter how good I did you were constantly a step ahead of me ready to steal MY spot light! You toped my in every thing I ever thought I excelled in: Spell Casting, Grounding, Inhibiting, Embellishing, Improvisation! You even had Magic theory and History down! No mater what I was second best"
"But," he began to laugh maniacally under his breath," but there was one thing that you could never excel in. You could never figure out the complex instructions in alchemy equations and ingredients!"
"But he doubles as My Wizard AND Alchemist!', the Queen yelled, leaping to my defense. "He has never failed to plunk out the appropriate potion in the amount of time needed!"
Joe smiled knowingly, "But only after having asked at least 5 people for help."
"That's because the instructions are all encoded in riddles and double talk." I stated, suddenly embarrassed.
"Even so, the final straw came when you broke the heart of the only girl I could ever love!"
"Huh?" was my witty come back.
"It was the Ball organized for the celebration of pointy hats and star-studded dresses and My Love (in a moment of blind insanity) asked YOU to attend with her!"
"Oh!" I exclaimed, "Yes. I remember that. I told her I was helping Wizard Mon with lesson preparations that night." Well it was true.
"It was because of that CRUEL denial that My Love was doomed to wed the Idiot that she is with this day!" the alchemist exclaimed.
I waved it off, "I'm pretty sure Sora's pretty happy with Taichi somehow… if you really loved her, you'd be happy for her…"
"You're talking about Duchess Sora?!" The queen cried in a moment of shock. Then, "Sora went to Unseen University? I didn't know she dealt with magic."
"She has a natural talent for charms." Joe replied. "Nothing flashy but very useful. Why do you think the Duke has such a dramatic surge of intellect when he is in her presence."
The Queen blinked, "Well, yes, now that you mention it, it DID seem strange…"
Joe pressed his hand against the magical glass, lip curling in a low snarl, "But now… NOW… I will have what I have worked so hard for…"
I furrowed my brow in anticipation as the alchemist brought back his hand and thrust it crashing through the glass. The sharp jagged sound of magic tearing reverberated as the spell shattered in a cracked arc around his hand, splintering to fall in pale, broken imitation of that sound to the castle floor. I didn't blink before the spell fizzled away, leaving nothing, no barrier, no protection, between me, the Queen, and this madman.
Joe reached into his cloak in a fluid, recoiling motion, and drew his hand back, whipping to dash a bottle to the ground in front of my feet. A cloud of sickly green smoke billowed up and into my face at an alarming rate, sending a lancet of sharp pain to my eyes. I slammed them shut for a moment and backpedaled. If the cloying fumes didn't clue me off first, my barely stiffening muscles were a frightening declaration. I recognized the familiar potion of paralyzing gas.
"BREZZA PETALO!!" I shouted, my voice tight with desperation, and with a quick sweep of my hand, a wave of motion rippled through the air, and descended on the choking stuff, widening to dissipate it. I ground my teeth in frustration, and the alchemist leered at me, shaking his head as if mocking the display.
Her majesty coughed and backed away from the slowly vanishing tendrils of mist. "My queen, it's a paralysis potion, don't breathe it in!" I warned.
Joe stood, and chuckled, smile thinning to bear the tips of his teeth in a feral, subtle smile. "Nice trick, but what can you do if your hands are bound?"
I felt a vial shatter across my chest before I could identify the motion or even hope to react, the shards spinning down and away…But something clung to me still, and my throat tightened. "Aah!" I yelped and jerked back, snaking vines thrusting to twine tightly around my chest and constrict, branching off to snap and coil around my arms, dragging them to pin at my sides.
Queen Kari ran to my side and tugged on the vines, fingers squirming to wriggle beneath their tight snare. "They won't budge!" she looked to me frantically, "Do you have any sharp objects in that pouch or is it just for show?"
The alchemist laughed, too loudly for anyone sane, and pulled his hand from his cloak again, fingers curled around the necks of yet more vials.
Queen Kari's chocolate eyes narrowed in anger… However, recognizing some of the potions, my own eyes widened, terror-stricken.
