Hopelight: Whee, I feel so freaking productive! This is the second chapter I've undertaken in two days. I'm kinda on a little high right now, 'coz I got colored green contact lenses and they look SO COOL!!!!
PerniciousTrixie: You're possessed. NOBODY has green eyes like that! *cowers in fear* Damn, you're scary…
Hopelight: Cower all you like, small child! Bwahahahaha!
Fauve: Um…for the record, she's right. You ARE possessed.
Hopelight: Spoilsports…ruin my euphoria…
PredestinedChapter Fifteen: Eve of Destiny
It was time. In the two days they had left before the Eve of Destiny began its cycle again, they would have to train their hardest, no matter what. Forget meals, they needed to spar.
"I'm hungry," their Digimon would frequently complain, but nobody paid any heed. They were always hungry.
Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Kinaka and Tania were also training, in a mental sense. They could feel the Beast beginning to awaken beneath the surface of the ground, and although Tania was afraid, Kinaka could easily assuage her fears.
The night before the last battle, everyone got geared up. Armor was tested, every chain and link tightened and oiled, and buffed so that it shone. Swords were polished by their owners only; Mike had tried to pick up Kiko's earlier on and had received a very nasty burn that took a lot of Jenna's gauze from her first aid kit, as well as most of the antiseptic cream. Sparring went on for most of the night, as the newbies struggled to push their Digimon into the Ultimate and Mega levels. Finally, around two in the morning of the big day, Lucas, Rachael and Tania were able to command them to enter the Ultimate level.
"Look at them," Rachael said in awe, looking up at Nikaimon. Her partner was now a massive, winged black dog with three silver horns sprouting from the top of his head.
Lucas finally tore his eyes away from Yamamon, a large and powerful fire-red marmoset with two spiked tails and large, black ferocious claws. "Yeah," he said, his mouth agape. "They are so awesome!"
Tania was too busy sitting on Motosayamon, a regular-sized deer that was blue and green-spotted with large golden antlers.
"WHY WON'T HE CHAAAAAANNNGE?" Julian wailed in frustration as his partner sat placidly on the grass, wagging his tail and panting. His long bluish-purple tongue hung out of his mouth. "HE'S TOO LITTLE!"
"Hey, who you calling little, little boy?" Perritomon snarled. "I've been hanging around that stupid dimension-gateway thing for centuries. I'm way older than you are!"
"I knew it," Kinaka grumbled. "And you're pretty vicious too. I mean, you freaking bit me the first time we met, you little brat!"
"That was because I wanted to see if you bleed, wi—"
She bristled. "Shut up!"
"Geez, Kina, I call you something that rhymes with witch every so once in a while. Whatcha so mad about? At least he's polite about calling you names," Lauren said brightly, completely missing the meaning of the scowl on her friend's face.
She is so blonde sometimes, Kinaka thought with distaste. Well, sometimes, that's a good thing. At least she doesn't know anything about me yet…
Yet, Tania broke in. They'll know tonight.
Quit breaking in on my thoughts, cousin. One thing you have to learn is to keep your own thoughts in your own head.
Then you haven't learned that lesson too well, Tania shot back. I coulda heard you from a mile away!
The tone of Kinaka's thoughts took on a pattern that, if expressed, would have shown a deep scowl. Get outta my head already!
Chuckling aloud, Tania did so.
Finally, the night arrived.
At sunset, the Fiannamon took the time to explain the significance of the standing stones. "They represent the past generations of those whom have fought against the darkness and won," they explained. "You may have seen some of them beginning to crumble. That does not mean that they have shown weaknesses in any way. In fact, it only represents the passage of time, as one generation passes down knowledge to the next. As one builds, so does the other crumble. It is a cycle that we shall see set in motion once again tonight, for the first time in 10 000 years.
"As we have seen with each passing generation of dedicated fighters, power begins to slowly grow with each new line formed. Unfortunately, that also means that the opposition grows in strength. But what one must realize is that both sides are equal in their strengths. It does not matter how strong you are when you fight, but it does matter how well you undertake your battles. Hurting the opposition does not make you a good fighter. Keen intellect, intricate strategies and cunning do.
"When we go to the final battle this night, think upon how you are going to battle. Remember: you are the present generation, and you are fighting so that the next will flourish in a peaceable time. Like a flower, they will grow, and you will be the soil to nurture their tender roots. Would you have that soil be blackened with defeat?
"Take heart, children. Be as courageous as you can be. For we are about to undertake the greatest battle of our lives. Some may live. Some may die. But we will all live on in what we will do here tonight."
None of them had ever heard anyone speak so well and so passionately in their lives, nor did they expect to ever hear such words again.
"Well," said Lee when they were done, completely at a loss for eloquence of words. She faced her fellow Digidestined and gave her old rallying cry: "Let's kick some evil ass!" It may not have had the same quality of the Fiannamon's speech, but it had pretty much the same meaning.
Hikaru shot a glare at her. "Lee, there are young children around," she said pointedly.
Tania grinned. "Hikaru, what was it you said when they broke your toe on the kitchen cabinets? It started with an 'f', I think…"
"Tania Nakato Takaishi, if you dare to repeat that word—!"
The sun set around ten o'clock, and for a while the whole of Starlight Plains was bathed in darkness, as the three moons were covered by clouds. The remaining Fiannamon stood ready, while the children clutched their swords and stood near their partners, all ready for action.
It finally came, at eleven forty-five.
Lady Kazuma's troops flew in by stealth and dropped behind the back. Luckily, the kids had taken the front lines for this battle and were not affected. But sixteen of the fighters were deleted instantly.
"ATTACK!" Lady Kazuma screamed from somewhere in the darkness. A flash of silver from her throwing blade glinted before it sliced downward into one of the Fiannamon.
The clouds began to drift away…
Relentlessly the opposition pushed them back…back…back…into the center ring of the standing stones. Shrapnel from the armor of both sides was flying thick through the air, mostly missing, but occasionally hitting people. About ten minutes into the raging battle, one especially large piece slashed Julian across the cheek, and another hit him in the arm. He screamed in pain as two lines of blood welled up, and he yelled out, "KINA!!!!!!!!"
Kinaka, who had done her best to keep by her brother and cousin's sides, picked him up and swung him onto her back. "Hold on tight, and I don't care if you rip my hair out. Just hold on tight!" she told him firmly.
Julian obliged by taking two large handfuls of her braid and wrapping his hands around them. She winced, but she knew she was probably going to feel worse pain than a little tug on her scalp before the night was over.
"Kina, it hurts," he whimpered into her ear. Blood was streaming from his face and arm, spattering both of them.
"I know," she soothed him. "Listen, just ignore it, OK?"
"But I caaaaannn't…."
A droplet of his blood hit the ground, right in the center of the pentagram.
The earth began to shake like mad. The battle came to an abrupt halt, as both sides looked down and began to run for their very lives.
Above them, in the sky, the clouds had fully unveiled the three moons. All three shone through, red and spectral, and the light bathing the ground was blood red. The sky was red, the grass was red, and the faces of everyone present were red. The water across the Plains was red and churning, thick like blood.
Something stirred in the back of Jenna's mind. Something that Tania had said the month before, when they were about to embark on a new journey…what was it?
"I see red. The sky is red, the grass is red, the water is red."
"The girl with the purple striped hair…"
Lady Kazuma, standing on the outer edge of the pentagram, raised her scimitar high over her head. "Digidestined!" she cried in her cold, high voice. "Prepare to face your destinies…your destinies of doom!"
At her words, the three moons shone white, and the ground split right down the center of the pentagram. And from it rose the most horrible monstrosity they had ever seen…