Chapter 20: The Twin Blades
Clive took a good look at his surroundings. He had finally reached the place the Digimon called, Server. It didn't look like much. Certainly nothing to get excited about. The sky remained the bright blue color it had been since he had gotten to Digiworld nearly a week ago. Since then he had separated from the group, thinking he didn't belong with them.
Kraymon sniffed the air, "Mmm... I smell fruit."
Clive smiled at his stout companion, "Must it always be fruit?"
Kraymon took another sniff and frowned, "No... There's also some nice digi compost..."
Clive made a face and turned red, "Anything... EDIBLE?"
Kraymon ignored his friend's comic display and began to walk deeper into the jungle. Most of the fruit that he had mentioned remained too high for him to reach. "Aww, it's all too high."
Clive kept a few steps back and laughed, "You have to be a little clever, Kraymon." He lifted a stone and threw it at the fruit. The stone missed, but a second one hit the stem and knocked it free."There you go."
Kraymon ran to where the fruit had fallen and devoured it. His large mouth snapped it up and crushed it, splashing red juice in every direction. Kraymon swallowed the entire contents at once and smiled. He smacked his lips and licked them clean of the juice, "Mmm! It's good!" He turned to Clive, who was throwing stones at more fruit, "Aren't you going to try some?"
Clive heaved out a breath as he threw a stone at a fruit that was out of reach from his best tries. He gave up and answered his dark colored friend, "Nah." He picked up another stone, "Your display of manners has convinced me that I'm not hungry after all."
Kraymon moved to some fruit that Clive had knocked down. "Suit yourself," Kraymon said as he took in another fruit. "You know," he said as he chewed on the juicy piece of fruit, "you can't be too picky around here." He swallowed, It's not like anyone's going to see you."
Clive ignored his digimon's pleas to get him to eat. The truth of the matter was that he wasn't hungry. During their four day trip to Server he'd eaten plenty of fish. Fish had a disagreement with his stomach, and he didn't wish to add any other strange members. "I'm fine. You just make sure you eat your fill. It must have been tiering, flying all this way."
"Oh, it was nothing..." Kraymon stopped as his foot bumped into something heavy. The object moved back, "What's that!"
"Shh..." The object was an arm, and it moved up to it's owner's mouth to signal him to be quiet.
Kraymon jumped back in a defensive pose and snapped, "Who are you! Show yourself!"
The thing hiding in the bushes spoke back, keeping his voice down, but at a tone that demanded attention, "Keep quiet!" The thing got up from the ground and kneeled down just inside the bushes. "I have no time to explain, but you'd better go."
Clive ran to Kraymon, "What is it?"
Kraymon pointed at some bushes, "There's something in there."
Clive picked up a stick and began to push it forward into the bush. It something, "Got it!" Clive dropped the stick as an explosion kicked up a cloud of dirt behind him. The sound of cracking rock and bursting blames ran through his head, forcing him to cover his ears. "Kraymon!"
"It's an ambush!" Kraymon turned around to look for the attacker, but couldn't see anything beyond the dirt cloud. "I can't see anything!"
Clive got to his feet and wiped some dirt from his clothes, "Stay close. There's no telling where it will come from."
The thing in the bushes spoke quietly, "I tried to warn you."
A voice called out from above, "Ashton! Show yourself!" A shadow appeared in the dirt cloud. It had the form of a female human past the adolescence stage of development.
Clive kneeled down beside KRaymon and pointed at the shadow that hovered in the sky, "There it is."
Kraymon blinked his red eyes as the figure grew larger. He got up and prepared for battle, "Kraymon, digivolve to... Devidramon!"
Devidramon broke through the tree coverage and slashed his right hand at the figure.
She was wearing red clothes that wrapped around her like a tight robe. The sleeves were torn off as was most of the bottom to allow more movement. She carried a sword in one hand. Her face was young, and may have been considered beautiful by human standards. Her blue eyes looked cold and were mirrored by strange, metallic lines that ran over her face. Her bright red hair completed the package and hid her warrior spirit with a cloak of innocence.
Devidramon followed the woman with his eyes until she halted, "Deadly glare!" Red beams shot out of his eyes at the woman.
The woman didn't falter and pointed her sword forward. Her eyes became blue spheres of light and her sword created a thin shield around her. The beams harmlessly reflected off of the shield and down towards the forest.
Clive watched as Devidramon's beams were reflected. He quickly began to run as they made their way to his position. He was suddenly pulled into the bushes as the beams shot past him. He struggled to break free, but was overwhelmed by the captor's strength." Let me go!"
