Hopelight: *chuckles darkly* I am such a speed demon, ne?
PerniciousTrixie: Sure are. It must be all those Pixie Stiks you ate.
Hopelight: I ate all my Halloween candy, thank you very much! *sips latte*
PerniciousTrixie: *groans* Fine. Whatever. Just write already…
PredestinedChapter Eighteen: The Last Battle?
Rachael whooped and pumped her fist into the air. "YEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!" she hollered, ecstatic. "We are so gonna win this thing! Yeeee-haaaaw!"
"Don't count your Digi-eggs before they're hatched, kiddo," Deanna warned her sister. "You remember what it's like here. We just have to wait, play it out and make sure that they can handle the Beast."
Tania tugged at Kinaka's skirt. "Are they going to beat him now, Kina?" she asked.
Kinaka shrugged. "You never know." She bent and scooped up her little brother. "Are you OK, Julian? I bet you're so proud of yourself, because I sure am…" she trailed off. "Hey, why are you crying?"
Julian sniffled back his tears. "He—he's dead, Kina," the little boy wailed. "Perritomon. He's dead! He died! The bad Beast thing killed him!"
"What are you talking about?" Kinaka asked, distressed. For some reason, she couldn't pick up on his emotions like she usually could.
Julian hugged her around the neck tightly. "He's gone, my friend is gone," was all he could say as he sobbed into her shoulder.
Kinaka looked up. Azulongmon was in the midst of rising up from the circle of light and was undulating like a serpent through the air. He was radiating the same light that had previously given the other Digimon the power to pure-heart evolve.
"What's the matter with your little brother?" Lauren asked.
"His partner died," Kinaka answered, holding Julian tightly.
Lauren covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my God, is he all right?" she asked.
"Obviously he's dead, Laur!"
"Not Perritomon, I meant Julian!"
"He'll be fine. Look up!"
Lauren looked. "He's not doing anything," she complained. "You'd think that with sixteen bodies contained inside of him, he would be beginning to kick some major ass. Like the last time, when we were in that sewer, and Lee gave that speech…"
Azulongmon raised himself to the Beast's level and looked it straight in the eyes. "You have been corrupting the soil of this beautiful land for long enough," he said, his voice booming in a crescendo across the wide expanse of Starlight Plains. "Your evil has slowly spread across the universes, penetrating minds and creating disorder and chaos. Where a light dares to shine itself, you are the malignant shadow that follows it. Although light has grown in the hearts of those who love peace and freedom, so has the darkness that festers inside those who despise the just and true. Tonight, you have come to the end of your cycle. And so shall a new one begin: one that will disperse the darkness and fill all of creation with a purifying light. Tonight…this ends here."
The Beast sneered. "You know what they say…big words, big…mouth. Close yours before you swallow a few Flymon!"
Tania suddenly nudged Hikaru. "Something isn't right," she said, her brow furrowed. "I sense two evil presences…both contained inside the Beast."
Hikaru sighed. "After what you and Kinaka just did, I'll believe anything you say tonight." She knelt down to face her sister. "Two evil presences?"
"Uh-huh. It feels like the Beast has a split personality inside him. Almost like…the one we're seeing now is the lesser of the two evils."
Kinaka turned to them. "I don't understand. Why can't I feel it?" she cried.
Azulongmon looked down at them. "It will be all right. I can handle both." He aimed a massive horn at the Beast and shouted, "Harmony Blaster!"
Silver beams shot from the horn, knocking the Beast over and tearing it completely apart. Its filthy, disgusting body fell into the grave again, showering them all with its thick black blood that smelled worse than it did. As it fell, it gave a long, horrifying howl of pain and outrage that ended when it hit the bottom of the grave with a thud that nearly rocked them off their feet. One final shriek of pain, and then there was dead silence for about a minute.
Everyone screamed in triumph and leaped at each other, forming one massive group hug. They cried, they yelled, they hollered and whooped and sang "We are the Champions" about five times, all while still piled up on the ground. Once free of the horde, Chris and Hikaru stood up and kissed each other joyously, causing another riotous round of cheering and hollering, then kicked it up a third time when Jenna and Leon did the exact same thing.
When they pulled apart, Leon looked at the girl he loved and said, "Jenna?"
Her hazel eyes were sparkling with joy. "Yeah?" she said playfully.
His right hand moved into his pocket, and he went on one knee, taking her hand in his left. "Jenna Ichijouji, you are the most beautiful, loving and special person I have ever met. I love you so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So…will you marry me?"
She smiled then, her eyes glistening with happy tears. "Yes, I will," she said, barely able to speak. "Yes!"
He slipped the ring onto her finger, and stood up to kiss her again. They were deaf to the cheers, whistling and the round of "Here Comes the Bride" that Cleo and Holly had started up. In fact, they were also deaf to the sound of the cracking of bone as Lady Kazuma pulled herself from the Beast's mangled corpse.