Joe threw down a smokescreen vial, with the now-familiar sound of glass shattering. More smoke rose, and I choked on it as it forced down into my lungs, and thrashed, trying to force away from the clogging stuff. My pulse quickened at the sound of the Queen hacking nearby, and my frantic motions quickened with fear.
I suddenly felt a hand clutch around my bound arm. I stiffened with fear, and tried to jerk away, yelping a protest. I squirmed again, but the clutch only tightened, and the form dragged me closer.
I heard Joe's maniacal laughter echo again throughout the room, imprinting itself in the fibers of my memory. I felt a rush of air as the Queen was being ushered away from me, and tried desperately to move my fingertips and mutter a spell in futile hopes that SOMETHING would happen.
A hand clamped over my mouth sealing my breath away to my lungs. I writhed against my captor, and then stiffened as I heard a low, breathy voice whisper into my ear.
"You know, Kou-chan, this is really sexy and all, but…"
"Mimi!!!!!" I yelled into the palm, though I'm quite sure the exclamation was incomprehensible - more like Mpphhhmm!!
In the light of this new information, I allowed myself to be drug from the room. I continued to listen to Joe's insane rantings and ravings as he continued to insult people that were no longer within his clutches - and barely within earshot. I found it VERY amusing.
Outside the room, I could clearly see our saviors. And Taichi. Who were all wearing…night vision goggles…??
"Where did you get those…?!?" I queried, perplexed.
"We borrowed them from Taichi…" Takeru indicated the Duke's head. His mane, specifically.
"They're the ROYAL night vision goggles, of course," he continued with disdain, "And they would have been VERY helpful, and more USEFUL in the dark, scary forest…!!" Takeru intoned to the Duke.
"Weren't you LISTENING!? I SAID I was going to TAKE over YOUR kingdom!!" Joe raged, stomping out of the still smoke-clogged room.
I struggled in my binds and as I watched the squire stride forward, sword drawn, point leveled unerringly at Joe's chest.
"Makenai de." The boy challenged the alchemist with his proclamation to never give up.
The alchemist rolled his eyes and reached again into his cloak, and drew his hand out to reveal a small clay vessel - held between thumb and forefinger. Takeru's eyes widened, and he lunged forward - too late.
The alchemist crushed the small vessel between his fingers, and a whirl of glittering, malicious shards of light poured forth, congealing and amassing into several dagger-like points, which hardened into glossy blades of ice.
They hovered for a moment, a small fleet of razors, and I stared in horror as the squire tried to jerk back, throw himself out of the way. To no avail, and the dagger-like sickles shivered, as if casting of their eerie stillness a little at a time, and dove for him, arrow-straight in flight.
He didn't scream, not even as red blossoms bloomed and bled through his tunic, slowly tainting the fabric. There were numerous, dull thuds as the bloody shards embedded themselves into the far wall, followed by a larger one as Takeru fell back, a few flecks of brilliant crimson splattered on his too-pallid cheeks.
I choked back a sharp sound of despair and looked on in horrified disbelief.
The Queen let out a small gasp, her light voice cracking. She knelt at the boy's side, sparingly examining his abrasions.
Mimi-chan's reaction wasn't quite so peaceful, and with one fluid movement, I watched as Joe's head was abruptly tilted by the force of Mimi's slap. The resounding crack that filled the air left only silence in its wake and the bardess glowered at the would-be tyrant.
"You BASTARD!!~!" The caramel-haired woman yelled, summing up her feelings with but two words.
Joe responded in kind, recovering quickly from his shock and delivering a backhand to Mimi's temple, "SILENCE, WENCH!"
The girl recoiled from the blow, her body twisting and falling to the stone floor in a splayed heap, apparently unconscious… or worse. My mind reeled. "MIMI-CHAN!"
"MIMI-CHAN!" Pata echoed, concern lacing his young voice.
I quickly observed our rapidly-increasing-towards-death situation. With myself bound, Takeru and Mimi were unconscious with the Queen tending to the young squire. I realized the only one still standing was Taichi.
I must amend, this means certain death…
"YOU BLASPHEMOUS CUR!" I heard the Duke yelled with ferocity such words as I had never heard him say (or that I thought he even knew) before.
Joe's eyes alighted upon the regal figure with disdain, "What now?"