"Don't be foolish!" The figure tightened his grip to stop Clive from making sounds by shaking the bush, "Tiria will short work of you if you don't keep quiet!"
"And who is that?"
Clive was interrupted as Devidramon fell onto the ground. His large body shook Clive free from the figure's grip and returned himself to Kraymon.
"Kraymon!" Clive cried as he dashed out of the bushes towards his friend.
The woman fired a knife at Clive and caught his sleeve with it. He flew back with the knife and got stuck to a tree. The woman landed, softly, and shouted again, "Ashton! Show yourself! Or your friends will perish!"
Only the silent reply of the jungle came to her. She pulled out her sword and lifted Clive's chin, "Any last words, boy?"
"Tiria!" A deep voice shouted from behind her.
She kept her gaze on Clive as she answered, "Not now, Derek!"
A man clad in dark blue armor approached her from behind. He carried with him a large lance. Clive couldn't see any part of his face behind the helmet, but didn't wish to see the nightmare that it must've hidden. "Our master beckons us."
Tiria smashed her sword into the tree. Its cold metal touched Clive's face, making him realize how real this digital world could be. "But we are so close!"
"No buts," the man replied, "Our master's wishes demand us. We must obey!"
"But he is here! The man we were ordered to bring to him!" Tiria was about to continue her argument when the lines of metallic blue flashed on her face. She paused and gave an empty look as little bits of light moved back and forth through the lines. "I understand."
Tiria pulled her knife and sword from the tree, letting Clive go. She ignored him and Kraymon completely and walked over to Derek. Tiria and Derek flew up, out of the trees and then out of sight to the west.
Clive dropped to his knees and let out a sigh of relief. "That was close."
Kraymon finally got up from where he was lying and coughed out some dirt, "Are you okay, Clive?"
"I'm fine..." Clive broke off his reply and slapped the dirt from his clothes.
The figure in the bushes spoke to them in a quiet voice again, "You got lucky."
Clive looked into the bushes, "Why don't you show yourself!?"
The figure got to its feet and exited the bushes. It was a human male. It wore black robes that looked much like Tiria's, only a bit looser and longer. They reached his ankles as well as his wrists. He also wore boots and gloves that looked like they were made of black metal. The seems of everything he wore were colored gold. A sword was placed in a sheath on his back. Unlike the other swords Clive had seen, this one was shorter. It was also considerably wider. Ashton shared Tiria's cold, blue eyes, but his seemed to breath life and weren't paired with metallic lines on his face. He had brown hair that went halfway down his neck and bangs that almost covered his eyes.
Clive stepped back as he moved forward, "Are you... Ashton?"
the man nodded, "That's right."
Clive stopped retreating and came back strong, "Why were those two after you?"
Ashton brushed his chin, "As I recall, only one of them actually asked for me."
"But they were working together!" Clive took a step forward, "What's going on here? There aren't supposed to be humans in Digiworld."
Ashton stopped brushing his chin and pointed to the east. "This way. I'll tell you as we make our way to the ocean."
"Ocean?" Clive was disappointed, "But we just came from there!"
"And you must return to there." Ashton walked to the east through a path that had been made by Clive and Kraymon when they first arrived. "You need to rejoin the Digidestined."
"What are you talking about?" Clive kept up with him while Kraymon stayed a few steps back, collecting fruit that Clive had knocked down before Tiria attacked them. "The Legend speaks of 8 children that will come to save the world. I'm the 9th child, so I'm not part of that group."
Ashton stopped as they came to the shoreline, "This goes beyond any foolish Legends, I'm afraid."
"What?"
Ashton stood so that the waves of water would just reach his feet, "A new threat. Something completely unknown to any of the higher beings."
"What are you talking about? Who are you anyway?" Clive refused to back down until Ashton gave him a straight answer.
Ashton turned around to look at Clive, "I am Ashton. 4th child of the original Digidestined!" He pulled the sword from his back and separated it into two blades. Completely identical. "Master of the twin blades!"
Clive stepped forward as Ashton slammed the blades into the ground. "Who were those other people that were after you?"
Ashton shook his head in a pained motion, "They were Tiria and Derek, also of the original Digidestined. The 3rd and 6th children."
"Why were they after you?"
Ashton closed his eyes as the memories returned to him. "They are under the control of an evil digimon."
"Under control? How?"
"A long time ago, we were destroyed by the Dark Masters. Only Myn and Darius survived. Too weak to continue to fight, they fled. The remaining 6 of us perished." Ashton pulled his blades from the ground. He put them back together and returned the single blade to its sheath. "About three years ago, a digimon revived us. He implanted each of us with metal probes and devices to suppress us and make us follow his commands."
