Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
I was glad that Tomoki was safe, but a part of me… I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because I liked being with just Takuya, but we have a quest, and we must complete it, at all costs. Sighing, we trudge on, though stronger than earlier as we had some help. Worry pecked at me, never stopping. Were Junpei and Izumi okay? What if they got hurt? So many questions, and not one answer. The trees slowly became scrawnier, less… lively. It was as if the forest about us was slowly dying, their life either being stolen from them or they were suffering from loss of sunlight. I frowned; it seems Cherubi is striking more than just the lives of people. He was striking even the plants that could not defend themselves that well against things such as this. Especially when their guardian has turned for the worse. Clenching my left fists tightly, I try and keep my mind clear of all that Cherubi has done, and keep it on the task at hand.
We walked in silence, none of us saying anything to the other. A small breeze blew by, and I briefly thought of Izumi and if she somehow managed to escape, along with Junpei. Deep inside me though, I knew no matter what happened those two would be just fine and could get away on their own. So long as Cherubi did not trick them like he had my brother, they would be perfectly fine. As reassuring as it was, I still could not help the worry. I'm not the type you would see as worrying, but in fact I am. If you didn't know me real well, in fact you'd probably see me as a careless guy who would leave you without a second thought. With every step, I felt an even stronger pressure of darkness settling upon us, whether or not the others felt it, I've no idea. Something is here. Narrowing my eyes, I stand there. The other two stop, and turn to peer at me with quizzical looks.
"Someone is here." I whisper. Knowing my better judgment, they look around for who might be here.
"Light feels Darkness." A voice echoed out. Who said that? "Fire feels Ice." Where is it coming from? "Water feels Thunder." Why is it telling us this? "Wind feels Wood." What does this mean? "And Ground feels Steel." It ended, and the echo faded off. What was the point of all that?
"Kouji-san…" Tomoki whispered, and backed up. "I have a bad vibe…" He whimpered. "I don't think we can trust whoever said that." He continued, and a look of terror overtook his facial expression. "Look." Going from him, I went back to looking ahead and gasped. A mirror had appeared! Inside it wavy lines moved like the surface of water disturbed making waves bouncing back and forth off each other and the wall. Slowly, an image formed, taking that of a man. At first dread clenched my heart that it was John, but I soon saw it most certainly not him. This… this was a thing. Half it's face was shiny, and its eye glowed a bright red color. It had hair that was in a green color, and flowed down to his heels. It wore clothes I have only seen some of the most successful of people wear and over it was a trench coat that matched him favorably. One arm was not human, it looked like a skeletons that was silver in color, and the fingers were more like claws than anything else.
"Is thou the ones who dared to harm Rana?" The man asked, in something like an English accent. It was very proper, and his tongue held a certain ancient-like sound to it. No one spoke like that anymore. No one.
"Uhm… I'm not entirely sure what you meant by that." I said, a bit confused. Was he trying to ask if we were the ones who killed her or if we were threatening to hurt her? If it's the latter then he needs to be informed she's dead. A cruel smirk played across the man's lips.
"So, thou art the ones who murdered her." He said slyly, and took out a large sword, made of the finest metal. And slowly… it hit me. The man's face and arm was some silvery substance, but steel. He was half steel… he was the Warrior of Steel… and that made him…
"Mercury." I whispered under my breath. All our foe did was smirk back at me, and he licked his licked.
"You shall pay for her murder. And I will be the one in which does so!" He said, and with another sly smile held his hand up. What, let me guess, Draining Melted Steel? "Come to MY world!" He said in that thick accent and slowly the world about us began to… melt. Well, I was close…
"Ah… Kouji… this can't be good can it?" Takuya said softly, and the three soon backed up into each other.
"Kouji! Takuya! Tomoki!" A voice cried out. Turning our attention over, we saw Izumi. She was sitting next to a knocked out and hurt Junpei, and looked relieved to see us. "Thank goodness you're all okay!" She said. Same to you… I knew they would be okay.
"I don't see thy point of your reunion, seeing as you each shall perish and be together afterwards." Mercury said, in a rather haughty tone. Why do all of our bad guys seem to think they're going to kill us? And then we defeat them? Well, we might not defeat him this time… I'm not really entirely sure seeing as I don't have ESP.
"Shut up!" Izumi snapped her eyes ablaze.