I watched, wholly surprised, as Duke Kamiya approached the azure-haired alchemist, "I can't believe that even you would sink so low as to strike a lady…" the man's voice was much lower and more stable than his normal pitch, "I cannot forgive you."
I was impressed by the sudden change in Duke Kamiya, he'd never shown any kind of anger that I could remember. I ALMOST had hope that we would survive this encounter.
The alchemist absorbed all of that in silence, and cocked a brow, obviously unamused. "You're a fool. I can't believe you would subject my dearest Sora to your idiocy."
With that, he reached forward and clutched at the Duke's collar, and pressed forward, jarring him up against the nearest wall with a low growl. His second hand clasped a thin dagger, and jerked forward, shoving it with a brutal twist into Taichi's stomach.
The Duke gasped and crumpled, a hand moving brokenly to clutch at the wound, while his other clawed at Joe's shoulder as he struggled to remain upright. Joe sneered and shoved him back against the wall again, and stepped back to watch him sink to the hallway floor.
I was too shocked to react fully. He had just…killed the Duke?
Queen Kari shrieked, reached over Takeru's limp, pale and broken form to snatch his sword, and righted herself, and rushed forward, her intent easily seen as the alchemist's demise.
"What the HELL is going on here?" Yamato's voice echoed down the corridor, and relief washed over me. Also, slight embarrassment at our current situation. Yamato approached, "Geez… I can't leave you guys alone for ONE MINUTE!"
I smiled sheepishly, "Hi Yama…" I couldn't wave as my arms were still tightly bound by the vines.
The knight observed the scene, "You're kidding… the QUEEN is the only one still standing?"
I nodded, adding, "At least she's standing!"
Which wasn't for long, for at the sound of Yamato's sudden appearance, Her Majesty performed a classic anime facevault, and fell to the ground. Effectively leaving Yamato the only one now standing. I muttered, "With our luck, we're ALL dead…"
Who would have thought the blue-haired idiot would be such a formidable opponent?
Pata fluttered with enthusiasm, "GET THAT BASTARD, YAMATO!"
The Knight turned his attention away from me to survey the room when his eyes alighted on his wounded brother. "Takeru!" he gasped, biting back his anger, lurching forward as his fingers loosened from his blade, the weapon hanging limp in his hand.
Snarling, Joe leapt forward, attempting to knock the blade from his hand, bloodstained dagger firmly clutched in his hands.
Yamato bristled and tightened his hold on the weapon, but letting it sweep to the side with the force of Joe's attack, then brushing back again in a full arc.
Joe hissed a curse and slammed his dagger into the sword's hilt, then wrenched away with the scream of metal dragging on metal, and stood pensive, guarding, his other hand darting to fish inside his cloak for another vial.
I called a warning - too late, my mind cried, as a nameless bottle was hurled at Yamato. He removed a hand from his sword, and backhanded the thing away from him - back to shatter at Joe's feet.
I watched in stricken awe as the alchemist's feet were rooted to the spot, color slowly bleeding away as he thrashed, clawed at the spell. As it laced further, I could identify it as a purification spell. It reached up to his thighs, and it was already clear that his feet - now looking stone-hewn - weren't going to be of much use anymore. He wailed, then glowered at us.
Yamato laughed, and shook his head, grinning, "NOW who's going to be the permanent pigeon perch…?"
The alchemist scrambled through his cloak, looking for an antidote...or something to throw.
"Grab him..!" I yelped at Yamato, who was still chortling.
He blinked and complied, darting over to snag Joe's arms and hold them back.
"You aren't rid of me YET…" he threatened.
I felt a blade against my back as Her Majesty cut me free of the ensnaring vines. As she stepped back, I shook them off and scrambled to my feet.
I approached Joe, and gestured quickly, "Silence!!" my voice echoed, stilling that of the alchemist with the spell.
That done, I rushed to Mimi's side, brow creasing with worry. I bit my lower lip and straightened her limp form, fingertips brushing over her lips. Yes…she was breathing…I knew there were more imperative injuries to tend, but…
I looked over to Yamato, who still restrained the alchemist. He gave a curt nod to Takeru's direction, and I immediately moved to see to him.