Clive gave him a look of disbelief, "Then why aren't you under his control?"
Ashton stood up and walked closer to Clive, "As the time for my 'reprogramming' came close I found out what had happened to my friends. Their faces were covered with metal lines that fed data to this digimon. I broke out of my cell and ran."
"And ran, and ran, and ran!" A woman's voice echoed from the sky. Clive turned around saw another human woman. This one also wore red, but it was fashioned more like a dress. she had white gloves on that were lined with red. A crown on her forehead made of gold contrasted with her green eyes. "Isn't that right, Ashton?"
"Lucidia!" Ashton hissed out the name and pulled out his sword. He separated it and held a blade in each hand.
"You've run from us for nearly 3 years! It's about time you gave up!" Lucidia held out a hand to take his.
"I don't think so!" Ashton struggled with his words. Clive could see the battle between his emotions run through Ashton. "Can't you see what you are doing is wrong?"
"As a matter of fact I can." Lucidia twisted her wrist so that her hand faced its palm downwards, "That's what makes it so much fun!" Lucidia shot out a strand of cloth at Ashton and another at Clive. Ashton forced the cloth away with his swords and rolled to the left as another strand shot into the ground beside him.
Clive jumped over the strand that went for him, but was surprised to see another coming at him as he landed. He was unable to act fast enough and was tied up by the cloth. "Kraymon!"
Kraymon jumped over to Clive and blew his flame breathe on the cloth. Lucidia lifted clive and whipped him into Kraymon, knocking him back. "Ow! They won't burn!" Kraymon shouted as he got up.
Six strands formed into a group and straightened. The sound of clanging metal came from them as the became sharp blades. Clive struggled in the grip of the cloth, but couldn't loosen the grip at all, "Kraymon! Digivolve!"
"Kraymon, digivolve to... Devidramon!" Devidramon faced the woman with his superior mass. His black wings blocked the sun and cloaked the battle field with a dark shadow.
The six strands that had formed into blades shot forward. Devidramon kept his ground and shot at them with his deadly glare attack. Two of the blades burst into flames, but the other four dug into his chest before he could disperse them. Although small, the blades put Devidramon under extreme pain. He dropped onto his knees and grabbed the blades of cloth with his hands. He attempted to pull them out, but it only seemed to worsen the pain.
Ashton sprang into the air and sliced the blades with his swords. As he landed he turned to face Lucidia. Lucidia smiled and shot out dozens of cloth blades at Ashton. He launched himself at Lucidia with his blades facing forward. He dodged the first few blades to the left and landed on another one. He spun as two more came at him and managed to avoid their sharp edges. As another came at him, Ashton sprang off of the one he stood on at grabbed onto the one that held Clive captive, "Hold on."
Clive hunched his head over to prepare to fall. Ashton cut the strand of cloth. Clive fell to the ground while Ashton hung onto the end that was attached to Lucidia's glove. The strand suddenly became a sharp blade and cut Ashton's hand. He let go and fell to the ground with a thud. Blood leaked out of the cut and was absorbed by the sand. Clive could see flesh under the cut glove.
Devidramon shielded the two as more strands came at them. They twisted around his arms and neck, tightening their grip. He struggled with them, locked in his place.
"Ashton!" Clive cried as he reached for him, "You're hurt!"
"It's nothing!" Ashton reached into a pouch on his side and withdrew three stones. Each one was a different color. One red, another black, and the last was silver. "Take these!" Ashton placed the stones into Clive's hand. "They hold the key to winning this war."
"But what am I supposed to do with them?" Clive looked at them closely. they almost looked like they held something in them. They glowed without any light reaching them.
"You must take them to the Digidestined. The stones will do the rest." Ashton stood up and pulled out his swords again.
"The stones? That sounds a little impossible."
"Don't worry about it. Just keep that silver one close to you. If I fall I will return to it."
"What?" Clive slapped his head as he tried to make sense of Ashton's words.
Ashton didn't answer. He lifted Clive up and threw him onto Devidramon's back. "Get them to the Digidestined!" Ashton slashed the cloth that held Devidramon and set him free. "Now go!" Ashton sprang back into the sky and approached Lucidia.
Devidramon lifted off and flew back towards File Island. Clive looked back as the two figures that were Ashton and Lucidia began to disappear. As they became small dots, he saw a line fly into Ashton followed by a loud scream.
"Ashton!" Clive cried out at the top of his lungs. The name echoed through the endless sky as Devidramon carried him to the digidestined.