"Oooh, temper temper!" Mercury said with that coy smile of his, the circumstances not really bothering him. There's something he knows that we don't… and I hope by all means it does not involve hurting us. Holding his sword carefully, he made one swipe knocking us all into the wall. Wait, since when was there a wall?! "Seeing as only two of you harmed my beloved, thy rest shall be spared. For now." He said with a dark tone. Izumi, after Tomoki went over to help with Junpei, stood up with an enraged look.
"You mess with two of us, or even one, you need to be prepared to face us all." Izumi said, in such a powerful voice I was rather surprised. Well, she most certainly has plenty of guts I'll tell you that. "Hurricane Gale!" Izumi hissed and a burst of power blasted from her palms and in the form of a deadly hurricane it sucked up Mercury, who was rather so shocked, he could barely move. After a moments time he was rudely thrown out and smashed into the walls with a loud SMACK. The hurricane quickly dispersed and Izumi stood there, her eyes firmly planted on the spot in which Mercury's body had come in contact with. When the dust cleared away, we could see Mercury push himself out, and plummet downwards onto the ground where he received more damage.
"Hmmhmmhmmhmm… hahahahahahahahahah!" Mercury started laugh. What, did he goes crazy like Rana too? Oh, how wonderful… He picked himself up a little clumsily, and swayed when he stood up. Slowly turning to us it seemed like his skin was peeling right off, but that was not possible. No blood was coming out, instead underneath lay even more steel. This confused me, was he made up completely of steel? Then how could he be alive? It made no sense to me. "What a powerful attack, it seems you have come far from when you first started. My lady, it shall be truly an honor in which when I fight thee. For now though, thou must leave us in peace. Certain things must be settled." He continued and Izumi, Tomoki, and Junpei slowly melted away. Izumi at first seemed alarmed, then shook it away and turned to us.
"Kick his ass!" She called over. We smirked, knowing that we not only had her full support, but also that we were not fighting this alone. I was fighting with Takuya, and he was fighting with me. Mercury held his hand out, and his sword flew into it.
"Prepare thyself." Mercury ordered. I gritted my teeth, hating being told orders, especially from the enemy. But, if I did not then there may be some minor complications… such as I would be totally prepared for his attacks.
"Lobo Kendo." I growl, and feel the sword of light appear in my left hand, as my right hand still needed much healing time. Takuya stood ready, not having any sort of weapon really.
"Let's dance." Mercury sneered, and charged at me. I blocked his swipe with my sword, but seeing as I was using only one hand while he used two, he had the higher advantage. Mercury let out a small sound when Takuya brought down a harsh kick upon his back. Though, shortly after Takuya yelped himself and jumped away holding his leg. Mercury jumped away from me and smirked at us both. "Thou shalt be more careful, I do have a rather hard back. In fact, every bone in my body is made of steel. You cannot expect to defeat me!" Mercury said, his coy smile playing along his lips. I loathed that smile. Taking the chance in which Mercury was not so close to be in which I got hit, Takuya sent a large flame attack towards Mercury, who took half of it. An angered look was showing, and he shook. "Foolish human!" He growled.
"Cleansing Light!" I hissed, knowing my sword won't do me any good, and the burst of light hit Mercury right in the head. He screamed out, and half his body became light, while the other was darkness. His body jerked around, and he made multiple sounds of displeasure. Takuya walked slowly over to me with confusion.
"What did you do?" He asked.
"Right now everything is up to Mercury. If he wants to be purified then he will be, but if he still wishes to be under hates control, then he is and we have to continue fighting him." I explained, and we watched. It seemed like hours, and still Mercury showed no signs. He was neutral; insecurity and loss making his decision all the harder. I desperately wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do. Finally, after a long wait, Mercury threw off…
A/N: Aha! A cliffie! ^.~ Mwahah, I feel like being evil. And because I'm quickly losing inspiration me no do very good fight scenes. *Cries* Ahem, so don't really expect that great of a second to last chapter. Yes, we have either two-three chapters left depending on how long they are made. And it's sequel? Don't except it to come out in even a month. Try maybe five and we might reach some sort of agreement… Look on the bright side, the final chapter is going to be fluffy! Not yet though… mwahah, first we need some minor angst… yah no story is complete without SOME of that stuff… don't worry, I'm no good at writing it so… yah. By the way, Mercury was a robot, but they don't know that because this is the medieval times. How the hell there's a robot during that time I couldn't honestly tell you… Ja!