He was in awful condition - blood pooled around him, and trickled slowly out of the corner of his mouth. But he was breathing, if only just barely. I placed my hand over his eyes and concentrated, a blue glow emanating from my palm. It swept slowly over his features as I recited the spell slowly. "Curaga…" I cooed, voice softened.
The glow intensified, and washed over his form, and before long, I had to shut my eyes against it, turn away - as it faded I looked back, to see Takeru whole and healed, though blood still pooled around him, stained his clothes and face. I heaved a sigh of relief.
After a scant moment I noticed him shift and his eyes fluttered open, dazed. He blinked slowly, tried to look around. Shaking his head, he propped himself on an elbow, and peered around. Catching sight of our injured friends, he tensed with worry. The Squire blinked, as if trying to hold back tears of shame. "I-I sorry...Yamato. I f-failed to protect the Queen and..."
"Takeru," Yamato stated firmly.
"Hai?" Takeru looked up to find his brother beaming at him from Joe.
"I'm proud of you. You did very well."
"H-Hai, Nii-san"
I turned to our last injured part member - the Duke. It was then that it dawned on me, the Duke was dieing...! Was this a bad thing…?
The Queen was kneeling in pool of Taichi's blood on the dusty floor with her brothers head cradled in her lap. Her once majestic robes where torn and blood stained, the crimson slowly bleeding up the fabric.
She sobbed brokenly, breath catching in her throat, and shuddered faintly, tentative to touch or move his wrecked form anymore. Tears ran down her cheeks in a ceaseless flow, face hidden by obstinate streamers of hair that fell out of place. A tear fell from her chin to slide off the Duke's upturned, deathly pale face.
I worried my lower lip, appalled that I had ever considered letting the Duke's life slide between my fingers, when I had the power to stop it. Letting him die would be worse than Joe stabbing him in the first place.
He had even risked his life to defend us - and in all sincerity! Despite being a complete dolt and idiot, he really was a good person. And he IS genuinely in love with Sora. It was perhaps one of the most touching displays I'd seen... Sure, he's irritating, but I guess... well... he IS my friend, right?
I stepped over and made a vague gesture for her to move aside - wordlessly, she rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes and sniffed, clearing space and moving away. I slid to my knees to lean over the Duke, centering my open palm over his chest. I murmured the incantation lowly, almost breathlessly, as pale blue sparks lit from air itself, wandering almost aimlessly over the Duke's inert form. I let my eyes fall closed as I concentrated, but I could see the image the lights wove even through my eyelids - faster and faster, until everything snapped into a universal rightness, and I let my eyes fall open again as the lights fell to form a rune-inscribed circle, Taichi's wounds sealing themselves up, wounds once mortal vanishing as I breathed the last words and felt the power ebb. "Saint Litany."
I quavered. This magic strain....I shook my head. I straightened, and shuffled over to Mimi....The world seemed to spin a little faster than was usual. And everything was moving strangely...I closed my eyes and tried to shake my head again to clear it. They didn't open again, and I remember feeling the world tilt up from underneath me...I felt the castle floor beneath my cheek, and consciousness was lost to me.
For the second time in my life I awoke to the face of a gorgeous angel...
And this time it actually was...I fought off a blush desperately as a rush of pain shot through my skull. Mimi hovered over my bed side with a basin of water in her lap and a damp cloth in hand.
"Morning, Kou-chan..." she whispered sweetly, dabbing my forehead with the said cloth.
"Mimi-chan..!" I stuttered with concern, "How are your injuries?" For some reason the sound of my own voice sent lances of pain through my head. I winced, and nibbled my lower lip pensively.
"Easy now, dear… I'll live." Mimi soothed. Blessedly, she kept her voice low and quiet. Wryly, I thought over the irking fact that I wasn't exactly able to revel in the moment..."You've had a relapse of Backlash. It's not as bad, but you've been unconscious for about two days now."
Two days! I sighed then opened my mouth to ask a question but she beat me to it.
"Everyone is okay. The Queen is working on the getting the castle restored and clearing out all of the carnage. Last I saw she was throwing a fit about blood stains on the foyer carpet..." she rolled her eyes.
I might have laughed but it would have hurt.
There was a light tapping on the door to my quarters and the door opened to reveal the aforementioned royalty.
"Oh! Your Majesty. How nice, we were just talking about you." Mimi smiled in greeting and stood to give a graceful curtsy.
The Queen waved off the etiquette with a smile. "Please. I'm not here on a diplomatic mission. Just out of concern for a friend. You can call me Hikari."
If Mimi-chan was shocked or flattered any, she didn't show it. Her smile warmed and she simply said, "Okay, Hikari."
"Is he awake?"
"H-Hai." I croaked just loud enough for her to hear me without aggravating the mallet-wielding-trolls behind my eyelids.
"How are you feeling?" she queried sitting on the edge of the bed, concern written over her delicate features.
"I've felt better...And yourself...? How's the Duke, and..." I winced again, and leaned back.
"We're all fine..." Her smile softened at my wince, and she shook her head. "You, on the other hand, need more rest. After Joe's loss, the troops lost their order, and we won pretty easily. The bribed soldiers are going to be put on trial for treason, and the bespelled troops were sent home for recuperation. Oh, by the way, just after the battle was over, our BRAVE officers returned from vacation in the Bahamas… Takeru has recovered quickly, and Taichi… well, I-" She was interrupted by the sound of a crash, and the unmistakable sound of the Duke.
"...err...As I was going to say, I'll let you get some more rest...I think I need to save my castle from my brother..." She flashed another smile, this one a little strained and hurried, and slid back out of the room.
Mimi sat back down in the chair next to my bed and replaced the basin in her lap. With that, a thought occurred to me: now with the quest over with, Mimi had no reason to stay. We didn't need Pata for anything, nor the help of Mimi's worldly expertise. Would she just leave to continue her interrupted career as a wandering bardess?
My worry must have shown on my face for Mimi stopped what she was doing to peer at me. "Kou-chan...what's wrong? Other than the obvious," she indicated my physical condition.
"Now that this little adventure is over," I asked tentatively "...what are you going to do?"
To my surprise, Mimi-chan leaned down and kissed me gently. I was so taken aback I didn't respond. Instead I felt my face grow hot and my heart skip a beat.
She pulled back slightly and gazed knowing into my eyes, "Are you scared I might go gallivanting about the country side and leave you here in the big tower all by yourself?"
"Well," I said honestly," The thought had crossed my mind..."
She grinned and kissed me again. You know, I could get used to that.
"Don't worry Kou-chan. I'm not going anywhere. I all ready asked the Queen if I could stay in her castle. She said that she thought you could use a little company. Besides," she continued with a teasing smile," I belong to you don't I? You DID win that auction, after all." She mock-sighed, "I guess I'll just have to stay here with you…" For a moment a bit of uncertainty flashed a crossed her face, "Unless you don't…"
"No!" I interjected hastily, "I mean…I think I could use…the company that is."
I don't think I've ever seen a woman look quite that happy before. Her cheeks became rosy and her eyes shimmered with the barely perceptible wetness of tears. A thin film that didn't quite threaten to spill down those same flushed cheeks. Quickly, but with a near air of tentativity I had never witnessed in her before, she took my hand between hers, and laced her slender fingers around mine.
She was about to say something further when the door burst open and in poured two blondes. Mimi-chan clutched my hand tighter for a brief moment as her gaze swiveled sharply to level on the intruders. Yamato and Takeru looked a little worse for wear. Both were leaning heavily on their knees and panting in a panic. The flying mythic creature, Pata, hovered just above the younger boy's blonde mop.
Mimi leapt to her feet, disentangling our fingers a bit reluctantly, "Guys, what's wrong?!"
"The Queen…" Yamato breathed between gasps, "she's…"
Oh God, what now..!? I'm not in the condition for another crisis! I can't even open my eyes for long let alone put up with another badly written adventure!!!
"…blown her *beep*ing top!" Takeru finished followed quickly by the 'Watch-your-damn-mouth' look from his older brother.
I was just as confused as Mimi looked. This could not be good.
"Well…?" she cued.
"She just got an astronomical bill from some auction place."
My stomach fell through the bottom of the bed. It felt as though some of those man-eating butterflies the Duke was always talking about had nested in my innards.
It's official.
I was going to die.
Through my shock I could hear Mimi fidget nervously. "Well…that is definitely bad…"
"No Kidding. She vowed to kill all parties involved or worse…." the younger brother sighed.
"I just hope none of us are reamed for it." Yamato put in. " I remember LAST time we got in trouble…"
"Don't remind me…"
The siblings shuddered, "But who could've racked up such a bill?" Sir Yamato puzzled.
Pata's eyes lit up, "Hey, Mimi-chan! Didn't Koushirou spend a whole buncha money to free you from the slavers?" the creature paused, "Yeah! And it was at an auction too!"
Mimi-chan's eyes went a little wide at Pata's 'revelation,' and she shot him a glare to silence the bat-pig. But the damage was already done.
The brothers' voices raised in unison, "YOU'RE THE ONES WHO RACKED UP THE BILL?!"
"Well," Yamato sighed, defeated, "We're dead, the Queen's just gonna kill us… that's all there is to it… 'All parties involved,' remember?"
"Oh no, does this mean the Queen's going to give me smackings and whackings on my poor tender head?" Pata asked.
"Not if I get to you first," Mimi-chan threatened under her breath in an uncharacteristic amount of hostility toward the creature.
It was then that the door burst open with an exuberant cheer, "HULLO HULLO!" Duke Kamiya greeted, "I've just been informed by my dearest sister that all of you have been given a mandatory invitation to visit my Duchy as part of some 'payment' or 'punishment' or something! So PACK UP! We're all going to be together again for nice long vacation!"
The looks of sheer shock on the brothers' faces probably matched my own, but I couldn't see my face, so I'll just describe these next events as seen on Takeru's and Yamato's visages.
The Duke continued, "Oh, speaking of vacations, I've been meaning to ask you, Yamato, I had remembered about this incident involving our moat, sea monsters, two young blondes, and a gay soldier… I was wondering if you knew anything about it…"
Sir Yamato looked to be on the verge of screaming.
"Oh, and while we're visiting, maybe you can all help me with this problem I have with the dam…"
Takeru screamed. Yamato fainted.
THE END
THE *BIG* AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I remember when we first began to plan this story, it was meant to be a quick one-sitting, one-two chapter one-shot fic where the Digi-tachi would don the robbing of medieval times and gallivant across the hills happily. Yeah, right… That was about two summers, 105 pages (we're such losers), and 40 chapters ago… It's been great fun writing in all the characters, and emphasizing some of their more fun traits: Yamato's anger, Koushirou's arrogance, Joe's lack of touch with reality, Mimi's assertiveness, and of course: Taichi's thick-headedness and density. I guess this makes them TECHNICALLY out of character, but I don't see it that way… we just ENHANCED their personalities… really! ^_~ ::wink wink nudge nudge:: We tried to devise a plot so the fic wouldn't be pointless; but then the plot kept getting more and more advanced, and more twists and side-notes were added, effectively prolonging each and every chapter. We tried to keep some parts serious, as there was some pretty intense parts (especially were Yamato almost gets killed by a possessed demon-tree – think MEGACherrymon, only scarier…). However, we never wanted to lose the humor that comes with a fantasy story, not to mention a Digimon story. The crossovers might have been a bit much: some people really hate crossovers. But we used them mostly as cameos, and more of parodies for the fantasy genre than as any serious plot elements (that could be argued…).
But enough of our ranting: REVIEW!! Tell _us_ what _you_ think! After all that we've put into this epic, we'd love to see some major reviews! We only finished this fic because of the reviews we've gotten so far… Now that it's complete, we like to hear how you feel about it as a whole: give us a literary criticism if you think it's appropriate… or a flame if you think it's necessary… just review: we'd like to know people are reading it, and that all this work wasn't in vain. In fact, some people have mailed us expressing the desire to see parts we've never intended to write or a sequel (even though it wasn't complete at the time). If you think that our stories a good inspiration for you and you'd like to write something from (expressly, someone asked about the moat incident)… go ahead! Creativity manifests itself in all forms, use it! ^_~ Peace out!
AngelHeero, Ucchan, Tora
Kudos to anyone who gets ALL the references/parodies! ^_~